Sustainability Progress Report #6

First published April 12, 2024.

How is the EU managing its climate stripes?

Legend:

??? climate change

?? litigation

???? regulatory/policy changes

?? green energy

?? forests

???? labour rights

?? water crisis

?? financing

?? waste

?? emissions

?? decarbonization

?? pollution

?? animal welfare

?? construction

?? transport

?? food

?? chemicals

?? apparel

? innovation

Regulatory talks.

European Court of Human Rights rules against Switzerland in a climate lawsuit. The Court declared that Switzerland had infringed the right to respect for private and family life and had not complied with its obligations under the Convention concerning climate change. The nation's climate change programs were found seriously flawed, one of which is the failure to measure greenhouse gas reductions. The right-wing Swiss People's Party, which controls the majority of the country, denounced the decision, labelling it scandalous, and threatened to withdraw from the Council of Europe. (to the source ) ???????

Parliament adopts new rules for Breakfast foods. Parliament passed amendments to the so-called "breakfast directive", to regulate the composition, naming, labelling, and presentation of several "breakfast" items and assist customers in choosing healthier options when purchasing goods including honey, fruit juice, jam, and marmalades. The new regulations will require developing a honey traceability system and banning the import of contaminated honey from non-EU nations by requiring mandatory country of origin labels. Additionally, fruit juice will be more clearly labelled, as will the minimum fruit content of jams and marmalades. Two years after they go into effect, EU member states must implement the new regulations. (to the source ) ??????

Parliament adopts a new law focusing on cutting methane emissions. To meet its climate pledges and enhance air quality, the EU will cut methane emissions from the energy sector. The first rule in the EU to reduce methane emissions addresses biomethane added to the gas network as well as direct methane emissions from the coal, oil, and gas industries. (to the source ) ??????

Parliament adopts a new certification scheme for carbon removals. The EU Carbon Removals Certification Framework (CRCF) provides incentives for carbon removal operations inside the EU. The law addresses several forms of carbon removal, including carbon farming, carbon storage in long-lasting products, and permanent carbon storage through industrial technology. To combat greenwashing, it seeks to strengthen the EU's ability to measure, track, and validate such actions. The law must be approved by the Council before it can go into effect after 20 days. (to the source ) ??????

More about carbon removals here

Council approves a Directive to reduce the effects of industrial operations. The Council enacted the amended Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) and the rule on the creation of an Industrial Emissions Portal (IEP). The amended regulation includes more large-scale intensive animal farms, like as pig and poultry farms, to significantly cut industrial emissions. In addition, large-scale battery production and mining operations are also included. Industrial minerals may be added pending assessment. By 2035, the new directive will create an electronic permission system to issue e-permit. Operators may be forced to pay fines equal to at least 3% of their yearly Union turnover for major violations. (to the source ) ??????

New law to protect consumers against volatile prices. Customers will have access to both fixed- and dynamic-price contracts, as well as crucial information about the alternatives they choose, thanks to the protections provided by Parliament. Suppliers won’t be able to unilaterally alter contractual conditions. EU nations have the authority to forbid suppliers from severing a vulnerable customer's power supply, even in the event of a disagreement between the parties. Measures provide that if market prices drop too sharply, a public body will reimburse the energy producer. If prices rise too high, however, the body will collect payments from the producer. The EU may declare a regional or EU-wide power price crisis in the event of extremely high prices and under specific circumstances. (to the source ) ??????

Framework to monitor sustainable soil management and site remediation. The new regulation will require all EU member states to monitor and subsequently evaluate the condition of all soils within their borders. To evaluate the health of the soil, Parliament suggests a five-level categorization system: high, good, moderate, degraded, and critically degraded soils. Healthy soils would have a high or good ecological state. According to the Commission, there are 2.8 million potentially polluted sites in the EU. A public list of these sites will be published four years from the day this Directive comes into effect. EU nations will also need to research, analyse, and clean up polluted areas, where polluters will be required to cover costs. (to the source ) ??????

