Climate News Update January 2023

Check out Drew Stewart's, Waterman’s environmental expert, latest round-up of all the recent climate news, upcoming webinars and fascinating opinion pieces from across the UK and Europe, and around the world.

COP15 – 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference

On 19 December 2022 in Montreal, nations adopt four goals and 23 targets for 2030 in a landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement. Without such action, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) warns that there will be a further acceleration in the global rate of species extinction, which is already at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years. Among the global targets for 2030:

• Effective conservation and management of at least 30% of the world’s lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans, with emphasis on areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and services. The GBF prioritizes ecologically-representative, well-connected and equitably-governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories and practices. Currently 17% and 10% of the world’s terrestrial and marine areas respectively are under protection.
• Have restoration completed or underway on at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland waters, and coastal and marine ecosystems
• Reduce to near zero the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity
• Cut global food waste in half and significantly reduce over consumption and waste generation
• Reduce by half both excess nutrients and the overall risk posed by pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals
• Progressively phase out or reform by 2030 subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year, while scaling up positive incentives for biodiversity’s conservation and sustainable use
• Mobilize by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private
• Raise international financial flows from developed to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and countries with economies in transition, to at least US$ 20 billion per year by 2025, and to at least US$ 30 billion per year by 2030
• Prevent the introduction of priority invasive alien species, and reduce by at least half the introduction and establishment of other known or potential invasive alien species, and eradicate or control invasive alien species on islands and other priority sites
• Require large and transnational companies and financial institutions to monitor, assess, and transparently disclose their risks, dependencies and impacts on biodiversity through their operations, supply and value chains and portfolios

UK & EU

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee have released their latest report ‘Accelerating the transition from fossil fuels and securing energy supplies’. They state that by 2035 all UK homes should have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of C, and that by 2025, at least one million homes a year should be installing insulation and other energy efficiency measures.

The UK government has announced the ban on certain single-use plastic products which will include plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks and certain kinds of polystyrene cups and food containers. England banned single-use plastic straws, stirrers, and plastic-stemmed cotton buds in 2020. This new ban applies specifically to plastic packaging of food and drinks from restaurants and cafes, not in supermarkets and stores. The government plans to address those in a separate scheme that would have manufacturers cover disposal costs starting in 2024.

The UK government announced that Virgin Atlantic has won a competition to receive funding to operate the first-ever ‘net zero transatlantic flight’, flying from London to New York on 100% sustainable aviation fuel, planned for 2023.

EVs accounted for one-third of all UK car sales last month. Meanwhile, London has banned new taxis that are not zero-emission capable under new rules implemented by Transport for London (TfL).

Great Britain produced a record amount of wind-powered electricity in 2022, according to the National Grid. Overall 48.5% of electricity came from renewable and nuclear power, compared to 40% from gas and coal power stations.

The UK’s levelling-up secretary Michael Gove has approved a proposed mine at Whitehaven in Cumbria, the first new coal mine in the country for 30 years, despite concern about its climate impacts. The project will produce nearly 3m tonnes of coal and an estimated 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year.

New “natural gas”-only boilers in the UK face a ban within four years “under net-zero proposals for the grid to use hydrogen instead”, the Daily Telegraph reports. The newspaper says the government’s plan, mentioned in a consultation, would mean all boilers installed after 2026 would have to be hydrogen-ready.

The polar regions and Europe were hit the hardest by global warming in 2022 according to data from Copernicus, the EU’s climate monitoring service which states that 2022 was the fifth warmest year globally. Europe experienced its warmest summer, with temperatures increasing by more than twice the global average over the past three decades, faster than any other continent. The last eight years are now also the warmest eight yet recorded. Meanwhile, the world’s oceans were the hottest ever recorded in 2022.

In December 2022, the EU reached a deal over its carbon border adjustment mechanism. The measure will impose a CO2 emissions tariff on imports of polluting goods such as steel and cement, a world-first scheme aiming to support European industries as they decarbonise. Companies importing those goods into the EU will be required to buy certificates to cover their embedded CO2 emissions. The scheme is designed to apply the same CO2 cost to overseas firms and domestic EU industries – the latter of which are already required to buy permits from the EU carbon market when they pollute.

The European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions fell last year by 22% from a peak hit in 2008, according to the bloc’s statistic office Eurostat.

Other Climate News:

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2023 uncovers the cost-of-living crisis to be the most severe short-term risk. However, the failure of climate mitigation and climate adaptation are noted as the biggest long-term concerns (>10 years).

Global banking and financial services company HSBC will no longer provide financing for new oil and gas projects or for new metallurgical coal mines, according to its new Energy Policy, and the bank will require energy sector clients to provide transition plans consistent with its climate targets in order to continue receiving financing.

On 10 January 2023, the Biden administration has unveiled a multi-department set of strategies and actions aimed at eliminating nearly all emissions from the US transportation sector by 2050. Read the strategy here.

