@ford_brodeur_
Climate Dialogue Advisor,
We Don't Have Time •
Shared by Ford Brodeur
Pachama
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This year’s IPCC’s recent AR6 Synthesis Report caught our attention. According to the IPCC Report, of all the solutions available today to reduce net emissions by 2030, “reduced conversion of forests and other ecosystems” ranks second only to solar energy. Combined with ecosystem restoration, afforestation & reforestation, and improved sustainable forest management, forest carbon can potentially remove almost eight gigatons of carbon dioxide per year (GtO2-eq) from the atmosphere. At Pachama, we find this insight encouraging. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, land use change is the second leading source of carbon emissions after fossil fuels. With proper management, we can reverse the trend and convert forests into our most powerful carbon removal technology. There is, however, a catch: to achieve planetary stabilization through forest carbon activities, we must price forest carbon credits correctly to incentivize conservation and reforestation as competitive land uses. Specifically, according to the same IPCC report, carbon credits must be priced between $50 and $200 per ton for forest carbon activities to achieve their environmental potential. To address climate change at the speed and scale necessary, the price of reforestation carbon credits needs to significantly increase and more closely align with the IPCC’s recommendations. What factors play into forest carbon credit cost? Determining how much a carbon credit should cost is a complex question whose answer has significant ripple effects on the economy and the planet. If prices for forest carbon credits are too low, project developers looking to bring new high-quality forest carbon projects to market will struggle to compete with other land uses, like agricultural or commercial development. On the other hand, if prices for forest carbon credits are too high, their impact may become more limited. Without a suitable price point, many corporates will opt out of purchasing reforestation credits, and these critical projects won’t get the funding they need to get off the ground. The right price point for carbon credits incentivizes high-quality carbon removal worldwide. To understand the true cost of removing an equivalent metric ton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Pachama sourced data from projects across the Americas. To inform our analysis, we gathered data across hundreds of projects from project developers primarily concentrated in North and South America. With data in hand, we were able to develop an understanding of what costs project developers incur and what percentage of the overall project budget each represents. While many factors influence the cost required to produce a high-quality carbon credit from an active reforestation project, we found that the two of the most influential factors are: (1) credit yield, or the carbon dioxide sequestered annually by the newly planted vegetation, and (2) the form of land ownership. Fluctuations in these two factors drive a wide range in costs, as illustrated in the table below: Pachama’s cost structure analysis In our analysis, we further broke down the costs of producing high-quality reforestation credits into three key categories: Landowner relationship: The cost of purchasing land or paying landowners for land use may vary between geographies and depend on the potential credit yield, which in turn depends on factors such as forest type and tree survival rate. Either purchased land or repurposed land may also have to acquire a permanent easement to ensure the long-term durability of the project. Initial costs: Across geographies, project developers must invest in initial costs such as tree planting (purchasing quality seedlings from nurseries and planting the trees), data acquisition, registration, verification, and legal and marketing costs. Ongoing costs: Over the lifetime of a project, developers also have to maintain the project to mitigate risks, optimize tree survival rates, and pay for periodic verification. Most generated high-quality carbon credits include the following ongoing cost categories: - Technology costs: Includes LiDAR data, field plots, cloud computing costs, etc., required to build higher precision forest growth and sequestration models. - Financing costs: Project developers may seek third-party financing because of the high upfront costs for land and/or implementation. These financiers often require a return on investment in the high single digits to low teens. - Project developer overhead: Includes shared overhead costs required to pay project development staff and market projects. Project developer costs may vary, considering that some forest carbon projects are undertaken by non-profits or public-benefit corporations and others by for-profit entities. Based on our findings, we’ve developed a sample cost structure for a 2,500-hectare active reforestation project. In our sample cost structure model for an active reforestation project, the upfront land costs are significant - representing 33% – 49% of the total lifetime cost. Combined with the initial costs required to initiate tree planting and qualify for registry issuance, the first five years of a project incur 67%– 75% of the project’s lifetime cost, yet issuance and revenue only activate after the first issuance event, which can occur 5-7 years after tree planting. We’d also like to note that geography plays an influential role in pricing. For example, it not only affects the cost of land acquisition and labor, but it also plays a role in tree survival rates and future credit yields. In addition, different types of forests that are found in different altitudes and climates also generate different credit yields. Moreover, certain jurisdictions may require landowners to conserve a certain percentage of their land as natural forest, thus affecting the project’s overall additionality calculation. Based on this bottom-up analysis of more than 150 project developer business plans across multiple geographies, we at Pachama believe that the average price for an active reforestation carbon credit from upcoming 2023 vintages should be between $50 and $82 tCO2e. Why invest now? With this data in hand, the IPCC’s cited price range of between $100-$200 tCO2e for forest carbon activities makes sense if we are to scale from the planet’s current capacity of 2.4 gigatons of carbon dioxide removal through forests to well over eight gigatons. Moreover, Pachama’s predicted price range of $50-$82 represents a bargain for those clients considering long-term procurement of credits as part of their net-zero strategy. A higher price for forest carbon credits creates economic incentives by allowing forest carbon activities to compete with subsidized agriculture and makes the space more attractive to investors willing to help project developers cover their initial costs. It goes without saying that more investors entering the space results in more competitive financial conditions, a win-win that can provide a major boost for the industry and for the planet. Of course, price alone will not make forest carbon a thriving industry, as the price must also reflect the integrity, openness, transparency, and durability of forest carbon projects. The best way for leading companies to restore nature at scale is to support the creation of new high-quality projects, and consider innovative financial models, such as investing in Pachama Originals, to help put the wheels in motion. The time to act is now. The time to invest is now.
Shared by Ford Brodeur
In less than a month, @lewis_pugh_ begins his longest-ever river swim, down the Hudson, to highlight the critical importance of healthy river ecosystems. When we protect rivers, we protect the ocean 🌊🏞️💧 #HudsonSwim2023 #RiversAreLife #RiverSwim https://www.lewispughfoundation.org/hudson-swim-2023
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Will surely follow up on this
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Looking forward to following this incredible challenge!
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Wishing you all the best, Lewis!
