Sustanaibility Notice #20 - Road to COP27 Special Edition (24 - 30 October)

Exclusive: Our Road to COP27 Program

Our ‘’Road to COP27 Program’’ consisting of 7 episodes with 14 Young People is now on YouTube. (Source Link)

In this program, young people from different institutions discussed the upcoming COP27 Climate Summit and current climate crisis. (Our guests were from Yale Law School, Middle East Technical University, Utrecht University, King's College London, Universit?t Innsbruck, the University of Tokyo, Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin, University of Waterloo, the Center for Climate and Security, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bo?azi?i University and Xiamen University)

World: COP27, UK, China, EU and UN

COP27: How the world is doing on climate targets and what to expect (Source Link)

The war in Ukraine has encouraged a rush to exploit more fossil fuels, but there are still positive signs of climate action ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

COP27: What is the Egypt climate conference and why is it important? (Source Link)

World leaders are set to discuss action to tackle climate change, at the UN climate summit in Egypt. It follows a year of climate-related disasters and broken temperature records.

Cop27 host Egypt plans to push gas as ‘the perfect solution’ (Source Link)

Cop27 host Egypt and 16 other gas-exporting governments have pledged to use upcoming climate talks to promote fossil gas as “the perfect solution” to climate change and energy security.

UK says new PM Rishi Sunak won’t go to UN climate conference (Source Link)

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will not attend a major United Nations climate conference next month, the government said.

Alok Sharma: UK must 'explain and demonstrate' how new oil and gas drilling aligns with net zero?(Source Link)

COP26 President also argues ramping up clean energy investment and insulating homes should be top priorities for Rishi Sunak as Britain's new Prime Minister.

China urges rich world to shun 'empty slogans' ahead of climate talks (Source Link)

Rich countries must move on from "empty slogans" when it comes to climate change and make progress in meeting funding commitments, a Chinese official said on Thursday ahead of a new round of global climate talks in Egypt next month.

As Xi reaffirms climate goals, China faces economic and geopolitical headwinds (Source Link)

China reaffirmed its commitment to its climate goals at last week’s party congress and is likely to over-achieve its renewable targets in Xi Jinping’s third term in power.

Loss and damage: EU faces pressure to agree on climate compensation at COP27 (Source Link)

Ministers from European Union countries will attempt to agree their negotiating position for this year's UN climate talks. It will include the contentious topic of compensation for the damage climate change is inflicting on the world's poorest.

Every fraction of a degree counts, UN says, as 2.8C warming looms (Source Link)

Government pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions put the planet on track for an average 2.8 degrees Celsius temperature rise this century, after "woefully inadequate" progress to curb warming, a United Nations report said.

Climate change: No ‘credible pathway’ to 1.5C limit, UNEP warns (Source Link)

National pledges to reduce harmful emissions offer little hope of avoiding climate disaster, UN climate experts said, in an urgent appeal for a radical transformation of the energy sector, before it’s too late.

UN report: Climate pollution reductions ‘highly inadequate’ (Source Link)

The world, especially richer carbon polluting nations, remains “far behind” and is not doing nearly enough -- not even promising to do enough -- to reach any of the global goals limiting future warming, a United Nations report said.

UN: Almost 1 million drought-hit Somalis in al-Shabab areas (Source Link)

The United Nations says close to 1 million drought-affected people in Somalia are in areas under the control or influence of the al-Shabab extremist group, and it appealed to the fighters to allow humanitarian access as famine threatens the country.

Climate change: UN warns key warming threshold slipping from sight (Source Link)

There is "no credible pathway" to keep the rise in global temperatures below the key threshold of 1.5C, according to a bleak new UN assessment. Scientists believe that going beyond 1.5C would see dangerous impacts for people all over the world.

Climate crisis funds not reaching countries in need, senior UN official says (Source Link)

The UN’s humanitarian chief has questioned why billions of dollars pledged to tackle the climate crisis have not been used to fight famine in Somalia.

Clean Energy, EVs and Fossil Fuels: IEA, EU, South Africa, Indonesia, Norway, Nigeria, France, UK, California, Adobe, Walmart, GM, Sono Motors, Shell and Llyods

Energy security, not climate change, is driving clean energy investment, IEA chief says (Source Link)

The newest edition of the IEA’s World Energy Outlook comes at a time of significant uncertainty and volatility in global energy markets.