Canada is to require 100% of new cars sold to be zero emissions vehicles by 2035, according to new proposed regulations announced by the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

In December 2022, world’s first Hydrogen train with a speed of 160km per hour was rolled out in China. The train uses a combination of hydrogen fuel cells and super capacitors as an energy source, replacing the traditional overhead catenary power supply with water being the only by-product.

A group of environmental and legal campaign organisations have filed a lawsuit against France based global food and beverage company Danone aimed at requiring the company to address its use of plastic and to provide transparency into the environmental impact of its plastics footprint. According to ClientEarth, Danone is one of the top ten global corporate plastic polluters, using more than 750,000 tonnes of plastics for packaging in 2021.

On the outlook for renewables, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that renewable energy capacity worldwide is expected to double over the next five years. The increase is 30% higher than the amount of growth forecast last year.

A new assessment from the United Nations finds that the Earth’s ozone layer could be restored across much of the world in two decades’ time if current policies are maintained, BBC News reports. The outlet says the poles will take longer to recover, with the Arctic and Antarctic holes expected to recover by 2045 and 2066, respectively. It explains that after the hole in the ozone layer was discovered, 46 countries promised to phase out the harmful chemicals chlorofluorocarbons under the Montreal Protocol.

Environment, Social, Governance (ESG)

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) have announced that it has raised more than $1.6 bn at the final close of its inaugural direct private market strategy dedicated to investing in climate and environmental solutions. GSAM stated that the fund will be the first in a series of ‘Horizon Funds’, targeting investments in key sustainability trends. Horizon Climate is classified as Article 9 under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the most stringent classification, indicating that the fund has sustainable investment as an objective.

Switzerland is to address greenwashing with financial products and funds labelled as ‘sustainable’, ‘green’ or ‘ESG’ on Swiss financial markets to be required to align or contribute to specific sustainability goals, with providers required to disclose how they intend to achieve the goals, according to new proposed rules unveiled by the Swiss Federal Council. The initiative comes as regulators globally, including the UK’s FCA,  the US’ SEC and the EU’s ESMA are moving to address issues associated with the proliferation of investment products and services marketed as ’ESG,’ ‘green’ or ‘sustainable,’ without clear rules communicating to investors the actual ESG-related attributes, methodologies and criteria that are being considered in the funds.

Air France-KLM issues €1 Billion High Yield Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB) tied to climate goals. The deal marks the first euro-denominated SLB issuance in the airline sector.

In India, both the government and the Reserve Bank of India have taken a number of initiatives to address climate risks. These include:

• Issuance of sovereign green bonds to mobilize resources for green infrastructure projects
• Establishment of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund which endorses the One Planet Sovereign Wealth Fund (OPSWF) framework
• Launce of the Green Growth Equity Fund to support the growth of businesses focused on clean energy
• The Reserve Bank of India has also mandated that banks integrate ESG considerations into their risk management policies and has established a task force to develop a roadmap for green finance in India.

This month’s sustainable new innovations

1.     Kimberly-Clark posts success with nappy composting trials

Every year, some 167 billion disposable nappies are manufactured. These present a waste management challenge, given that they can take hundreds of years to break down in landfill.

Kimberly-Clark Australia has sought to tackle this issue by scaling an anaerobic digestion solution for the organic materials contained in used Huggies nappies. It has been working with national science agency CSIRO, composter Peats Soils and Garden Supplies and Solo Resource Recovery to trial the processing method on nappies collected via early learning and childcare provider G8 Education.

In December, the consumer goods giant revealed that the ‘Nappy Loop’ scheme will be progressing past the trial stage. It also confirmed a partnership with APR Plastics to explore the chemical recycling of the plastics recovered from the nappies.

2.     Net Zero health centre opens to patients in Wiltshire

Historically, the NHS has reduced emissions by just 1% each year, but the level of annual reductions will need to hit 8% if the 2040 net-zero target is to be delivered.

The NHS Property Services, which manages more than 3,000 buildings across the NHS estate in England has formally opened a new health centre that is net-zero in terms of operational emissions in Wiltshire.

The Devizes health centre has an EPC rating of A+ thanks to an energy-efficient fabric design. It is fitted with energy-efficient lighting and heating, with heating provided by heat pumps rather than fossil fuel systems. The centre boasts onsite solar, too, and is classed as self-sufficient in terms of energy use.

3.     Big brewing players help to raise £2m for Toast Ale

Toast Ale is a British Brewery that turns surplus bread into beverages and is certified as a social enterprise and B Corp.

Last month the business closed its ‘Toast for Equity’ investment round, securing more than £2m for initiatives that will enable partnerships with more bakeries and the implementation of bread ‘upcycling’ processes at more breweries. Toast has collaborated with 86 breweries since its launch in 2016.

Webinars:

Coventry City Council: The Net Zero Office. Wednesday 15 February 2023, 14.30-16.00 GMT. Register here.