Shared by Ford Brodeur
We Don't Have Time
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The European Union (EU) has narrowly passed a nature restoration law aimed at protecting the environment and reversing the rapid decline of nature. The law, a key component of the European Green Deal championed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, will require the implementation of recovery measures on 20% of the EU's land and sea by 2030, eventually extending to cover all degraded ecosystems by 2050. While the law faced opposition from several groups, including the European People's Party (EPP) and far-right factions, scientists have criticized their claims as misleading. Over 6,000 scientists signed an open letter refuting opponents' assertions that restoring nature would harm food security and the economy, citing evidence that it would actually enhance these aspects, improve fisheries, create jobs, and save money. Europe's ecosystems are currently in poor condition, with more than 60% of soils and 81% of habitats suffering from degradation. Farmland bird populations have halved in the last four decades. Scientists stress that urgent action is necessary, as the rate of decline is alarming, comparable to the extinction of dinosaurs caused by a meteorite impact. Green groups have criticized changes made to the approved text, which eliminated a proposal to restore agricultural ecosystems and delayed the law's implementation until after a formal assessment of Europe's food security. Despite these criticisms, the law was still considered a significant social victory by proponents. The law had initially faced rejection from the European parliament's fisheries and agriculture committees, and the committee in charge of environmental issues failed to secure a majority vote. Farmers and fishers expressed concerns about the law's demands and the lack of clarity regarding who would bear the financial burden. The passing of the nature restoration law highlights the EU's commitment to addressing the urgent environmental challenges it faces. While compromises were made during the legislative process, the law sets a precedent for prioritizing nature conservation and restoration to ensure a sustainable future. Read more below! https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/12/eu-passes-nature-restoration-law-vote-meps
18 more agrees trigger social media ads
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Amazing news
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Amazing news from European Union
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With such laws passed we may get better climate practices in the EU
Shared by Ford Brodeur
Brita Staal
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Just as the flight taxies out on the strip my phone gets an emergency warning; the evacuation has started from the neighbouring areas of the rapidly increasing forestfire. A quick look out the window can confirm the situation; huge clouds of dark smoke are welling out of the nearby mountain side. The darkness fades out to lighter brownish grey further up in the sky, and slowly colours the entire horizon. The look of doom, from spectator flight seats. I went to Athens for work, but is of course sharing this plane with hundreds of tourist pouring in from Scandinavia, USA and Northern Europe. They all came for the sun and warmth, but some are now admittedly escaping the heat by moving their departure date. After five days of 40 degrees celcius, many felt they did not get the pleasant Greek holiday experience they were looking for. And wealthy as they are, tickets can be changed and new plans can be made. A world in crisis, and the way we react to it Talking to fellow passengers gives me a strange feeling that we are all fleeing. Back to our comfortable homes, in our cold countries. Fleeing on a combustion engine gigamachine throwing out more of the problem that made us all get to this point. Accompanied by jokes referencing to the last days of heat, people are smiling and noting the welling smoke. They are sighing and looking forward to the cold, fresh air of the north. With lightness they move on, happy to “get out in time” as one passenger says. A lightness that is almost unbearable, and definitely disgusting. Those who can’t escape There are over a million people in central Athens, many of them with nowhere to flee; like the many in housing with poor ventilation and definitely no air-con. The elderly of these. The animals in the burning forests. The over 120 000 Greeks and many of them Athenians living directly in the streets, scolding in direct sunshine with nowhere else to go. Walking the streets of Athens during a heatwave is a walk of shame. A walk from where the addicts set their first shots in bright daylight, to the wealthy drinking their frozen margaritas before noon is literary 5 minutes long. The path from the cold, damp shopping streets with air welling out of the air-conditioned stores, to the urine-smelling, dusty sidewalks occupied by the many people living in the streets, is lined by careless tourists. Shame, anger & action I am struck by shame and anger, being in this situation - being on this flight.With front row seats to another climate disaster, we zip our coffees and move on. Or, should we say driving seats to the disaster? The only refuge I can find for my own shame is that I was there for work. The difficult, delayed, and increasingly digitally distributed train-lines of Europe has been my way of dealing with the shame for many years. The systems that, at least in the nordics, used to be quite good, is sadly slowly becoming worse do to privatisation of the trainlines. When the market economy is driving our developments, the commons never wins. And lines of iron stretched across the distant areas of the north where people actually live, is never going to be profitable. Politicians are our only hope. But I cannot speak for the others; Would I feel less ashamed if my fellow passengers all noted the welling clouds in the horizon with guilt in their eyes? Would it feel better if we all did not have this lightness? And what can one really do? Give up on advocacy for mobilisation - tax the behaviour After many years in climate advocacy, climate tech and climate finance, I have given up on mobilisation. People will never change their behaviour, even when fleeing from countries stricken by climate crisis, they just book a new flight to another destination. Our only hope is to push policy changes at the European and national levels, through a just price on carbon and end to fossil fuel subsidies — specifically, an end to the tax exemption on kerosene. The kerosene tax was on the way from the EU right before covid, but placed in a drawer to protect the airline companies from bankruptcy. The current tax exemption on flight fuel is in effect a fossil fuel subsidy that disincentivizes a shift to lower carbon modes of transport, especially rail. And is currently one of the reasons our rail lines are falling behind, while flights are increasing by the hour. Our future is in the hands of politicians Their current weakness is the inability to tax the behaviours that is driving the climate crisis, and inability to use their powers to make the fossil fuel companies move towards renewables. Both could be easy if they had followed the polluter-pay principle from the start. Or used the current opportunity for the windfall principle to reallocate funds from record profiting fossil fuel companies in the light of the energy crisis, to the industries that are now struggling to ramp up the immense possibilities of harvesting sun and wind. When people don’t feel shame, even after experiencing the crisis first hand, we have to rely on our politicians to lead us away from the increasing climate chaos. May they be daring, decisive and direct - cause we don’t have time to combat indifference. _______ About Brita: Experienced climate reality leader, European NGO builder and entrepreneur within climate risk tech and climate impact investment. Published in Forbes and columnist in the Norwegian Technical Weekly Magazine.
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Thank you so much for sharing this! It's disheartening to see how poeple are shrugging this off back at home England, so I can't imagine how you must have felt on that plane. Taxation is a huge part of the solution and I agree that can't happen without political change.
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Thank you for sharing this eye opening article. It's true that most people don't feel guilty for their contributions to the climate crisis. If everyone was to feel a pinch of a guilt ,l think they will start thinking about how to solve the crisis or rather how to reduce their carbon emissions. I pray that this article opens our eyes and inspires us to take prompt action
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Thanks for sharing this positive insight
Shared by Ford Brodeur
Remembering our Common Goal: Saving the Planet We’ve all seen the recent headlines about the consumer class action lawsuit filed against Delta Airlines and the misrepresentation of their carbon-neutral claims. Not long before that, we saw news coming out of the European Parliament around greenwashing, subsequently leading to a push for a ban on businesses’ carbon neutrality claims. One might think that as someone who works for a carbon offset project developer, these headlines would upset me, but what I truly come out feeling is disappointment. It is no news to us that not all carbon offsets are created equally, but this does not mean that they do not each have a role to play in the fight against climate change. They won’t be able to play that role, however, without increased honesty and transparency. Earlier this year, our COO released a statement talking about the important role carbon credits play in the fight against climate change, and Tradewater’s efforts to bring young people into the fight to tackle non-CO2 gases. I happen to be one of those young professionals who left my graduate program looking for a way to fight climate change head-on. I knew when I was looking for jobs that I wanted to be on the ground doing something tangible. Something I could quite literally, physically do. And boy, did it get physical! I started at Tradewater in January 2020 and in those first two- and- a-half months, I traveled across over seven different states collecting and transporting thousands of pounds of refrigerant. There are so many procedures, policies, and regulations at play in the work we do, from the type of material we can buy to how it’s collected and transported. It’s a lot of information to absorb, let alone to ensure we’re putting it into practice. Yet, I had the chance to learn the most from the individuals we purchased material from. I listened to their stories about how they obtained this material and why they still held onto it after all these years. They’d talk to me about the cars they used their R-12 refrigerant on and how it differed from newer alternatives on the market. It became evident to me that not everyone embraced the shift towards lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants. However, they found an opportunity and incentive through companies like ours to sell their old stock. It seemed that despite our differing objectives, we managed to find a middle ground that resulted in a net good. This all added a human element to the work I was doing, and solidified my feeling that it was real—real in that beyond the ramifications of climate change, it had a very tangible effect on the individuals we are working with and the communities they service. As my role at Tradewater has evolved, it’s become even clearer that there is a crucial need for a company like ours to provide a financial incentive for individuals, companies, and communities to properly retire this material. All of us here at Tradewater share the frustrations that are bubbling up about the ways in which we talk about and market carbon offsets. We welcome the valid scrutiny of the work that we do and will continue to be transparent and push for others in this industry to do the same. It is especially important in this day and age to scrutinize the media we consume and ask for accountability from those that have proven to purposely mislead the public. The passion we feel for this work is palpable, and only further bolstered by the tangible change we see ourselves making every time we send out our next shipment. Our work here at Tradewater truly is a team effort, and I feel fortunate to have found my way into this unique corner of the climate movement. It is my hope that as we continue to hold each other accountable, we do not lose sight that we are all working towards a common goal: a more sustainable future for all.
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Thank you for your thoughts! The carbon offset discussion is very polarized and it is sometimes hard to know what to think, so I really appreciate this nuanced take on the situation.
