03. It's all about milk bottles this week

Welcome to the third edition of the xtonnes? Sustainability Scoop, your gateway to the latest insights and updates on climate change, carbon regulations and green industry practices. Providing you with bitesize chunks of the latest headlines, it's designed to support you in your journey to decarbonise with confidence.??

As always, we are looking for your feedback. Reach out to us if there is something in particular you would like to learn more about – or just with any questions or ideas!??

But for now, let's dig into this week’s round-up... ?

??Climate check-in???

The latest data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggests there is a greater than 99% chance that 2023 will be the warmest year on record. The jump from a 47% chance at the end of July follows months of hotter-than-normal weather, including a September that was the most unusually warm month ever recorded. Dr Sarah Kapnick, NOAA’s chief scientist, says: “Not only was it the warmest September on record, it was far and away the most atypically warm month of any in NOAA’s 174 years of climate keeping.” ? ?

Researchers have found that more than 40% of Antarctica’s ice shelves have shrunk since 1997. Almost all the ice shelves on the western side of Antarctica experienced ice loss. In contrast, most of the ice shelves on the eastern side stayed the same or increased in volume.?Over the 25 years, the scientists calculated almost 67 trillion tonnes of ice was exported to the ocean, which was offset by 59 trillion tonnes of ice being added to the ice shelves, giving a net loss of 7.5 trillion tonnes.??

Despite steps toward decreasing deforestation, uncontrolled wildfires are threatening environmental gains in Brazilian Amazonia, one of the world's most critical carbon sinks and a region of high biological and cultural diversity.?

The Space Age is leaving fingerprints on one of the most remote parts of the planet - the stratosphere - which has potential implications for climate, the ozone layer and the continued habitability of Earth. Using tools hitched to the nose cone of their research planes and sampling more than 11 miles above the planet's surface, researchers have discovered significant amounts of metals in aerosols in the atmosphere, likely from increasingly frequent launches and returns of spacecraft and satellites. ?

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Shalanda Baker, director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the US Department of Energy, spoke at MIT Technology Review’s ClimateTech event in Cambridge about the need to simultaneously address climate change and equity and the possibility of seeking justice during the energy transition.?

??Industry insights????

A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) finds that global investment in electricity grids needs to double to more than ￡492 billion per year by 2030 to hit national climate targets and ensure reliable power supplies. The IEA says the equivalent of the entire global electricity grid – 80 million kilometres of wires – needs to be added or refurbished by 2040.? ?

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Ocado Retail has revealed that more than 20,000 cash rewards have been redeemed by consumers as part of its digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot, which was trialled to increase demand for retail recycling initiatives and boost national recycling rates. The pilot was launched in partnership with recycling technology firm Polytag and recycling app Bower.?It was touted as the UK’s first DDRS. The end-of-trial report reveals that during the trial, more than 20,000 Ocado Retail milk bottles were scanned by these consumers through their smartphones before being placed in their home kerbside recycling, totalling reward claims of up to ￡4,000.?

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Oatly has launched a campaign in the UK urging the food and drink industry to carbon label their products, in a bid to enhance sector emissions transparency and enable consumers to make informed decisions. Oatly UK’s general manager Bryan Carroll said: “The food and drink we consume is responsible for a third of total UK emissions. Given the urgency of our climate challenge, we believe it should be as easy for shoppers to find the climate impact of what they’re buying, as it is to find its price tag.”?

The UK’s largest hospitality firm, Whitbread, has opened its first new-build Premier Inn hotel that has no connection to the gas grid. The five-storey hotel in Swindon, Wiltshire, has 195 bedrooms. It is kitted out with fully electric equipment in the kitchen. It is also fitted with an air-source heat pump to provide hot water. The building has been certified as BREEAM ‘Excellent’, and in addition to considering the energy efficiency features of the building envelope, the hotel is fitted with LED lighting, digital lighting controls and a digital building energy management system.?

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Abel & Cole has launched its first refillable plastic milk bottle. Its Club Zero milk product will join its growing refillable range, using packaging that is set to save Abel & Cole 450,000 single-use plastic milk bottles and 60 tonnes of carbon each year compared to a glass alternative.??

??Regulatory round-up???

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has unveiled a new draft pathway for automakers to set near- and long-term targets to cut their Scopes 1, 2 and 3 category 11 ‘use phase’ emissions in line with 1.5°C. The release kick-starts a month-long public consultation, open until November 10th, which will inform the development of clear, robust and practical interim sector-specific criteria.?

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The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) published its sixth and final status report. The report highlights steady momentum in companies disclosing TCFD-aligned information but emphasises more progress is needed. On average for fiscal year 2022, companies reported in line with 5.3 of the Task Force’s 11 recommended disclosures, up from an average of 3.2 in 2020. While levels of disclosure are increasing, they still fall short of the 11 recommended disclosures.?

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The European Commission has reached an agreement on a proposal to update and strengthen the regulation on emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles. The aim of the proposal is to further reduce carbon?emissions in the road transport sector and to introduce new targets for 2030, 2035 and 2040, aligning with several EU objectives, including the European Green Deal, the EU strategy to achieve a climate neutral economy by 2050, as well as from REPowerEU. The Commission said that the new standards would result in a decrease in demand of roughly 2 billion barrels of imported oil between 2031 and 2050.?

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The European Commission has proposed for the first time measures to prevent microplastic pollution from the unintentional release of plastic pellets. Currently, between 52 and 184 thousand tonnes of pellets are released in the environment each year due to mishandling throughout the entire supply chain. The new proposal aims to ensure that?all operators handling pellets in the EU take the necessary precautionary measures, expected to reduce pellet release by up to 74%, leading to cleaner ecosystems, contributing to plastic-free rivers and ocean, and reducing potential risks to human health. ?

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The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has released new Green Agreements Guidance on how businesses can collaborate on projects relating to environmental sustainability without breaking British or international competition laws. The Authority’s new?guidance interprets how existing competition laws should be applied to businesses looking to create joint projects with environmental sustainability outcomes. Its recommendations apply to groups of firms operating at the same level of the supply chain, participating in so-called ‘horizontal agreements’.?

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We look forward to seeing you next week!?