Europe’s energy crisis raises firewood prices, theft fears (Source Link)

Europe’s energy crisis, triggered by Russia slashing natural gas flows amid its war against Ukraine, has forced some people to turn to cheaper heating sources like firewood as the weather gets colder. But as more people stock up and burn wood, prices have skyrocketed, shortages and thefts have been reported, and scams are emerging.

European exodus from Energy Charter Treaty raises climate questions (Source Link)

Six European countries have indicated they will leave the controversial Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) despite green reforms, shaking up international investor protections. Belgium joined France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland in heading for the exit. They argued that modernisation of the investment pact has not gone far enough to align with the Paris Agreement.

EU approves effective ban on new fossil fuel cars from 2035 (Source Link)

The European Union struck a deal on a law to effectively ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035, aiming to speed up the switch to electric vehicles and combat climate change.

CIF earmarks $1 bln for clean power move in SAfrica, Indonesia (Source Link)

Climate Investment Funds, a leading multilateral investor in developing countries, said it will allocate $1 billion to help South Africa and Indonesia move away from coal to clean power.

Climate fund approves plan to speed up coal retirement in Indonesia (Source Link)

A climate fund has agreed to work with Indonesia to retire up to 2GW of coal-fired power over the next 5-10 years, under a pilot scheme to shift the country from coal to clean energy. The Climate Investment Funds’ (CIF) governing board has approved Indonesia’s investment plan for how it will spend $500 million in concessional funding designed to unlock public and private investments to rid the economy of coal.

Norway to slash pollution with the world’s first zero-emissions public transport network (Source Link)

Norway's capital hopes to reach this goal by the end of 2023 as part of its aim to become the world's first wholly emissions-free city by 2030. The transport push entails replacing the city's diesel-fuelled buses with 450 electric ones. It is hoped the €48 million programme will save the city money.

Solar lamps made from e-waste are one solution to Nigeria’s power outages (Source Link)

Nigeria’s national grid has severe problems. When it collapses, it plunges the entire country into darkness, something that has happened around seven times already in 2022. Entrepreneur Dozie Igweilo has come up with a solution which not only keeps the lights on but reduces waste and emissions all at once.

France's massive new lithium mine could supply 700,000 electric car batteries a year (Source Link)

A lithium mine with the capacity to supply 700,000 electric car batteries per year is set to open in France.

SMMT: Surging UK electric vehicle exports set fresh record (Source Link)

Electrified models once again the main bright spot for the UK auto industry, but sector warns policy stability now needed to build on recent successes. Electrified models accounted for a record 37 per cent of UK car exports last month, according to the latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

California lawmakers vote to keep only nuclear power plant running until 2030 (Source Link)

A $1.4bn government loan will be extended to the Diablo Canyon plant near Avila Beach, between LA and San Francisco. California’s only nuclear power plant will possibly remain open until the end of the decade after state lawmakers voted in favor of extending its life late.

How Adobe built an all-electric office tower (Source Link)

Adobe’s new 18-story building is Silicon Valley’s first of its kind, and places a big bet on the future of corporate spaces in the era of climate change.

Walmart suppliers join forces to buy renewable electricity (Source Link)

Under Gigaton PPA, a diverse group including Amy’s Kitchen, Great Lakes Cheese, Levi Strauss & Co., The J.M. Smucker Co. and Valvoline is contracting for 250,000 megawatt-hours of power annually.

GM Sources Renewable Energy to Power 100% of U.S. Operations (Source Link)

Automotive giant GM announced that has achieved its goal to secure enough renewable energy to power all of its U.S. sites by 2025, solidifying the company’s position as the largest offtaker of renewable power in the automotive OEM industry.

Inside the world’s first affordable solar-powered electric vehicle: The $25,000 Sono Motors Sion?(Source Link)

Germany company Sono Motors says it will bring a solar-powered electric vehicle to market in Europe in mid-2023. Sono has brought the car, called the Sion, on a tour throughout the U.S., in anticipation of its eventual domestic release.

Shell reports drop in profit to $9.45 billion, hikes dividend (Source Link)

Shell posted a third-quarter profit of $9.45 billion, slightly below the second quarter's record high, due to weaker refining and gas trading, and said it will sharply boost its dividend by the end of 2022 when its CEO departs.

