?? The Grumpy Optimists #107

Happy Monday. ??

Welcome back to another week of positive climate news. It’s fairly hard not to talk about bad stuff that’s happened this week too, particularly in the UK. Rishi Sunak, the UK’s unelected prime minister, has chosen to water down climate policy, looks set to axe the northern section of HS2 high-speed rail and scrapped an energy efficiency task force focused on decarbonising homes.

Anyway, less of the negativity, let’s look at the good things that have happened this week, shall we?

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?? Articles to read

???California set to sue big oil and gas for climate misinformation. The state of California has filed a civil lawsuit against five major oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP — and the American Petroleum Institute (API), accusing them of misleading the public about their role in climate change since the 1960s. The lawsuit demands that these firms pay for damages related to climate-induced fires and droughts and establish a fund to address future extreme weather events. There’s been a history of misinformation in the oil and gas industry and this podcast is the best summary I’ve heard, I highly recommend you listen.

?????Brazil Supreme Court protects Indigenous land in historic win. Brazil's Supreme Court has blocked attempts to curtail Indigenous land rights, voting 9 to 2 against an agribusiness-backed initiative to take land from Indigenous people. The ruling is not only good news for Indigenous rights but also for the protection of the Amazon rainforest. A climate justice win.

???Biden creates American Climate Corps to get thousands in green jobs. While it’s early in its formation, the American Climate Corps plans to help provide “pathways to high-quality employment opportunities in the public and private sectors" according to the White House. With the green skills gap growing around the world, this is a fantastic initiative to get people into roles that matter.

???Media agency’s getting into an uncomfortable bed with fossil fuels. B-Corp Havas has become Shell’s newest media agency causing controversy within the B-Corp and media community. The question that should be asked is, can a B-Corp work with a fossil fuel giant that uses media to suppress climate action?

My answer is absolutely not. Havas claims that they’re helping Shell with their transformation to a renewable world. But the challenge is that Shell cares more about rewarding their shareholders than protecting the planet. Shell is not ?rsted they’re not shifting their entire business to renewables. This is just an agency that wants a small piece of Shell’s $240 million media budget. Clean Creatives also released their F-List, all the ad agencies that work with fossil fuels and produced some fantastic posters for NY Climate Week.

???Solar farms in space? It’s becoming possible. Solar farms in space are increasingly becoming a reality, largely due to the reduced cost of sending cargo to space—currently at $1,500 per kilogram, thanks to SpaceX. It is projected that SpaceX's next rocket could further lower this cost to $300 per kilogram, making it even more economically viable than the current threshold of $1,000 per kilogram required for space-based solar power At first, it may seem a bit crazy but it does make sense. Not only do the solar arrays enjoy cloud-free skies and 24/7 sun to beam back electricity as microwaves, but they also don’t have to deal with pesky NIMBYSM and planning restrictions.

???How Zevero is helping decarbonise your next pint of beer. This is a personal shoutout to the company I co-founded nearly three years ago, Zevero, and our partnership with SIBA, The Society of Independent Brewers to make emission reporting easier. We’ve turned our software product into a free platform to allow breweries to measure, reduce and report their operational emissions (think gas, electricity and water).

The aim of the tool is to help more breweries start or build on their climate journey as well as meet their immediate reporting requirements from big supermarkets and buyers. The reason I started Zevero is to make it easier for all companies to take climate action, this is a really exciting opportunity to make that happen. Please share with people who you think would find this helpful!

???A new smart meter API aims to make it easier to decarbonise buildings. Building energy usage accounts for roughly 17.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions but getting the data about energy use is not easy, it’s a problem I deal with every day. A new smart-meter API startup, Openvolt is aiming to provide a data-driven solution to decarbonise building energy use and unlock innovation in energy management.

??Lowercarbon capital raises $550 million for climate tech startups. The new fund from the leading climate VC is dubbed 421.0, referring to the part per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere when the fund was raised. Their press release is well worth a read.

No memes this week I’m afraid, I’ve not found one worth sharing, but if you do, please send your best to me at [email protected], I will be very happy. This week’s episode was written to a Tame Impala soundtrack, a great work playlist because every song sounds exactly the same.

That’s all for now folks, speak to you at you next week. Lots of love.

George, the Grumpy Optimist ??