Rules to improve urban wastewater treatment and reuse. The regulations include guidelines on gathering, handling, and release of urban wastewater. By 2035, before urban wastewater is released into the environment, companies will have to treat it. Several public health indicators, chemical pollutants, including microplastics, antimicrobial resistance, and so-called "forever chemicals" (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS) will be strictly monitored. The rules establish extended producer responsibility (EPR) to pay for treatment and remove micropollutants from municipal wastewater. Producers will pay for at least 80% of the expenses, with additional funding coming from the federal government. (to the source ) ??????

More stringent CO2 emissions standards for buses and vehicles. Large trucks and buses will need to cut their CO2 emissions by 45% between 2030 and 2034, 65% between 2035 and 2039, and 90% by 2040. New urban buses must cut their emissions by 90% by 2030, and become emission-free by 2035. (to the source ) ??????

Legislators abandon the life-cycle analysis of transportation emissions. EU lawmakers rejected the inclusion of a life-cycle assessment approach to account for GHG emissions in the transport sector. A life-cycle approach to evaluating electric cars would take into consideration the effects of extracting raw materials as well as producing, using, and disposing of them. Legislators said that the system would only apply to businesses mandated by law to report their emissions or who voluntarily do so. Manufacturers outside of Europe will otherwise have an "unfair price advantage" due to the lack of a complete life-cycle approach, particularly for battery electric cars. (to the source ) ??????

Council adopts rules to improve energy performance in buildings. The least efficient non-residential buildings will be phased out under the new regulations. Renovations to the 43% of residential structures with the lowest performance levels will result in at least 55% of energy decrease. The plan will gradually eliminate fossil fuel boilers by 2040. The new regulations will guarantee the installation of appropriate solar energy systems in newly constructed structures, public buildings, and non-residential buildings that are already undergoing permit-required renovations. Additionally, buildings will include sustainable transportation infrastructure, such as bicycle parking spots, pre-cabling or ducting to allow future infrastructure, and electric vehicle charging stations within or next to buildings. (to the source ) ??????

#standards SBTi to introduce emissions reduction credits. As part of its standard for corporate net zero target setting, SBTi announced plans to expand the application of environmental attribute certificates, such as emissions reduction credits, to address Scope 3 value chain emissions. The original standard's criteria stated that to achieve science-based net zero, 90–95% of carbon emissions would need to be decarbonised by 2050, together with any residual emissions that cannot currently be reduced. The choice may have a big effect on the markets for energy attribute certificates, like carbon credits, increasing the number of businesses using them worldwide by thousands. (to the source ) ????

#standards SBTi staff demands immediate repair of reputational damage caused by the Board. The staff accused SBTi's leadership of operating without a solid scientific basis. Staff questioned the Board’s decision to allow the use of offsets for Scope 3 emissions. (to the source ) ????

#standards In line with the ISSB, the Sustainability Standards Board of Japan (SSBJ) announced the release of a standard draft for new sustainability disclosure requirements. This action is a major step toward establishing uniform sustainability reporting guidelines in Japan. In keeping with its goal of encouraging clear and uniform sustainability disclosures across Japan's business environment, the SSBJ plans to finalise the sustainability reporting standards by the end of March 2025. (to the source ) ????

Industry talks.

First greenwashing litigation against a beef company. The largest beef corporation in the world, JBS, is being sued for deceiving consumers about its climate change pledges. Consumers are requesting more sustainably produced items at an increasing rate, and large corporations are paying attention. JBS Group has promised customers that it would be "Net Zero by 2040" to demonstrate its commitment to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The lawsuit claims that such accusations are unfounded because JBS hasn't made any significant progress towards achieving those objectives as the CEO publicly acknowledged that the business wasn't even sure how to calculate all of its emissions. What was not measured cannot be mitigated. (to the source ) ????

