Author: Jan_Oliff.

Farmers in England will bury burnt wood in fields to capture CO2

A large trial is underway to see how much CO2 can be removed from the atmosphere by burying a charcoal-like material in fields
Biochar

Farmers in England are starting to bury a charcoal-like material in their fields to see if it could offer a new large-scale way of putting the brakes on climate change.

Biochar is the carbon-rich material left over from burning wood and other biomass at high temperatures in an oxygen-free environment. Most of its use today is at the small scale, such as gardeners using it as a fertiliser.

However, a team led by Colin Snape at the University of Nottingham, UK, has started burying up to 200 tonnes of biochar in fields to gauge if it could help meet the UK’s net-zero goal by removing millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It is the biggest biochar trial yet in the UK, and one of several CO2 removal ideas in a £31.5 million research programme, including scattering rock dust on fields and planting more trees.

 

“The key thing is that all of these greenhouse gas removal technologies, we need to test their viability. We need to figure out how big a slice of the pie biochar is. It’s about not putting all our eggs into one basket, of one magical technology that will save us,” says Genevieve Hodgins, who is managing the biochar project.

Around 15 tonnes of biochar is in the ground already, and more farmers are being recruited across the Midlands region of England this spring and summer to begin widespread burials this autumn. Beyond tackling climate change, a big attraction for farmers is that research indicates biochar can improve soil health, which is in a parlous state in England.

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Shell consultant quits, accusing firm of ‘extreme harms’ to environment

Caroline Dennett tells staff in video she made decision because of ‘double-talk on climate’

A senior safety consultant has quit working with Shell after 11 years, accusing the fossil fuel producer in a bombshell public video of causing “extreme harms” to the environment.

Caroline Dennett claimed Shell had a “disregard for climate change risks” and urged others in the oil and gas industry to “walk away while there’s still time”.

The executive, who works for the independent agency Clout, ended her working relationship with Shell in an open letter to its executives and 1,400 employees. In an accompanying video, posted on LinkedIn, she said she had quit because of Shell’s “double-talk on climate”.

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Climate group sues Dutch airline KLM over ‘greenwashing’ advert

Environmental campaigners are suing the Dutch airline KLM over “greenwashing” adverts they say misleadingly promote the sustainability of flying.

Lawyers from ClientEarth are supporting Fossielvrij NL, a Netherlands-based campaign group, to bring a claim that KLM’s ad campaigns give a false impression of the sustainability of its flights and its plans to address its impact on the climate.

“KLM’s marketing misleads consumers into believing that its flights won’t worsen the climate emergency. But this is a myth,” said Hiske Arts, a campaigner at Fossielvrij NL.

“Unchecked flying is one of the fastest ways to heat up the planet. Customers need to be informed and protected from claims that suggest otherwise.”

Activists from Fossielvrij NL submitted a pre-action letter to Air France KLM, KLM’s parent company, during its AGM in Paris on Tuesday. Their legal action takes aim at KLM’s “Fly Responsibly” campaign, which presents the airline as “creating a more sustainable future”.

Read here:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/24/climate-group-sues-dutch-airline-klm-over-adverts

Executive pay system is broke

The system of executive pay is “broken”, the Church of England’s pension board has said, as it challenged more companies to ease the pain of soaring inflation by committing to paying workers the living wage.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/19/next-shareholders-agree-to-44m-pay-package-for-chief-despite-opposition?utm_term=62872e62da683c87d583e2df4151e534&utm_campaign=FirstEdition&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=firstedition_email

The Helsinki neighbourhood leading the way to zero-carbon cities

Kalasatama, a former cargo port in Finland’s capital, is acting as a test bed for new ideas that could help the city reach a goal of zero carbon emissions by 2040

A neighbourhood in the shadow of a coal power station on the outskirts of Helsinki, Finland, might seem an unlikely place to envangelise about its environmental credentials.
But here in the former cargo port of Kalasatama, a 31-year mega project is under way to build a model green urban district that should eventually be home to 30,000 people.
About 9000 have already moved in. “It’s getting better and better by the day,” says Hetta Huittinen-Naskali, who has lived in Kalasatama for four years. “What I like is that there are always people moving around.”
For her, that means walking, the city’s popular bike-hire scheme, the metro and, in her husband’s case, a car too.
The neighbourhood is billed by city authorities as a test bed for new ideas that might be rolled out to the rest of the capital: last year saw a driverless bus pilot project and robots delivering food to older residents.
Perhaps most importantly, the area is grappling with ways to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels to meet Helsinki’s goal of absolutely zero carbon emissions by 2040.

READ: newscientist.com article here

This climate crisis report asks: what is at stake? In short, everything

Analysis: Major IPCC report, approved by 195 countries, lays bare devastating harm caused by unchecked global heating

“A liveable and sustainable future for all”. It is the very last words of the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that spell out what is at stake. In short, it is everything.
 
The damage from global heating is already hitting hard. The comprehensive IPCC assessment, which is based on 34,000 studies, documents “widespread and pervasive” impacts on people and the natural world from increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms and floods. Some impacts are now irreversible.
 

Can a tech billionaire squash Australia’s coal industry by buying it?

Frustrated with the Australian government’s inaction on climate change, software king Mike Cannon-Brookes is trying to buy several big coal plants so he can shut them down in favour of renewables

Mike Cannon-Brookes, the third-richest person in Australia, has launched an audacious bid to buy the country’s biggest electricity company – and shut its coal-fired power plants. It is a bold approach to decarbonisation, but can he pull it off?

