?? The Grumpy Optimists #130

Happy Monday.

Welcome back to your bi-weekly newsletter, recapping all things positive climate news to make you feel like there’s hope for our planet. This week, we’re covering everything from ESG acquisitions to the world now investing more in solar than any other form of energy production.

Dig in and enjoy.

?? Articles to read

??? 70% of companies have abandoned acquisitions over ESG concerns. Ever thought about selling a company? You might want to consider ESG. A new study by Deloitte found that 99% of organisations assess ESG impact in M&A, with 57% using defined metrics and over 90% confident in evaluating ESG profiles. A whopping 83% of people said they’d pay a premium for better performance. That means impact = money.

??? What are Methanol and Ethanol? Now you know. There’s really too much to summarise here, but it’s another great episode from Ben James summarising ethanol and methanol.

???Prescribing fruit and veg makes people happy. A pilot scheme in London provided weekly ￡8 fruit and vegetable vouchers to patients in poverty, leading to 90% of participants experiencing better physical health, nearly halving GP visits, and significantly increasing the number eating their "five a day". I know this isn’t climate news directly, but any opportunity we have to encourage people to understand real food, the more likely they are to appreciate the world around us.

???The world now invests twice as much in renewables as fossil fuels. If a picture paints a thousand words, the graphs in this article will blow your mind. The growth in clean energy is rapidly accelerating.

???Pollination announces a $150 million venture fund for climate and nature. The climate-focused investment and advisory firm Pollination has raised $150 million to invest in early-stage climate and nature-focused startups, primarily in Australia. Having had the pleasure of meeting some of their team, this is money in great hands.

???UN leader calls for ban on fossil fuel advertising. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a global ban on fossil fuel advertising. He suggests the industry should be treated like tobacco to combat climate change. In the U.S. alone, the oil and gas sector has been reported to spend approximately $1 billion annually on advertising. That’s a lot of influence.

That’s all for this week, folks. This episode was written after a great weekend of getting on the bike, treating myself to a spa treatment and searching for a new sofa on Gumtree and Facebook marketplace. Who knew new sofas could be so expensive? For the last few weeks, I’ve had old Bloc Party on repeat, I’d highly recommend.

Have a great fortnight.

George, the Grumpy Optimist