Happy Tuesday. Today is World Reef Day a call to action for consumers, businesses and organisations to protect one of our most important ecosystems. It’s also ‘National Say Something Nice Day’ so have a good day I guess…
In today’s edition:
🧑⚖️ Shell’s court ruling against their emissions
🍫 How Lindt are sourcing sustainable choc
🇺🇸 America’s floating wind farms
Big Business (2-minute read)
PepsiCo are improving female economic empowerment in India
Women in India can face barriers to inheriting land due to harmful gender norms that prevent them from retaining ownership of farms. PepsiCo (in partnership with USAID) is tackling this with their latest programme which provides land literacy education (i.e teaching females their landowner rights) alongside technical training (on sustainable farming practices). Empowering women economically will allow PepsiCo to grow their farming supply base, improve productivity and promote sustainable farming practices (which improves their supply-chain resilience). All the while, showing that women’s empowerment makes social, economic and environmental sense.
A crushing week for Big Oil …
Big Oil has been rocked by a climate reckoning this week with stunning boardroom and courtroom defeats all demanding accelerated climate action:
- A court in the Netherlands ruled that the oil giant Shell must reduce its emissions by 45% compared to 2030 levels. It is the first time a company has been legally obliged to align its policies with the Paris climate accords.
- Exxon lost two board seats to climate activists in an overhaul by shareholders to push a more aggressive emissions strategy.
- Chevron investors defied management on a major climate vote, approving a measure for the company to set stringent targets on the emissions from the products it sells for the first time.
The big deal: Shell’s courtroom defeat is particularly game changing – it sets a precedent whereby a court can decide on the corporate strategy of major emitters and force an overhaul. These climate victories should rally shareholders to push for more.
🤖 Future of Tech (1-minute read)
Transparency from bean to bar: Lindt & Sprüngli shifts to 100% traceable and verified cocoa beans
The $130B chocolate industry relies on cocoa farming. Yet, many cocoa farmers make less than $1/day (The threshold for extreme poverty is $1.90/day) which has knock on social impacts such as child labor. Only by knowing where beans come from can chocolate producers improve the living conditions of cocoa farmers and ensure a responsible supply chain. Swiss chocolate producer, Lindt & Sprüngli, just reached an important milestone by shifting production to 100% traceable cocoa beans. Beans receive a unique barcode at their farm of origin, they are transported separately to prevent mixing, and are then provided with a sustainability certificate by a third-party verifying fair compensation for their producers and ethical processing.
China’s new “Artificial Sun” energy record
China creates over half its energy by burning coal (the largest emitter of carbon dioxide). Step forward their nuclear fusion research device – Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). Nuclear fusion recreates the Sun’s process for producing energy by combining intense heat and pressure to produce plasma. The plasma then power’s nuclear fusion reactors to provide a near unlimited supply of clean energy at remarkably low costs (find out more here). It’s reported scientists have achieved a record by holding plasma at 120 million degrees celsius for 101 seconds, with the goal being to reach 100 million °C for more than 1,000 seconds – a key milestone for powering the nuclear fusion reactors and securing China’s sustainable energy needs.
💡Start-up Spotlight (1-minute read)
Last month, Biden vowed to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. The goal will require sweeping changes in power generation but also a lot of land… A 200-megawatt wind farm requires 19 square miles of land. A natural-gas power plant with that same capacity could fit onto a single city block.
Conquer the seas: Traditional offshore wind turbines must be heavily anchored to the sea floor to withstand waves and weather, so are limited to shallow waters (<60m). This week, General Electric released their floating wind farm concept. Sensors detect gusts of wind and swells in the ocean and, in real time, adjust the length of ‘wire tendons’ attached to the sea floor, so that the platform can smoothly ride waves and not tip over.
The big deal: Previous floating turbines have been heavy and expensive. This system cuts weight by more than 30% (= cost savings) whilst maximising power output (= increased revenue), driving the tech closer to price parity with other renewables. Public funding helps – The US Department of Energy just awarded the project a $3 million.
The potential electric power footprint of the US by 2050 (Quadrupling in size).
💭 Little Bytes
Quote: “We still don’t have a good solution for those things that need portable power e.g. cars, planes etc… We are still looking for a solution that can help us reverse the damage we are doing to the planet through our everyday lives.” Tim Joslyn, CTO, Pollinate
Stat: Last year, 31 publicly traded US companies named their first-ever chief sustainability officer, doubling the number from 2019
Watch: Sweden recycling heat to power homes
🗞 In other news…
- Burger King launch first meatless restaurant
- Arc’teryx, the Outdoor clothing brand, launches resale, care and repair services to increase product lifespan and reduce waste.
- Microsoft moves into the grocery tech market with new Chinese partnership
- UK Soil Association launches centre for sustainable farming excellence
- Denmark to build world’s first artificial renewables island
🎣 Gone Phishing
Three of these stories are true, one we made up, can you guess which?