Shared by Ford Brodeur
The world’s first global map of marine life regulations and their boundaries has just been released – and it could play an important role in reaching the goal of protecting 30% of our oceans by 2030. Navigator is a free, digital, and interactive map of regulatory information of over 21,000 managed saltwater and coast areas worldwide, including the high seas. This tool, published by ProtectedSeas, is a game changer when it comes to understanding and creating marine life protection. Before Navigator, it was difficult and time consuming to try to understand the rules that protect marine life. People had to spend months doing legal research and making maps. It was even harder because different rules applied to different places. This made it tricky to figure out how well the ocean spaces were being protected, which in turn, made it difficult to make additional protections for the ocean. In this article, we will explain the importance of Navigator and what it means for international conservation efforts. https://youtu.be/K3y8RfFKbZQ The Most Comprehensive Marine Life Protection Map ever Created Navigator was created to answer the question of where and how marine life is protected. Some areas of the ocean had marine life protections, but understanding where these boundaries began and ended wasn’t easy for policymakers, scientists, and environmental conservationists to recognize or utilize. The gap in knowing where marine life boundaries begin and end threatened the strengthening of existing regulations and the implementation of new ones. To close the gap in marine life protection regulation accessibility and knowledge, the ProtectedSeas team went to work compiling all the existing information regarding marine information and digitizing it. As you might expect, it wasn’t a straightforward process for ProtectedSeas to compile all the data on marine regulations, and the organization had its own fair share of unexpected complexities to overcome. Virgil Zetterlind, Director of ProtectedSeas, said in a recent webinar, “Some regulations were found on pictures of signs, like one we found in the Philippines. In Sweden, some of their original marine management plans were in type-written documents that were scanned as images that included hand-drawn maps and handwritten notes, and these were not in English. So, we had to hire contractors fluent in Swedish to help make sense of these marine regulations.” “Many areas we had to map were tough—from digitizing complex boundaries that followed coastlines and excluded islands to following connect-the-dots style descriptions to understand the regulations and boundaries,” said Zetterlind. The completion of Navigator took eight years of research, data collection, and summarization of legal documents. However, all the data collection and hard work by ProtectedSeas to create Navigator was worth it. The completion of Navigator is special because it is so comprehensive and dynamic in understanding where marine protection regulations exist and what areas are yet to be protected. On Navigator, you can view over 21,000 verified marine protected areas in over 220 countries, and Navigator can be utilized in over 25 languages. Additionally, on Navigator, each area is assigned a Level of Fishing Protection (LFP) score so you can understand what type of marine life regulations exist in that area. Each area’s LFP score is coded on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being the least restrictive and 5 being the highest. You can also look at and save detailed country reports about marine protected areas in Navigator. These reports show information about area-specific laws that protect different species and habitats. By studying these reports, you can find areas where there might not be enough protection and use that information to create new rules to keep them safe. Achieving International Conservation through leveraging Marine Protection At the 2022 United Nations Biodiversity Conference, also known as COP15, a deal was reached to target the protection of 30% of the planet’s lands, oceans, coastal areas, and inland waters by 2030. This ambitious and landmark decision will have a profound positive influence on the environment since oceans offer benefits such as food, climate regulation, the economy, recreation, and much more. To reach the goal of protecting 30% of the Earth’s oceans, there is a lot of work to be done. ProtectedSeas’ Navigator LFP scoring system data shows that only 3.4% of the global ocean is highly protected from fishing. Fortunately, Navigator provides scientists, policymakers, and conservationists with precise global data on marine regulations. This information can empower them to make better-informed decisions on how to reach 30% protection of nature by 2030. The effects of this newfound access to information on marine protected areas can help maintain healthy oceans by protecting biodiversity and allowing marine life to thrive. These protected zones provide benefits like increased fish populations that support coastal fishing economies, intact reef structures that protect shorelines from storms, and preservation of underwater ecosystems. Interested in exploring Navigator? Click here to start. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQE4OOH1D48 Fun Facts from the Navigator — - The smallest marine protected area in the world is in the Philippines at the Batalang Bato Marine Sanctuary, with 0.03 square kilometers (0.02 square miles) – where the only known regulatory information was posted on a sign at the site! - On the country level, Palau has the highest percentage of marine area that is protected against fishing (79%).
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This is a tool of the future for all conservationists
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this might be an effective tool
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What an amazing tool for environmental conservationists!
Shared by Ford Brodeur
UN PATRON OF THE OCEANS LEWIS PUGH ANNOUNCES FIRST UNASSISTED HUDSON RIVER SWIM Legendary British Endurance Swimmer Will Undertake His Longest River Swim from August 13-September 13 Expedition to Highlight the Critical Importance of Healthy River Ecosystems New York-July 19…Lewis Pugh, the UNEP Patron of the Oceans who has pioneered swims in the most challenging environments on earth, including the Antarctic, the North Pole, the Red Sea and the Himalayas, today announced that he will attempt to become the first person to swim the full length of the Hudson River unassisted from August 13-September 13, 2023 to highlight the critical importance of river health to the health of the world’s oceans and the overall global environment. The 315-mile / 507-km swim, one of the most challenging ever attempted by Mr. Pugh, will wrap up shortly before 20 September, when nations will begin ratifying the historic High Seas Treaty, which aims to protect biodiversity in international waters. “If we want healthy oceans we also need healthy rivers — it’s that simple,” Mr. Pugh, 53, said. “Clean rivers are essential in the fight for global sustainability; indeed, our very existence depends on fresh water, clean air, and a habitable planet. The good news is that rivers are accessible to most people, and we know what it takes to get them healthy. I specifically chose the Hudson for this swim because of the environmental progress that’s been made on the iconic waterway in recent years. Much work is still required, but tangible improvements have been made, setting an example for restoring rivers around the world.” (Photo and video assets from previous swims are available for media use here, courtesy of the Lewis Pugh Foundation.) Mr. Pugh will make the swim unassisted*, as all his swims are, meaning he’ll be traversing the length of the river wearing only a Speedo, cap, and goggles. The expedition will launch at Lake Tear of the Clouds high in the Adirondack Mountains, the Hudson’s source, and conclude at Battery Park in lower Manhattan. The complexity of the swim involves dramatic topological shifts, powerful river currents, and potentially toxic sewage runoffs during heavy rains. A full itinerary will follow. “The Hudson is truly majestic, but, like most rivers, it begins with a trickle in fairly rough terrain, so this swim will actually have to begin on foot to negotiate rocks and very dense vegetation,” Mr. Pugh said. “That terrain quickly evolves into white water rapids and waterfalls that demand respect, so my expedition team and I are studying every twist and turn of the river keenly. I will hike and run around any rapids which are unswimmable. The plan is to swim an average of 10-miles / 16-km per day, with some days being far more challenging than others based on river terrain and conditions.” “Refuse, sewage, chemical and plastic waste don’t just pollute rivers and harm the species that live in them; these contaminants are carried on to the sea where they do more damage,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “Just as we must keep our own arteries unclogged for our health, we must keep the planet’s arteries unclogged for its health.” “Clean and healthy rivers are an essential yet often overlooked part of global efforts to restore ocean health,” said Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Chairman and CEO of the GEF. “Lewis Pugh’s expedition will not be in pristine conditions – he will be swimming in a river basin that is heavily affected by human and industrial activity. This is such an important reminder of why we need to pay close attention to the health of freshwater systems, and prioritize ecosystem management in all our connected waterways as we work towards nature and climate targets.” “Lewis Pugh stands atop the Pantheon of the world’s endurance swimmers, with every stroke he takes focusing our attention on the environment,” said Steven Munatones, former head coach of the USA open water swim team. “Mr. Pugh’s range is unprecedented, from the tropical waters of the Maldives to the inhospitable North Pole, Lewis has pushed himself like no other, all to inspire government leaders and the citizens of the world to be proactive stewards of our marine environments.” “We are delighted to continue to be supporting Lewis as he sets out to tackle the scourge of water pollution and biodiversity loss in our rivers and oceans. The demanding challenge of the Hudson River Swim ahead of New York Climate Week this September elevates the importance of the related issues of fresh water, clean air and the conservation of our marine habitats, all vital for the prosperity of our planet,” said Michelle Scrimgeour, CEO of Legal and General Investment Management (LGIM). More information on The Hudson River Swim is available at: https://www.lewispughfoundation.org/ and https://www.lewispugh.com *Footnote: An unassisted swim means the swimmer only wears a Speedo, cap and goggles (also known as ‘skins’) as compared to an assisted swim where swimmers choose to use equipment to assist them, for example: a wetsuit, snorkel, gloves, flippers, hand paddles, a craft when going down rapids, etc. ### ABOUT LEWIS PUGH Lewis Pugh was the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world. He pioneers swims in the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth to campaign for their protection. In 2007 he became the first person to swim across the North Pole and in 2018 the first person to swim the entire length of the English Channel. He is also the only person to have swum the 217-mile / 350-km length of the River Thames (in 2006) and the only person to have swum down a river underneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet (in 2020). In 2013, Mr Pugh was appointed UNEP Patron of the Oceans. In 2016, he played a pivotal role in creating the largest Marine Protected Area in the world in the Ross Sea off Antarctica. The Lewis Pugh Foundation has helped protect an area of ocean larger than Western Europe. Mr. Pugh is from Plymouth, UK. He worked as a maritime lawyer in London before becoming a full-time ocean advocate. ABOUT THE LEWIS PUGH FOUNDATION The Lewis Pugh Foundation works for the preservation and conservation of our oceans for a peaceful and sustainable future. To date LPF campaigns have helped protect over 850,000-mile² / 2,2 million km² of ocean. Their aim is to help fully protect at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. ABOUT UN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (UNEP) The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global authority on the environment. UNEP’s mission is to inspire, inform, and enable nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. In 2013 Lewis Pugh was appointed the first UNEP Patron of the Oceans. ABOUT THE GEF The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a family of funds dedicated to confronting biodiversity loss, climate change, pollution, and strains on land and ocean health. It was established ahead of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and includes 185 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organizations, and the private sector. Since its inception, the GEF has reinforced the link between clean and available water, healthy ecosystems, and human development, and helped developing countries adhere to international environmental conventions. Over the past three decades, the GEF has provided more than US$23 billion and mobilised US$129 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 national and regional projects. ABOUT LEGAL AND GENERAL INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (LGIM) Legal & General Investment Management is one of Europe’s largest asset managers and a major global investor, with assets under management of US$1.4 trillion. LGIM works with a wide range of global clients, including pension schemes, sovereign wealth funds, fund distributors and retail investors. For more than 50 years, LGIM has built its business through understanding what matters most to clients and transforming this insight into valuable, accessible investment products and solutions.