Climate litigation to shape climate policy. As a new strategy for influencing climate policy, more than 2.500 climate lawsuits have been filed worldwide. A climate-positive decision has been reached in 55% of cases. Typically, these climate-positive verdicts feature the claimant going against a business or government agency. Certain polluting projects have been halted by legal action. Numerous comparable lawsuits, including those in Germany, Belgium, Nepal, and Colombia, were launched in national courts all around the world as a result. Financial firms are beginning to see climate lawsuits as a major concern. The French bank BNP Paribas decided to no longer provide finance for new gas facilities only a few months after the bank was sued by activists for funding fossil fuels in the first-ever lawsuit on climate change against a commercial bank. (to the source ) ?????

Smuggled climate-warming gases keep Europe off track. The smuggling of large volumes of refrigerant gases into Europe illegally from China and Turkey undermines their phase-out. The Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol in 2016 included a commitment by industrialised nations to reduce HFC consumption by 85% between 2012 and 2036. Authorised HFC producers and users are given quotas that are gradually lowered to facilitate the phase-down. Illicit HFCs trafficked into Europe may account for 20–30% of amounts traded legitimately, or up to 30 million tonnes of CO2. The world's largest producer of HFCs is China, where 39 approved factories were permitted to create 185 million tonnes of CO2 this year. To penalise businesses that were over their quotas, it released new guidelines in December. (to the source ) ?????

Germany receives €2.2 billion in State Aid to decarbonise. The assistance will come in the form of direct grants under this proposal and will be available to German industrial companies that depend on fossil fuels as a feedstock or energy source for their manufacturing operations. In comparison to current levels, eligible projects must result in a minimum 40% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing operations. To qualify, businesses must convert from using fossil fuels to renewable hydrogen or fuels generated from renewable hydrogen, or electrify their industrial processes. (to the source ) ????

Slovak State Aid of €267M to support Volvo’s new electric vehicle plant. Volvo will contribute €1.2 billion. The factory is anticipated to produce about 250,000 electric cars annually and generate at least 3,300 direct employment and additional indirect jobs. (to the source ) ????

The US introduces regulations to limit ‘forever chemicals’ PFAS in drinking water. PFAS can have adverse effects on metabolism, fertility, and children’s development, and they pose a risk to the human immune system. More than 9,000 PFAS compounds are used in applications such as plastics, fabric protectors, and non-stick coatings. To prevent grease stains from leaking through, they are also frequently used as a treatment in waterproof apparel and food packaging, such as pizza boxes and takeout paper bags. A few compounds, including PFOS and PFOA, can linger in the environment for many years. Research suggests PFOS have a half-life of more than 41 years, and PFOA may have a half-life of more than 90 years. (to the source ) ????

Toyota to fund climate-focused enterprises. The first Climate Fund invested in 18 businesses that solve problems related to energy storage and batteries, hydrogen solutions, renewable energy, and the removal and use of carbon dioxide. The new fund will be open for businesses creating innovative products and business plans in sectors that support Toyota's climate neutrality objectives. It will specifically target solutions that mitigate climate change and advance environmental sustainability. (to the source ) ????

Windfall Bio raises funds for methane capture and transformation. Funding will help Windfall's nature-based solution commercialize in methane-intensive businesses and extend pilot deployments in waste management, oil and gas, and agriculture, among other methane-intensive industries. Windfall uses methane-eating microbes, or "mems," which absorb methane from any source and absorb nitrogen from the air. By enhancing soil health, permitting emissions tracking and reporting, enhancing resource efficiency, and creating new income streams from the sale of organic fertiliser, mems add value for clients in the agricultural and industrial sectors. (to the source ) ?????

Lululemon releases an enzymatically recycled polyester jacket. A combination of bioprocessing technologies, including captured carbon from LanzaTech and enzyme-based recycling from Samsara, were used to manufacture the material used in the jacket. lululemon partnered with LanzaTech and Samsara Eco for textile-to-textile recycling and used Nylon 6 polyester made by a variety of bioprocessing techniques employing an enzyme recycling process. (to the source ) ???