Australia currently produces the highest carbon emissions per capita in the world from burning coal for power generation. The country’s government is highly attached to fossil fuels. Not long before becoming the current prime minister, Scott Morrison brought a lump of coal to parliament and announced: “This is coal. Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared, it won’t hurt you.”

Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of software giant Atlassian, has been a vocal critic of the government’s climate inaction. Now, he is using his net worth of A$20 billion to try to take matters into his own hands.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2309157-can-a-tech-billionaire-squash-australias-coal-industry-by-buying-it/

Climate change: Can the UK afford its net zero policies?

With the cost of living rising, are Britain’s plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions too expensive?

 

A small but vocal group of Conservative MPs are arguing that with energy prices soaring, the government should rethink how it reaches what’s known as ‘net-zero’ by 2050.

The group has made a number of key arguments. So what are they saying, and what does the data tell us?

Three years ago the goal of net-zero was written into UK law with the backing of MPs from all sides.

Broadly speaking it’s a commitment to transform the way our economy operates.

Net-zero means not adding to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Achieving it means reducing emissions as much as possible, as balancing out any that remain.

There’s consensus among the world’s scientists that it’s vital if we’re to have a chance of keeping global temperature rises to manageable levels.

Read about this

Plastic packaging increases fresh food waste

Supermarkets should stop selling fresh produce such as apples and potatoes in plastic packaging, research suggests, because it does not make them last longer and adds to pollution and food waste.

The 18-month study by the sustainability charity Wrap, which also looked at sales of bananas, broccoli and cucumbers, debunks the idea that single-use plastic wrappers help prevent waste.

Instead, this packaging often forces people to buy more than they need, increasing the problem of wasted food.

Read the article

After deadly floods, can Germany adapt to its climate future?

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change prepares to release a major report on adapting to climate change, Adam Vaughan visits the site of 2021’s deadly floods in Ahr, Germany, to discover how locals are rebuilding.

“I SAW a tree with people sitting in it, crying and screaming. I could hear them despite all the noise.
But I couldn’t help them. I didn’t know what to do,” says Melanie Schultz-Coerne, crying too as she recalls the traumatic night last year when Germany experienced its worst floods in six decades.
She doesn’t know what happened to the campers she saw, but 134 people in the country’s Ahr valley died during the floods in mid-July, with hundreds more injured.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25333754-200-after-deadly-floods-can-germany-adapt-to-its-climate-future/

Oil firms’ climate claims are greenwashing, study concludes

Most comprehensive scientific analysis to date finds words are not matched by actions

Accusations of greenwashing against major oil companies that claim to be in transition to clean energy are well-founded, according to the most comprehensive study to date.

The research, published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, examined the records of ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP, which together are responsible for more than 10% of global carbon emissions since 1965. The researchers analysed data over the 12 years up to 2020 and concluded the company claims do not align with their actions, which include increasing rather than decreasing exploration

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/16/oil-firms-climate-claims-are-greenwashing-study-concludes?utm_term=620dd653293a7d76d3b14b06409ae6d9&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email

SUVs have the carbon footprint of a major industrial nation

The market for the cars is booming despite campaigns to reduce emissions

Talk of sustainability is everywhere — whether in the installation of heat pumps in our homes, the expanding meat-free sections in our supermarkets, or in the cries of “climate hypocrisy” whenever a politician takes a private jet. One area seemingly unaffected by the green movement, however, is in the high-end sports utility vehicle (SUV) market.

Read here: newstatesman.com/chart

Waste must end

We hack almost 100 billion tonnes of stuff from Earth’s surface every year, and most of it goes to waste. Changing that means a complete overhaul of how we live

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25333730-800-the-end-of-waste-the-grand-plan-to-build-a-truly-circular-economy/

Waitrose and Lidl top list of eco-friendly supermarkets

Study by Which? looked at greenhouse gas emissions as well as plastic waste and food waste.

Waitrose and Lidl carrier bags

Waitrose and Lidl are the most sustainable supermarkets, according to a Which?’s eco-friendly grocer ranking.

Iceland finished last, according to the research, which tracked supermarket policies on: plastic waste and food waste, which shoppers have reported are the biggest issues for them; and greenhouse gas emissions, which most experts say poses the greatest environmental threat.

In its first such ranking, the consumer magazine pointed out that supermarkets respond to customer demand, so if shoppers make eco-friendly choices and demand sustainable options, this can influence shops to improve.

2021 Newsletter November

Have you noticed how popular you become when you start speaking about the environment, saving water, making your own compost, upcycling everything from furniture to clothes?

That is a good starting point, but what if you could do more with your pension or savings as well?

Have you been put off making those changes because:

  • you have been convinced it is just a fad?
  • doing good means sacrificing performance?
  • your worried about “Greenwash”?
  • money is safer in your bank?

Traditional advice works against sensible thoughts, and you do nothing to change your strategy because “it has always worked fine for me.”

Fortunately, for pensions, many major employers have changed strategy, moving billions into more sustainable investment types – investments that help the fight against climate change instead of adding to the problem.

Jan has decades of experience investing for good. She has worked over the past 5 years to better understand the thought processes and the policies behind the fund managers who offer Environmental, Social and Good Governance (ESG) as core values.

We have made investments for our clients that, over 5 years, have returned an average of 4% to 14% per year, or 20.46% and 74.88% over 5 years.

Of course, the past cannot guarantee the future, but it shows that good investment really can pay off.

Jan listens and takes your values seriously. She understands risk and reward strategies.

In our firm the client calls the shots; every client is treated as an individual whose views matter. 

Look at your pension or savings and ask yourself, could I invest better?