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proud of you super hero living legend
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A super hero for planet earth conservation.
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Amazing work!
Shared by Ford Brodeur
2DegreesC
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Water temperature data from the Gen1. Alpha-tests of the Wavelet sensors in Key Largo over the weekend showing very warm water. Healthy coral temperature range is 23°C - 29°C. We need your support to get sensors at depth in near-shore, coral reef environments around the world to understand how climate changes are affecting these reefs at a local level. As the water warms, the symbiotic algae (Zooxanthellae) that live within the corals, will expel and drift away or die. These algae are needed for healthy coral survival as they use photosynthesis to generate nutrients, essential to the overall health of the corals. These "bleached" corals can survive a short time, but many may suffer long term stress and be overcome. Less than 100 unique reef systems in the world receive sustained, full-time monitoring. The 2°C Wavelet initiative is endorsed by UNESCO as a project in support of the Ocean Decade, where we work with stakeholders to get sensors in the water, to help add data from places where there are little-to-none existing now. To support us, please visit our website: https://www.2degreesc.org https://www.oceandecade.org/actions/submersible-technology-to-advance-reef-science/
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Thanks for sharing, what are the consequences of the warm temperatures that we are witnessing right now for coral reefs?
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For those interested to learn more about this project, here is my short presentation from The Ocean Race. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywlfBaUW6U
Shared by Ford Brodeur
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You don’t have to travel far to take climate action. In fact, you can take climate action from the comfort of your own home – by electrifying it. By choosing electric alternatives for typical household appliances that deal with heating, cooling, and cooking, you can ditch fossil fuels in your home, and help create a more resilient and sustainable world. Today, just over one-quarter of homes in the United States are fully electric. This means that nearly 75% of US homeowners rely on fuels other than electricity for everyday life. To help solve the climate crisis, we need to ensure the transition toward 100% of American homes being electrified. Fortunately, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides federal tax rebates and incentives, making it easier to electrify your home, and retail stores now offer a wide selection of electric appliances for purchase. Taking climate action from Home It may seem daunting to completely electrify your home, but the good news is that you can start small and electrify it appliance by appliance. With the IRA, American taxpayers can tap into $8,000 on individual home electrification purchases and up to $14,000 in total rebates to begin electrifying their homes. Items that qualify for energy-efficient home improvements include heat pumps, new circuit wiring, and many more! If you don’t know where to start your home’s appliance electrification journey, here is our guide to some typical household appliances that can be replaced: - Heating and cooling systems: A great way to make the switch from gas-powered heating and cooling systems in your home is to use heat pumps. A heat pump works by transferring heat from one space to another, providing both heating and cooling capabilities by utilizing the natural temperature differences in the environment. The IEA estimates that global heat pump implementation can have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 500 million tonnes in 2030 – which is equal to the annual CO2 emissions for all cars in Europe today. - Cooking appliances: It’s increasingly common to see electric cooking appliances being offered in retail stores. These electric appliances not only help fight against climate change, but they offer health benefits as well. For instance, switching from a gas stove to an electric stove can reduce indoor air pollution and avoid harmful gasses such as nitrous dioxide, carbon monoxide, and formaldehyde. Additionally, replacing a fossil fuel-powered stove with an electric stove won’t compromise your culinary endeavors since electric stoves offer quick heat-up times, fast water boiling, and the ability to stop producing heat. - Laundry: According to the New York Times, American households typically do 300 loads of laundry every year, and one study points to America’s laundry’s carbon emissions being as high as 179 million tons a year — which is equivalent to 933 roundtrip flights from NYC to London! Unless your household has transitioned away from fossil fuels, the energy-intensive activities of heating water in the washing machine and operating the dryer can lead to a significant reliance on fossil fuel-supplied energy. You can reduce the energy footprint of your washer and dryer by choosing electric appliances such as electric water heaters and buying newer electric dryer machines that are much more energy efficient. - Vehicle: While not fitting the conventional mold of a "household appliance," vehicles still play an important role in widespread electrification in the United States. Electric vehicles are unique because they are interconnected with your home’s energy system and can bring serious climate benefits and drastically cut your transportation costs. American taxpayers can qualify for a tax credit of up to $7,500 if they buy a new, qualified plug-in electric vehicle. Electrifying your home with Solar Energy Your home is important, and even the small choices you make to electrify it can bring reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that will help to solve the climate crisis. When considering the overall energy mix of your home, we’d like to point out that you can always electrify it further by adding solar panels. With solar panels added to your home or property’s energy mix, it will help guarantee that your home’s appliances will run on carbon-free electricity while dramatically reducing your monthly electricity bills from the utility company. If you’re interested in learning more about how your home can benefit from solar energy, check out our website to learn more.
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In most cases an electrified home should be cheaper as well, once you get past the installation costs. So if that can be paid or subsidized, it's a win win for everyone!
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75% seems like a crazy number! 🙀 Do you think there are enough incentives for people to change their appliances from gas/oil to electric?
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So interesting to learn about household appliances and their climate impact! I have an electric tea-kettle in my house, but I'm hoping we opt for more climate-friendly devices soon!
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Gabriel Plotkin
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After several days of record-breaking heat across the globe, with temperatures surpassing the highest ever recorded, we're once again faced with the harsh reality of the crisis we are in. Many of us will respond by retreating to our air-conditioned homes and driving around in our air-conditioned cars. The irony cuts deep. Did you know that the refrigerant gases that allow so many of us to stay cool are responsible for nearly 10% of historic global emissions? They leak out of our air conditioners as we run them. They are improperly handled when we replace our old units. And nobody, anywhere, takes responsibility for the safe destruction of these refrigerants when we are done using them. When our immediate response to rising temperatures causes the temperatures to rise even faster, today's record temperatures are going to be shattered in no time. Help our team at Tradewater raise awareness about responsible refrigerant management practices. You can learn more about refrigerant management and why Project Drawdown lists it as a leading #climatesolution at the links below. https://tradewater.us/impact/ https://drawdown.org/solutions/refrigerant-management
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Thanks Gabriel for the important links as to how we can act.
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I've never thought of that irony before, that refrigerants (that are keeping us cool) are also making things hotter!