Shell paid zero windfall tax in UK despite record global profits (Source Link)

Shell has paid zero windfall tax in the UK despite making record global profits of nearly $30bn so far this year, prompting calls for the government to overhaul a scheme that was supposed to raise billions to tackle the cost of living crisis.

Britain’s biggest bank will no longer finance new oil and gas fields (Source Link)

Lloyds, Britain's biggest domestic bank, has announced it will not finance new oil and gas fields.

Business: Amazon, Mondelez, BCG, Aramco, BEV, Chicago Institutions, ESMA and FCA

Amazon Facility on Track to be First Ever Zero Carbon Certified Fulfillment Center (Source Link)

Amazon announced that its new Sacramento, California-based fulfillment center is on track to become the first logistics facility in the world to achieve Zero Carbon Certification by the International Living Future Institute.

Mondelez Ramps Investment in Sustainable Cocoa Initiatives to $1 Billion (Source Link)

Food company Mondelēz International announced a commitment to invest an additional $600 million by 2030 in its global cocoa sustainability program, Cocoa Life, bringing its total investments in the initiative to $1 billion, aimed at addressing systemic environmental and human rights challenges and improve cocoa farmer livelihoods.

BCG Survey: Only 10% of Companies Fully Measuring Emissions (Source Link)

Very few companies are currently capable of measuring their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and major gaps remain in terms of measurement accuracy, according to a new study released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).??BCG surveyed over 1,600 organizations with 1,000 or more employees, and with revenues ranging from approximately $100 million to over $10 billion.

Saudi oil giant Aramco unveils $1.5B sustainability fund (Source Link)

Saudi oil and gas company Aramco unveiled a $1.5 billion fund for sustainable investments, part of efforts to burnish the state-owned company’s green credentials in an announcement ahead of the U.N. climate conference next month in Egypt.

Bill Gates’ climate-investment firm will put more money into adapting to climate change (Source Link)

Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) has made more than 100 investments in startups primarily focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Chicago Institutions Just Got $25 Million to Study Local Effects of Climate Change (Source Link)

The Department of Energy grant represents a turning point for environmental justice communities on the South Side that disproportionately suffer from city flooding and heat waves.

EU Markets Regulator Adds ESG Disclosure to its Key Priorities (Source Link)

EU markets regulator the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that it has added ESG disclosures to its list of Union Strategic Supervisory Priorities (USSPs), one of its key tools to coordinate supervisory actions with national competent authorities.

UK Regulator Targets Greenwashing with New Sustainable Investment Labels and Disclosure Rules (Source Link)

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the conduct regulator for financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, unveiled a series of new proposed rules, including the introduction of investment product sustainability labels and disclosure requirements, in a bid to clamp down on greenwashing through the exaggeration or misrepresentation of ESG claims.

Climate Justice: Just Stop Oil Activists, COP15 and Farmers

Just Stop Oil activist tries to glue own head to Girl with a Pearl Earring (Source Link)

Dutch police have arrested three people at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague after Johannes Vermeer’s golden age masterpiece Girl with a Pearl Earring became the latest target of climate protesters.

Activist explains how some Glasgow residents secured an energy price freeze (Source Link)

Activists have secured energy price freezes for some Glasgow residents after a four-month campaign by Wyndford Residents Union.

Just Stop Oil spray orange paint on Harrods on day 20 of climate protests (Source Link)

Just Stop Oil activists have sprayed paint on Harrods to protest the UK government’s new oil and gas licences.

Just Stop Oil protesters arrested after throwing cake at King Charles III waxwork (Source Link)

Activists are carrying out action every day this month in call to end new oil and gas licenses. Four have been arrested after Just Stop Oil protesters threw cake over King Charles III’s waxwork statue at Madame Tussauds.

Just Stop Oil: do radical protests turn the public away from a cause? Here’s the evidence (Source Link)

Members of the protest group Just Stop Oil recently threw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in the National Gallery in London. The action once again triggered debate about what kinds of protest are most effective. After a quick clean of the glass, the painting was back on display. But critics argued that the real damage had been done, by alienating the public from the cause itself.

Hundreds of firms demand mandatory nature risk disclosure rules ahead of COP15 talks (Source Link)

Around 330 corporates call on global heads of state to ensure mandatory nature risk rules form part of UN global nature loss treaty set to be discussed at COP15 summit in December.