Retailers might be scared by the green claims directive. Fashion retailers will need to make changes to how they present, characterise, and promote their environmental credentials. This will include establishing minimal standards for their environmental collections. Nonetheless, there's a genuine chance that shops may hold back and lack the courage to talk about what they are doing effectively. (to the source ) ????

China called out on the environmental impact of nickel mining. An Australian mining magnate demanded stricter environmental regulations for worldwide supply chains, especially from Chinese corporations that process nickel in Indonesia. Indonesian nickel is produced at a great environmental cost since it has been linked to significant carbon emissions due to its reliance on coal-fired electricity, forestry loss, and pollution from mining waste. Therefore, producers of electric vehicles should exercise caution while using it. China's international supply networks will have to abide by environmental regulations. Jakarta responded by promising to increase its oversight of environmental standards. (to the source ) ????

German government promises protection against bankruptcy to fund hydrogen network. The nation's hydrogen fuel core network, which will comprise 60% of the country's current gas pipes, would span 9,700 km and cost around 20 billion euros. The project will be created by private enterprises and funded by user fees. To incentivize investment in developing technology, the government would guarantee a 6.7% return on equity before taxes to network operators if one of the operators files for bankruptcy. (to the source ) ????

Sweden’s global steel company SSAB building a fossil-free mill. The mill could cut Sweden's carbon emissions by 7% per year and produce 2.5 million tonnes of carbon-free steel. The steel industry contributes between 7% and 9% of all direct emissions from the burning of fossil fuels worldwide. The new mill will solely employ fossil-free energy sources and run on fossil-free power. Instead of blast furnaces, the project will use two electric arc furnaces that employ electric currents to provide the heat required to melt and shape metal. (to the source ) ????

Octopus farms could cause cannibalism. Spanish business Nueva Pescanova was praised as a scientific breakthrough in 2019 when they discovered how to reproduce octopuses in captivity. The business intends to establish the first-ever octopus macro-farm on the Canary Islands coast of Spain to generate three thousand tonnes of meat annually. The NGOs believe that because octopuses are solitary creatures by nature, they should not be living in large groups or island environments with high densities as this could cause animal cruelty and lead to cannibalism. (to the source ) ?? ??

Lawmakers continue supervising Amazon in fear of labour infringements. The representatives requested meetings and visits to confirm media claims speculating about possible monitoring of Amazon employees in addition to other unlawful business and workplace policies. Amazon declared its willingness to continue collaborating with legislators.? The French data privacy watchdog penalised the tech giant €32 million in January after discovering that Amazon France Logistique, the company's warehouse manager in France, had installed an intrusive system to monitor the performance of employees. (to the source ) ??????

Global talks.

Journalists and scientists map PFAS contamination sites in Europe. As part of the transnational "Forever Pollution Project" (FPP), 29 journalists and 7 scientific advisers worked together to map contamination throughout Europe using scientific methods and investigative journalism strategies like open-source intelligence and freedom of information requests, making data that was previously considered "unseen science" public. The project identified 21,426 "presumptive contamination sites". These included 2.911 industrial facilities, 4.752 sites related to PFAS-containing waste, and 13.745 sites presumably contaminated with fluorinated aqueous film-forming foam discharge. Of the 22.934 known contamination sites, 20 were manufacturing facilities. A lack of thorough geolocation, sampling, and publicly available data means that the exact level of contamination throughout Europe is still greatly underestimated. (to the source ) ????

Indian court extends the right to life to adverse effects of climate change. According to the highest court’s verdict, variables like air pollution, sickness, and food security are all impacted by climate change, which poses a danger to "constitutional guarantees of equality and health." Think tanks all around the world have emphasised how serious a threat climate change is to India, ranking it among the nations most susceptible to its effects. Numerous factors, including its large population, reliance on agriculture, and susceptibility to extreme weather events like floods and droughts, contribute to its vulnerability.? The Great Indian Bustard is critically endangered, and the court has ordered the creation of a committee to find a balance between its preservation and the development of renewable energy infrastructure in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. (to the source ) ?????