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I feel that this issue is under-discussed! There should be a warning message on all AC system
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Neutral
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To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, every bit of knowledge and transparency helps. Whether a corporation tracking the climate impact of its supply chain or a consumer making a more climate-friendly purchase, even the smallest shreds of information can lead to better choices. In recent months, several large food brands have started to share the carbon footprint of their products. This new trend toward climate disclosures and transparency could have a huge collective impact, giving millions of consumers an opportunity to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by simply selecting a different brand of, say, milk or yogurt. Some 48% of U.S. consumers said they would make such a change if it reduced their climate impact, according to the Sustainable Market Share Index developed by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business. Of course, a single customer’s decision doesn’t solve a complex global crisis, but, as legitimate emissions labeling and transparency expand to more companies and more products, millions of informed purchasing decisions would have a tremendous effect. It’s a remarkable example of how we might integrate more everyday decisions into a collective environmental effort. Consider, for example, the aggregate effect this could have on milk and dairy production worldwide. The global agriculture and food system accounts for roughly 37% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, and dairy production accounts for a significant portion of this number. Some consumers have sought to reduce their own impact with plant-based alternatives, but more than 90% of U.S. households still use real dairy products made from cows’ milk. Plant-based alternatives can be a solution for some consumers, but in order to have even more impact we need to meet consumers where the vast majority of them are and provide them an option to help reduce their impact today. What if all those consumers could, with a quick glance, select dairy brands that did more to reduce and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions? Now more than ever, we can accurately measure and monitor emissions across the entire dairy production process – from fertilizers to cows and their burps, to the consumer’s own trash can. Companies can measure every last step, finding where they can improve and transparently communicating their efforts with customers. Neutral Foods, the first carbon neutral food company in the country, has been transparent about our carbon impact since day one. We’re out to prove this is possible every day with every product we offer. One way we do that is by working with farmers to introduce hay species that contain more tannins, a small amount of which can reduce up to 10 percent of the methane emissions from bovine belching. We also measure and separate manure to isolate the parts of solid waste that produce more methane as they decompose, and then compost those for use as fertilizer. As a key part of our commitment to consumers, all of Neutral’s products have been carbon-neutral since our inception. Right now, not at some date way out in the future. So we’ve already begun the work to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions in our supply sheds and will continually reduce our climate impact by increasing our carbon insetting in the years that follow. In addition to our emissions reduction projects, we’ll also continue to use carbon credits within the dairy industry to ensure that both the production and the consumption of all our products are carbon neutral as they have been since our inception. Of course, this may not be immediately realistic for every brand in the dairy case, and we know Neutral doesn’t carry the same market share as the country’s largest milk producers. But that’s precisely why we’re excited about these labels and increased transparency by more and more companies: no matter which brand consumers choose, they can consider climate impact alongside price and preference. The market still has a long way to go before enough products follow our lead. These steps are voluntary, and there’s no consensus on what information to provide and how. We’ll need standards for clear labeling and auditing, so consumers can make apples-to-apples comparisons. If we do that, and if more companies are compelled to go along, grocers will start to dedicate entire aisles to carbon-neutral products, and all those individual consumer choices become better informed. Then it’s not just Neutral and a handful of other companies eliminating greenhouse gas emissions - it’s millions of consumers, too.
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I strongly agree with. Reducing carbon footprint requires such actions.
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Great article! Everyday decisions are not as "everyday" as they seem; they actually have a large climate impact!
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interesting
Ford Brodeur
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It's been nearly a year, and I have not seen Texas Governor, Greg Abbott make any meaningful steps towards addressing extreme heat in Texas Prisons. It is quite shocking to learn that nearly all prisons in Texas do not have air conditioning. This can be extremely dangerous during heat waves (like the one Texas is facing right now), where high temperatures have led to fatalities. It seems as if Governor Abbott doesn't care about extreme heat since he even implemented a law that takes away water breaks for construction workers... Governor Abbott, please implement legislation that takes care of people during this heatwave. https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/58106c6c-710a-4bca-8231-898bafd5e2f8?utm_source=url-copy%26utm_medium=wdht-web-app-share%26utm_campaign=ford_brodeur_
Give Climate Idea 💡 to Greg Abbott: Implement legislation to immediately counter extreme temperatures in Texan prisons | We Don't Have Time
When you think of American prisons, you think of metal bars, walls, limited ventilation, and little access to the outside, but I would like you to also consider extreme heat. Prisoners in Lopez State Jail in Edinburg, Texas, have experienced 48 days of 100 degrees (~37 Celcius) or above! Texas Prison officials have said that sweltering heat conditions have led to 12 inmates and 21 employees suffering heat-related illnesses, although critics say the numbers are probably much higher. In the rare instance of Texan prisons having an air conditioning unit, there is little guarantee that the ventilation/cooling will be able to cover the entire building. Inmates utilize popsicles, fans, and ice water to cope with extreme temperatures that often do not even allow prisoners to be on their metal furniture. Prisoners sometimes prefer to be on the floor to get a good night's sleep because it's a reprieve from the sweltering heat. Prisoners have likened their experience in extreme heat to "living in an oven." As the Governor of Texas, I would suggest that Greg Abbott implement climate-resilient policies that optimize improved ventilation in prisoners' cells and address the psychological toll that extreme heat has on prisoners' rehabilitation processes and those who work in the prisons. In 2019, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice put a hefty $1 billion price tag on the proposed air conditioning installation in all of its uncooled prisons. Critics say this high number is used to scare people from supporting this prison policy in the deeply conservative state. However, this hotly contested debate (pun intended) has returned to the Texas legislature this year. Now, there is a surplus in Texas' state budget, where a $1 billion investment does not seem so out of reach. I think adding air conditioning to prisons will save lives by removing unnecessarily heightened heat-related tensions among prisoners, improving working conditions for officers, and it will help prisoners focus on their rehabilitation process. What do you think? I'm interested in what you have to say on this subject. Let me know what you think in the comments 👇 (My sources are in the comments too) Click here to read the New York Times Article about American prisoners in Texas dealing with extreme heat: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/us/texas-prisons-heat-air-conditioning.html.
https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/58106c6c-710a-4bca-8231-898bafd5e2f8?utm_source=url-copy%26utm_medium=wdht-web-app-share%26utm_campaign=ford_brodeur_
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Poisoners are too human beings entitled to basic human rights. Providing air conditioners in there cells should be a priority
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It's unfortunate that heat waves hit everyone in or out of prison,but it's good to introduce atleast air conditioners to help the inmates cope with heat waves better.
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@rosebellendiritu Yes, and I think it would be beneficial to even use heat pumps instead of air conditioners, which are more climate-friendly.
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As Europe grapples with ongoing energy challenges, Schneider Electric recently emphasized the crucial need for the world to draw lessons from the 2022 energy crisis in a Financial Times article. With a focus on electrification through renewables and digitalization, we wanted to highlight the urgent necessity to implement sustainable solutions. Addressing the Lessons of the 2022 Energy Crisis: In 2022, Europe experienced an energy crisis that compelled households and businesses to curtail energy usage, impacting seasonal festivities. Even the iconic Eiffel Tower light show in Paris was dimmed to conserve energy. While these efforts helped avert blackouts, the milder winter weather played a role in preventing widespread disruptions. However, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns that Europe faces a similar threat in the upcoming winter, with projected shortfalls of nearly 30 billion cubic meters, equivalent to approximately 7% of the 2021 demand. Philippe Delorme, Executive Vice President of Europe Operations for Schneider Electric, underscores the prevailing vulnerability of Europe's energy markets, stating, "The immediate future remains unclear, and Europe's energy markets are still in a very vulnerable position." Delorme further highlights the substantial sums governments spent on energy subsidies last winter, equating to the funding of the upcoming Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games eight times over. We need to continue urging governments and organizations to invest in technologies and solutions that drive energy efficiency, to prove their cost-effectiveness in both the short and long term. Philippe Delorme, Executive Vice President of Europe Operations for Schneider Electric Embracing Digital Efficiency to Meet Demand and Reduce Consumption: While green energy infrastructure investments primarily focus on augmenting clean power supply through initiatives like wind farms and efficient solar panels, experts argue that digital efficiency holds the key to short-term solutions. Leveraging smart energy management devices that monitor and track resources can curtail energy consumption and costs across residential, commercial, and energy-sensitive facilities. Moreover, many demand-side measures can be readily introduced using existing technology. Delorme affirms the importance of optimizing energy usage and minimizing waste, stating, "We all need to optimize our energy use and reduce waste, and we can do this by leveraging the technologies we already have available to us." By prioritizing electrification, Europe can simultaneously bolster energy security and drive decarbonization. This entails transitioning all aspects of transportation, heating and cooling systems, and industrial-scale processes to renewable energy sources, marking a transformative shift away from fossil fuels. The Role of Electrification and Efficient Technologies: A 2022 study published in Scientific Reports emphasizes that the electrification of multiple applications within buildings is paramount to achieving lower carbon emissions and meeting global net-zero goals. The study highlights the significance of employing efficient electrical heating systems to manage demand, with ground-source heat pumps serving as an exemplary solution. Our own research estimates that by prioritizing electrification in the buildings and transport sectors, Europe can increase the share of electricity in its overall energy mix from 20% to 50%. This approach not only substantially reduces reliance on fossil fuels but also minimizes or eliminates energy waste. The Lippulaiva Urban Development: Pioneering Energy Efficiency: The Lippulaiva urban development, situated near Helsinki, Finland, represents a remarkable example of energy efficiency technologies and digitalization systems. Comprising residential flats and a retail park, this project aims to be both carbon-neutral and Europe's most energy-efficient development. Through the use of onsite solar panels and geothermal wells, the Lippulaiva center leverages digital technology to monitor and manage electricity demand and supply. Battery storage facilitates the usage of electricity as needed, while excess power generated can be fed back into the local grid. This pioneering initiative embodies what is achievable in 2023 and serves as a blueprint for constructing a sustainable future. Moving forward: The urgent need to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, promote electrification, and transition to renewable energy sources to address Europe's current energy crisis and reduce emissions is clear. Political will is evident, as demonstrated by the willingness to allocate funds for action. However, it is crucial that such actions and investments be strategically directed to prevent recurring challenges in the upcoming winter and beyond. By collectively learning from the lessons of the 2022 energy crisis, governments, organizations, and individuals can foster a resilient energy sector and pave the way toward a greener and more sustainable future. Read the full article below! https://www.ft.com/partnercontent/schneider-electric/europes-energy-crisis-lessons-must-be-learned.html?