Fear of farmer protests hampers methane-cutting ambition (Source Link)

Around the world, the fear of farmers’ protests is deterring governments from reducing methane emissions from cows and sheep. At Cop26 last year, over 100 governments said they would collectively reduce emissions of methane, a particularly damaging greenhouse gas, by 30% between 2020 and 2030.

Report, Research and Other:?UNICEF, WMO, Clean Energy, COP27, Africa’s food markets, G20, Seattle Air Quality, Climate Crisis, Clean Water Act, EU’s Energy Bills, Companies’ Pledges, Fossil Fuel Addiction, Water of the Alps, California and Greening Your Money

Heatwaves to impact almost every child on earth by 2050: UNICEF report (Source Link)

Heatwaves have become an unavoidable health hazard for many nations, but new data indicates that they are set to affect virtually every child on earth by 2050, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned.

Climate change: CO2 and methane in our atmosphere reach record levels (Source Link)

Atmospheric levels of the three main greenhouse gases warming our planet - carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide- all reached new record highs in 2021, according to a new report from the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Report: Global crises can speed up move to clean energy (Source Link)

Spiraling energy costs caused by various economic factors and the Ukraine war could be a turning point toward cleaner energy, the International Energy Agency said in a report. It found the global demand for fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas, is set to peak or plateau in the next few decades.

In COP27 host Egypt, Red Sea coral reefs resilient but under stress (Source Link)

Egypt hosts next month's COP27 climate summit at a Red Sea resort, where climate change and human activity are threatening one of the world's most prized coral reefs.

Africa’s broken food markets must be fixed to tackle hunger (Source Link)

A handful of large companies make big profits by controlling the food trade in Africa, while doing nothing to increase its climate resilience

'The G20 has failed to deliver': Study slams continued increase in fossil fuel subsidies (Source Link)

New Climate Transparency report reveals fossil fuel production subsidies surged to the highest levels on record in 2021.

Seattle air quality worst in the world as wildfires rage in Washington state (Source Link)

The city’s air quality was worse than even perennially-polluted cities like New Delhi and Beijing. Seattle recorded the worst air quality of any major city in the world on Thursday as nearby wildfires poured smoke over the Pacific Northwest.

Climate crisis fuelling unseasonably warm October in UK and Europe, say experts (Source Link)

Three months ago, Britain experienced its hottest day on record. Records were similarly broken in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands as an extreme heatwave swept across much of Europe.

Clean Water Act at 50: environmental gains, challenges unmet (Source Link)

Fifty years ago, Congress passed the Clean Water Act to protect U.S. waterways from abuses like the oily industrial pollution that caused Ohio's Cuyahoga River to catch on fire in 1969.

Europe’s energy bills could be lower than expected this winter. Here’s why (Source Link)

The possibility of winter blackouts in Europe is being held at bay by falling gas prices. A spell of unusually warm weather, plus improved supplies, saw the wholesale price of gas drop below €100 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the first time since mid-June.

Companies are making climate pledges they don’t have the capacity to keep, Microsoft President Brad Smith says (Source Link)

“By our count, 3,470 companies around the world have signed up for a climate pledge,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith at last week’s Breakthrough Energy Summit in Seattle. But while companies are setting goals they don’t know exactly how they will deliver on, the pressure on companies to respond to climate change continues to build.

Doctors say ‘fossil fuel addiction’ kills, starves millions (Source Link)

Extreme weather from climate change triggered hunger in nearly 100 million people and increased heat deaths by 68% in vulnerable populations worldwide as the world’s “fossil fuel addiction” degrades public health each year, doctors reported in a new study.

Battle of the Alps? Water woes loom amid climate change (Source Link)

The crystal-clear waters issuing from the Alps could become increasingly contested as the effects of climate change and glacier melt become more apparent. Italy wants them for crop irrigation in the spring and summer. Swiss authorities want to hold up flows to help hydroelectric plants rev up, when needed.

California carbon emissions fell 9% in pandemic’s 1st year (Source Link)

California’s planet-warming emissions dropped nearly 9% in 2020 compared to the year before as pandemic restrictions kept people at home, out of their cars and away from the workplace for much of the year.

Could greening your money be a 'powerful weapon’ in the fight against climate change? (Source Link)

If you're searching for ways to reduce your impact on the environment, your bank account might not be the first place you look. But considering how and where you keep your money could have a big impact on your carbon footprint.?