The three most important heat-trapping gases reach an all-time high. Methane, the potent but short-lived greenhouse gas, increased to an average of 1.922 ppb in the atmosphere in 2023, while the global concentration of carbon dioxide increased to 419 ppm on average. The third-largest warming-related emission, nitrous oxide, had a little increase to 336 ppb. In comparison to pre-mass industrialization times, the world's CO2 levels have increased by almost 50% due to the combustion of fossil fuels, animal husbandry, and deforestation. Methane has increased even more in recent years, coming from cattle and oil and gas drilling, and its quantity in the atmosphere is already 160% higher than it was before the Industrial Revolution. (to the source ) ?????

Long-term climate trends or unexpected deviation - science can’t tell. For 2023, the weather forecasts were wildly off, and since historical data isn't reliable, it's far more difficult to anticipate what will happen in the future. El Ni?o activity is rapidly declining and will most likely end in the next months. Experts are uncertain about the precise trajectory of the Pacific's conditions, but current projections suggest that later this year, the current warm phase may give way to a full La Ni?a. It's still unknown when the sea surface would normally cool, but there will likely be a brief drop in global air temperatures. (to the source ) ??????

Bogotá imposed water restrictions on nine million residents. Homes in Bogotá and other neighbouring municipalities will face running water restrictions for a whole day on a ten-day cycle. Roughly nine million individuals will be impacted by the measures. Comparing the reservoirs’ status to this time last year, they are less than 20% full. Water shortages are a common occurrence in Latin American cities. Mexico City may also run out of water soon due to a mix of influences such as El Ni?o, geology, growing urbanisation, and climate change. (to the source ) ?????

Ural floods municipalities in Kazakhstan and Russia and causes unrest. Due to snowmelt, the Ural River burst its banks and flooded parts of Kazakhstan and Russia, causing over 100.000 people to flee and inciting demonstrations against the government. The flood may be the biggest disaster in terms of its scale and impact in more than 80 years. Over 7,700 people had to be evacuated from roughly 13.000 residential structures that were flooded in the Orenburg region of Russia, the local authorities reported on Wednesday. Orenburg city's water levels rose to an alarming 996cm, far exceeding 930cm which is the official critical limit. (to the source ) ????

US companies lag far behind their global peers in climate reporting. Public companies worldwide are reporting their GHG emissions footprints more and more. Approximately 60% of these companies now report direct emissions under Scopes 1 and 2, and over 40% report emissions on at least some Scope 3 emissions. Goal-setting has slowed down, but the quality is rising, as seen by the dramatic increase in decarbonisation objectives supported by research. Just 29% of public firms in the US reported on Scope 3, compared with 54% of their counterparts in developed markets, while only 45% of US public companies reported on Scope 1 and 2 emissions, compared with 73% of corporations in developed markets outside the US. (to the source ) ????

Fine rock powder made by glaciers might be the answer to decarbonisation. Scientists are experimenting with using the massive volumes of fine rock powder that glaciers create for a process known as accelerated rock weathering, which exposes carbon-absorbing rocks to carbon-rich air, causing them to absorb and store CO2. If Denmark's whole agricultural area was covered with this rock flour, the amount of carbon it would absorb would be about equivalent to its yearly emissions. When applied to farm areas in southern Denmark, it not only absorbed carbon but also improved the soil's nutritional content and yielded more potatoes and maize in the first year. (to the source ) ????