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Excellent article- thanks for sharing.
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Congratulations 👏. Green energy is the best way to go.
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Do you think that the energy crisis is over?
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Tradewater
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We're excited to share that this Thursday, our CEO Tim Brown will be at the Ted Countdown Summit speaking at a breakout session hosted by Project Drawdown and talking about emergency brake #climatesolutions—those that will help us bend the emissions curve NOW, when we need it the most. Our work on addressing non-CO2 emissions happens to be one of those critical emergency brake solutions that buy us time to implement longer-term decarbonization strategies. Learn more about the conference below—we'll be sure to share reflections from the event soon! https://conferences.ted.com/countdown2023
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Great. Is there a link to watch it?
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Pachama
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As companies turn their focus towards addressing climate change and investing in ESG, many are looking to carbon removal projects to help them achieve net-zero targets. But the type, cost, and quality of these carbon projects vary dramatically, and it can be difficult for corporate buyers to understand the true impact of the projects they support. In this article, we’ll review why reforestation projects are some of the most proven, high-value carbon removal options. We’ll also explain markers of high-quality projects to ensure your organization invests in the greatest impact carbon removal. But first, what are reforestation carbon projects? Reforestation projects, part of a category of projects known as ARR (Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation), restore degraded land back to forest. Carbon credits from these projects are considered carbon removal credits because planting trees draws carbon out of the atmosphere. They differ from other nature-based carbon projects that focus on avoidance, such as conservation projects, which aim to protect existing forests from deforestation, or improved forest management projects, which employ advanced techniques to improve the carbon storage potential of an existing working forest. Reforestation: a powerful carbon copy removal strategy There are several ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Some methods pull it directly out of the air via a process called direct air capture, but this process is energy intensive and expensive to scale. Others use minerals and land management techniques to absorb carbon through land (soil carbon sequestration, biochar, enhanced mineralization). And then there’s the technology that has been around for 360 million years: forests. Although we’ll need all possible solutions to address climate change, a few key characteristics make nature-based carbon removals like reforestation better than engineered solutions. - Nature is far more scalable — it’s faster and easier to plant trees than it is to build a direct air capture plant. Recent analyses suggest that carbon markets have the potential to drive net deforestation to zero and reforest an area about ten times the size of France, removing carbon at a gigaton scale. - Nature is more cost-effective; even high-quality nature projects typically cost less than their technology-driven counterparts (direct air capture credits currently range from $250-$600, compared to Pachama’s recommended $50-$82 for high-quality reforestation projects). - The non-carbon benefits of nature-based removals are impossible to ignore— forests create a cooling effect, improve water cycles and waterways, protect communities from storms and strong winds, and can provide sustainable income through activities like beekeeping, sustainable agriculture, and ecotourism. “Healthy forests offer shelter to a range of species and act as highly biodiverse corridors for wildlife to migrate through,” explains Dr. Rachel Engstrand, Applied Science Lead at Pachama. “Additionally, they provide significant potential benefits to local communities, including offering educational opportunities and creating an emotional bond with nature.” Reforestation is a crucial climate solution with both carbon and beyond-carbon benefits, but it faces some key challenges. The biggest issue right now? A lack of high-quality supply of carbon credits. There are currently very few high-quality projects available for investment, and that’s because it’s very hard to get reforestation right. What makes a high-quality reforestation project, and how can technology help to identify quality? Reforestation is not as simple as planting trees. It requires the right blend of expertise and management to ensure it achieves the impact it claims to. There are four key characteristics of quality for reforestation projects. 1. Right trees Effective ARR projects should be mostly composed of native species. “Planting trees somewhere they don’t belong is usually a red flag,” says Engstrand. “It typically means you’re not planting them to ‘restore’ nature. And if that’s the case, then what are you trying to do?” Non-native plants may be unsuitable for the terrain or local climatic conditions, making a project vulnerable to destruction. Pachama accepts an ARR project if >60% of the trees planted are native species and none of the non-native species planted are considered invasive. It’s also important that an ARR project contains a diverse selection of species, just like natural forests do. “From a carbon perspective, species diversity dramatically increases the resilience of a forest over time,” says Gabe Chapin, Project Implementation Lead at Pachama. “Monocultures can be easily wiped out by insects and diseases, whereas diverse forests can absorb the loss of a single species and regenerate to fill the gaps left.” Pachama accepts an ARR project if it plants >5 species. These figures show two reforestation projects outlined in white. The left example is a plantation with just a single non-native species planted, resulting in a uniform topography. In contrast, in the right example, the project has planted a variety of species, and nearly 90% are native, which can be seen in the textural differences in the images. 2. Right Place Forests must be planted in appropriate terrain. “A forest planted in a desert or on the top of a mountain will struggle to survive even with regular human intervention such as irrigation or fertilizer,” says Engstrand. It might be additional, but it likely won’t be very durable — and it may create even more negative environmental consequences. It’s also important to measure a carbon project’s baseline and background reforestation, which refer to whether reforestation is naturally occurring in the project area and its surroundings. If that’s the case, an ARR project may not be additional. Pachama evaluates additionality through baseline and regional suitability checks. With the baseline check, Pachama Pachama uses satellite data to check that there is no reforestation similar in nature to the planned project activities in a 20km buffer region around the project. With the regional suitability check, Pachama ensures that the planned project activities will lead to the growth of a forest similar to what would typically be found in its local ecoregion. 3. Right reason Financial incentives are commonly exploited, and the carbon market is no exception. For example, some project developers may plant trees in order to collect carbon credit funding and then harvest these trees for lumber at the end of the crediting period — effectively wiping out any positive environmental impact (and getting paid twice). They might also clear trees, profit from the harvest, and then enroll in a carbon project to benefit from reforesting the cleared area. Ensuring that developers aren’t perversely incentivized to harvest trees gives us confidence that a project has high durability and that the carbon it captures will remain out of the atmosphere for a very long time. Pachama assesses project developers’ motivation with a forest cover check. “We look at the tree cover prior to the project and make sure that there wasn’t any intentional timber harvesting or tree clearing immediately prior to the project,” says Chapin. “This way, we can be more certain that a landowner isn’t simply replanting trees with the intent to manipulate the system.” We accept a carbon project if, in the ten years before the start date, there is no deforestation within the project area and existing forest cover is less than 10%. Other telltale signs often appear in satellite imagery. For example, “there are distinct planting patterns that reveal whether you’re trying to mimic natural forest or simply planting trees to cut them down again,” says Engstrand. These figures show two reforestation projects outlined in white. In Project A, the forest cover ten years before the start date is well over 10% of the project area, but by the project start year, it’s under 10%. There was clear deforestation on the eastern border of the project before the start year as well as some natural reforestation throughout. This indicates the project may not be motivated by the right reasons. In contrast, in Project B, the forest cover is less than 5% of the project area, and there has not been any forest cover loss in the past ten years. 