SOC vs SIC. Typically, the term "soil carbon" solely refers to soil organic carbon (SOC), which is the organic matter component of soils. Soil inorganic carbon (SIC) is an inorganic component of soil carbon. Because solid SIC, which is often calcium carbonate, tends to collect more in dry areas with unfertile soils, many? perceive it as irrelevant. Globally, the top two metres of soil contain an astounding 2.305 billion tonnes of stored carbon (SIC), which is more than five times the carbon contained in all of the world's plants put together. Large-scale environmental changes, particularly soil acidification, might affect this enormous carbon reservoir. Acids break down calcium carbonate and extract it into the water or as carbon dioxide gas. Soil health is significantly impacted by SIC disturbances that have accumulated over Earth's history. The soil's capacity to balance pH, control nutrient levels, promote plant development and maintain organic carbon is jeopardised by this disturbance. In essence, SIC is essential for both storing carbon and maintaining ecological processes that rely on it. (to the source ) ????

Guyana to dig out oil and stay net zero? Global warming will be exacerbated by international oil firms, such as ExxonMobil, which intends to take 11 billion barrels of oil out of the ocean floor of Guyana and sell it for burning elsewhere. The Guyanese President defended his nation's green credentials by stating the country will remain net zero regardless of its oil exploration. Guyana demonstrates how nations with extensive forests might employ ambiguous national carbon emission accounting regulations to support the extraction of fossil fuels. Bhutan, Suriname, and Panama are among the countries with thick forests that claim to be carbon-negative. Governments are largely free to choose how much credit they want to give for CO2 absorption by national forests under international carbon accounting rules. (to the source ) ????

Methane from landfills to be monitored and reduced. Carbon Mapper and EPA collaborated on monitoring methane emissions from hundreds of big landfills in the US. At least 100 kg per hour of methane was emitted by over 80% of the landfills or more than 850 distinct methane plumes. The best strategy to reduce landfill methane generation in the future is to keep organic waste out of landfills through waste avoidance, food recovery, and composting programmes. Methane emissions into the atmosphere can be prevented with the use of improved landfill covers, early and increased gas collection, and more accountability mechanisms.? (to the source ) ????

Dubai company threatens local populations over carbon credits throughout Africa. Under the premise it would protect forests that may otherwise be cut down and used for farming, which is the main source of income for many of its citizens, the government of Liberia has agreed to sell Blue Carbon, a Dubai-based firm, around 10% of the country's territory, or 10.931 km2. Blue Carbon hopes to make money from conservation by providing offsets in the form of carbon credits for avoided emissions to businesses that utilise fossil fuels. Activists call it “carbon colonialism” and believe that Indigenous peoples own the land and that the government has no legal claim to it. But without a legal framework for carbon credits, Liberia's community lacks standards and guidelines with which to protect itself. The government and Blue Carbon agreed in March 2023 without consulting the locals. Several agreements between Blue Carbon and at least five African countries may see large tracts of land on the continent become Blue Carbon's property.? (to the source ) ????

Green sand could increase the ocean’s carbon sequestration. A research model suggests that the ocean's absorption of carbon dioxide might increase by 8% this century if olivine, alkaline green sand, is dumped into shallow oceans to accelerate the sea's natural weathering of rocks. Seas would become more alkaline as olivine and water reacted to generate bicarbonate. This makes more CO2, a weak acid, soluble in water. The 2023 research raised concerns about the ecological effects of alkalinity improvement. Olivine sand may damage zooplankton, which might upset the balance of the food chain. (to the source ) ????

Climate change helps diseases spread faster. Human behaviour can change as a result of climate change, which might increase illness. Individuals tend to spend more time in the water during heat waves, which may increase the number of instances of cholera, typhoid, and E. coli infections. Initially discovered in 2009, Candida auris is a novel species of yeast that has spread over the world in tandem with rising temperatures. This has led some researchers to hypothesize that Candida auris is the first instance of a novel disease-causing fungus arising from human-induced global warming. (to the source ) ?????

What are your takeaways for the week? What caught your eye?? What was surprising? Comment below, let's discuss sustainability.