4. Right People Community involvement is the number one deciding factor in determining whether a nature-based project lives or dies. Local communities that aren’t on board with a project can cause it to fail in a number of ways. In contrast, fully engaged communities can become integral to protecting and monitoring a forest project. Pachama evaluates community involvement through a series of checks. “First, we look to see if it’s on communally held land or indigenous territories,” says Engstrand. “We use that as an indication that this project has a high likelihood of impacting indigenous peoples or people living traditional lifestyles.” Then, Pachama conducts an FPIC check (Free, Prior, and Informed Consent). After the FPIC check, the Pachama team further investigates the community impact by: - Conducting a literature review of local newspapers and project documentation to ensure the carbon project has reached out to local communities. - Performing stakeholder interviews and engagement processes, and publishing the outcomes of those interviews. - Checking to see if the project has not received accusations of human rights violations. - Partnering with carbon projects to better understand what they’re doing on the ground to benefit local communities, and communicating that information to our customers. Why does quality matter for reforestation projects? Reforestation can do so much good, but not all projects are created equal. It’s very difficult to tick all the right boxes for reforestation — to plant the right trees, in the right place, with the right people, and for the right reasons. As a result, buyers who fail to conduct due diligence expose themselves to two kinds of risk: (1) the reputational risk of having a project publicly exposed as fraudulent or lacking in environmental impact, and (2) the risk of falling short of corporate climate targets if a project fails. A genuine and lasting climate impact through reforestation credits is possible, but companies must be willing to conduct thorough research. Due diligence failures are often the result of investing based on price alone. But building a quality reforestation project is an expensive exercise. Engaging and educating communities, sourcing a range of native species, selecting the appropriate land, and monitoring a project over time are time-consuming and expensive activities, which translates directly into project costs. “Low cost should be a red flag for reforestation projects,” says Chapin. “If landowners aren’t being fairly compensated for a project, this is a social issue, but also a carbon permanence issue, as it’s unlikely that a financially unviable project will last.” How corporates can invest in quality carbon remove projects If you’re considering investing in nature-based carbon removal, keep these steps in mind. 1. Look for projects that meet key quality factors: projects planting the right trees, in the right places, with the right people, and for the right reasons. 2. Budget for higher quality: cost and quality tend to go together in carbon markets, so make sure you have the budget to maximize your impact. Pachama believes the average price for an active reforestation carbon credit from upcoming 2023 vintages should sit between $50-$82/tCO2e. 3. Invest in projects built with technology from the beginning: Pachama’s portfolio of Originals projects is built with the technological capacity to make implementation and monitoring easier. 4. Consider investing in conservation projects in the near-term to supplement your long-term reforestation investments: while the world works to scale quality carbon removals, we desperately need funding for avoidance-based credits such as those from conservation projects.
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It's good to know how to achieve reafforestation and what to do to make it successful
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Great article! I enjoyed reading how local communities help to make or break carbon projects. The side-by-side satellite images were also helpful in seeing how carbon projects may look the same, but are in fact, so different!
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This is very helpful, even as an individual! What happens if low-quality reforestation projects are discovered? Is there legislation? Can the company be reported to the authorities?
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WWFUS
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Seaweed farming allows us to revolutionize how we think about ocean health, climate mitigation, and food security. Seaweed doesn’t need fertilizer, pesticides, or farmland to grow, and its production has doubled over the last decade, resulting in an annual harvest of over 30 million tons and creating a market worth $11.8 billion. In the fight against the global decline in biodiversity and climate change, the preservation and growth of global seaweed forests are vital since they pack a mighty punch — estimates point to seaweed accounting for nearly 200 million tonnes of CO2 sequestered each year, while providing crucial habitat for marine biodiversity and building up resilience for fish stocks. However, the world’s wild seaweed forests face various challenges, such as pollution, overharvesting, coastal developments, heatwaves, and ocean warming. By safeguarding seaweed forests, we provide support to marine life and the economies of coastal communities. Additionally, we invest in a powerful solution for biodiversity and climate preservation, all while ensuring the conservation of fisheries resources. WWF is working with organizations, scientists, and local communities on the frontlines of protecting and growing seaweed forests to support their reforestation. One organization that we are particularly proud to work closely with is SeaForester, which is on a mission to “restore the forgotten forests in our ocean.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEYSbf0sDx0 SeaForester's biodiversity and climate solution is innovative, and we will walk you through how it’s transforming underwater ecosystems. SeaForester first begins with the seeding of small stones with seaweed spores. After these stones spend time in a nursery on land, where conditions mimic the local aquatic environments, the seeded stones are scattered from a boat into the ocean. There, they continue to grow, forming a new seaweed forest in just a few years. This process of seeding seaweed spores onto stones, called ‘Green Gravel,’ is a low-cost and scalable solution to reforesting the ocean’s seaweed forests, and it doesn’t need divers or technical equipment. To maximize the results of their biodiversity and climate solution, SeaForester is also active in educating the broader public and involving coastal communities in their projects. Together with their partners at MARE-IPLeiria, they continue to optimize their solution and make it ready for application to other coastal regions worldwide. Last year, SeaForester was a finalist in The Earthshot Prize, which their nomination focused on reviving the Earth’s oceans. Click here to read more about SeaForester’s profile in The Earthshot Prize competition. WWF is proud to be supporting SeaForester’s work. Supporting two SeaForester projects has allowed us to witness firsthand their transformative influence on the environment and local communities, leaving us with a deep appreciation. More about WWF’s work with Farmed Seaweed: As a result of generous support from partners, WWF is investing in innovative companies focusing on scaling seaweed production to meet conservation and societal challenges. To fully capitalize on the economic and climate benefits, they need to be scaled up in a big way. WWF’s Senior Director of Impact Investing and Ecosystems Services, Aquaculture, Paul Dobbins, came out of retirement to work on this important task of scaling seaweed sectors around the North Atlantic rim and the Eastern Pacific. You can read about Paul Dobbin and his work here.
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Pinned by We Don't Have Time
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A big thank you to everyone for all the positive feedback and our partners at WWF US for their continued support in bringing back the forgotten forests in our ocean. SeaForester will soon expand to other affected coastlines across the world, creating impact for local communities and restoring the health of our one ocean.
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We love all that SeaForester team does - also the yummy Seaweed Solutions 😋
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It's fantastic to see WWF's work in protecting our oceans and supporting organizations like SeaForester, who have an awesome climate solution!
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This is a great move by WWF
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Bertie Nuttall
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As the climate crisis intensifies, innovative solutions are needed to combat rising carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon capture technology, specifically Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), holds immense potential in our fight against climate change. With recent advancements and increasing momentum, BECCS is poised to play a transformative role in our journey towards a sustainable future. Understanding BECCS and Its Current Progress: BECCS involves capturing carbon dioxide from biogenic sources and storing it permanently. Currently, the annual capture of biogenic CO2 stands at approximately 2 Mt, primarily in bioethanol applications. However, based on ongoing projects, carbon removal through BECCS is projected to reach around 40 Mt CO2 per year by 2030. While this falls short of the estimated 250 Mt/yr target for BECCS in the Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, the momentum behind BECCS has grown significantly in recent years. Although, according to the IEA by 2030 we will need to remove 250 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year through BECCS compared to the mere 1 million tonnes today. But how does it actually work? How Carbon Capture Works Carbon capture technology, specifically Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, works by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from biogenic sources and permanently storing them. The process can be broken down into three simple steps: 1. Capturing CO2: First, carbon dioxide is captured from biogenic sources like power plants or industrial facilities. These sources produce CO2 as a byproduct of their operations. Specialized equipment is used to trap and separate the CO2 from other gases before it is released into the atmosphere. 2. Bioenergy Production: In the next step, bioenergy comes into play. Instead of relying solely on fossil fuels, bioenergy uses renewable sources such as plants, crops, or organic waste. These biomass materials are converted into energy through processes like combustion or fermentation. This bioenergy production generates CO2 as well. 3. Storage and Permanent Removal: Here comes the crucial part. The captured CO2 from both the biogenic sources and bioenergy production is then transported to storage sites. These sites can be deep underground, such as depleted oil and gas fields or saline aquifers. The CO2 is injected into these storage reservoirs, where it remains trapped and isolated from the atmosphere, effectively removing it from the carbon cycle. By combining the capture of CO2 emissions from biogenic sources and the use of renewable bioenergy, BECCS enables the removal and storage of CO2 that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect and climate change. Rapid Growth and Deployment: The interest in BECCS has surged, with plans for over 50 new facilities involving BECCS announced between January 2021 and June 2022. These projects, across various BECCS applications, are expected to contribute to a biogenic capture capacity of approximately 20 Mt CO2 per year. The increased focus can be attributed to the net-zero commitments made by companies and countries worldwide, recognizing the urgency of addressing climate change. Scaling Up for a Sustainable Future: To effectively mitigate climate change, the scaling up of BECCS and other carbon capture technologies is paramount. While the current progress is promising, it is crucial to accelerate the deployment of BECCS to meet the ambitious targets set for 2030 and beyond. Collaboration between governments, industries, and research institutions is essential to foster innovation, optimize efficiency, and overcome existing challenges. The Moonshot Mentality: Just as the moon landing exemplified the extraordinary achievements possible through determination and collaboration, the scale-up of carbon capture technologies embodies a similar spirit. The urgency of the climate crisis necessitates bold and transformative solutions. By embracing the potential of BECCS and other carbon capture techniques, we can pave the way for a sustainable future, ensuring the well-being of our planet and future generations. Conclusion: Carbon capture technology, particularly BECCS, offers a ground-breaking approach to addressing the climate crisis. With the capacity to capture and permanently store biogenic carbon dioxide, BECCS has the potential to make a significant impact on reducing emissions and stabilizing the Earth's climate. The growing momentum behind BECCS, evident in the increasing number of projects and commitments, signifies a collective determination to combat climate change. You can read more here: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/07/pioneering-carbon-dioxide-moonshot-tackle-climate-change/
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With the implementation of carbon capture techniques, we could greatly impact our emission numbers and reduce carbon footprints
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Mercer Investments
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Silva Hanell, Wealth Leader & Partner at Mercer Sweden ESG and impact seek distinct outcomes, but their strategies can go hand-in–hand for investors wanting returns and societal benefits. Environmental, Social and Governance considerations – ESG – have become core tenets of the financial industry over the past ten years. As these non-financial performance factors have become more commonplace in investment decisions, there has been a growing desire from investors to actually make a difference with their money. Last year, The Economist released a scathing analysis of ESG frameworks and their outcomes, concluding that a misalignment between the asset management industry’s raison d'etre – to generate returns for its investors – and the profitability of ESG had, thus far, proven too big a bridge to cross. You can’t improve what you can’t measure It’s become clear over time that while a focus on ESG factors such as climate or diversity is a significant step in the right direction, it is not able nor necessarily even intended to guarantee both healthier societies and a more stable or equitable planet, at least not on its own. Instead, some investors have turned their attention toward impact investing, where progress may feel more tangible progress can be made. Impact, particularly in private markets, offers investors the opportunity to be a more active investor than is typical and input into companies with targeted societally beneficial outputs. From this perspective, impact investing gives investors a seat at the table, access to specific challenges that are smaller and more solvable, and the chance to change companies from within in order to make those desired solutions happen. How impact begins where ESG stops Impact allows us to build on those foundations of ESG and have a more direct influence on chosen matters. It allows investors to guide companies through partnership rather than legislation and directives alone. Furthermore, impact investing exists to create greater alignment between companies and ESG issues, which in turn can help alleviate some of the in-built contradictions of outright returns versus societal considerations. Making impact accessible But from an investor’s perspective, how to integrate ESG and impact considerations into their strategy can be complex. Impact investments have an accessibility issue, particularly for non-professional investors – Gen Zs, for example, appear keen to align their assets with their ethics – with fewer vehicles available within the marketplace. These investments often tend to be relatively illiquid, which compounds the issue further. ESG is now more commonly integrated into funds whereas many impact-related funds are neither integrated into investment decisions nor are they commonly investable, or at least are not yet. Furthermore, impact investing requires, at least at some level, interaction with firms from sectors such as energy and technology. Impact investing provides investors a greater opportunity to help shift legacy practices in these areas, particularly in energy, toward a more sustainable, climate-positive arena. Mercer was proud to be part of the panel Investing with Intent at Stockholm Climate Week 2023.
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Great article,
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Great article! I'd be interested in learning more about how Gen Zs influence the impact investing landscape.
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interesting
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IKEA
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As a company that relies on production, IKEA can never reach its climate goals without working with suppliers. That is why they deployed a program to transition their supply chain to 100% renewable energy. Since launching this program in June 2021, IKEA has doubled its share of renewable energy used for production in a year in one of the company’s biggest markets. They are now expanding the program to enable even more of their suppliers to switch away from fossil fuels. At IKEA, the goal is to be a climate-positive company by 2030. This means helping reduce emissions by more than the whole IKEA value chain emits, every year. IKEA products affect everyone’s lives, so this is very possible, but only if they work with their suppliers to reduce emissions enough. To do this, IKEA has launched two programs. In December 2019, the company announced that it is dedicating €100 million to be used by their suppliers to produce renewable energy on-site. All of the heating demand and up to 15% of the energy demand can be covered this way, but IKEA realized that the remaining energy needs to be bought from the grid. That is why IKEA, in June 2021, announced a program where they can help negotiate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for suppliers to receive renewable energy at competitive prices from the grid. These agreements are better for the climate, and often also financially beneficial, and all the supplier needs to do is sign the new electricity contract to get started. Making it easy and good to switch to renewable energy is the best way to enable suppliers to be a part of the renewable energy transition. In 2021 IKEA launched this program in China, India, and Poland — the three markets that contributed the most to the company’s carbon footprint. The program has shown great success in these markets so far — in China alone, the share of renewable energy used for production has doubled from 32% to 64%! Following this success, IKEA is expanding this program to 10 new markets: The Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Türkiye, and Vietnam. The combined electricity consumption for these markets emits 0.27 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents or 13% of the climate footprint from IKEA’s production. Moving forward, IKEA sees this as a way to make sure that their suppliers are aligned with the company’s ambitions. 100% renewable energy may be a mandate for all suppliers in the future, and this program aims to make sure that IKEA gives all current suppliers the opportunity to meet these standards. If there is a will, there is a way, and this program paves it. Read more on our website.
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Great initiative
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Renewable energy is considered clean energy since it doesn't cause grave environmental pollution, and it has low or zero carbon and greenhouse emission.
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A great plan! Thank you Ikea!
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Neutral
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What sets us apart from other dairy and farm products is that we don’t just only measure emissions on the farm, but we measure the whole journey of our product. We use a farm to fridge approach, which means we measure the emissions emitted from all parts of this journey and beyond to ensure we counter emissions whenever possible. In this article, we'll explain how Neutral conducts its farm to fridge approach as well as all the scientific considerations and measurements we make. Obsessively measuring carbon emissions At Neutral, when it comes to measuring the carbon emission of our products, we are obsessive. We take pride in being driven in our measurements because we believe it’s essential to be transparent about carbon emission reduction. Our journey of obsessive measurement begins with employing a life cycle assessment (LCA) to understand our emissions and where we can start to make an impact in reducing them. We use a cradle-to-grave approach for our LCA, which means we account for all on-farm activities as well as processing, transportation, packaging, retail operations, waste, and disposal. This approach is highly comprehensive. The on-farm activities can range from fertilizer to cow methane burps and energy use. In our LCA, we even measure and include small details like the energy waste associated with the opening and closing of the refrigerator, the gas it takes to drive to the grocery store, and the little bit of milk left in the carton that gets tossed out from time to time. Our LCA is done by Dr. Greg Thoma, who has spent his career studying the environmental footprint of animal agriculture. His work on determining the carbon footprint of a gallon of milk by visiting over 300 U.S. dairies was adapted to resemble the footprint of Neutral’s milk supply chain more closely. The Neutral LCA results show that 72% of the product emissions occur on-farm. So that’s where we are focusing the majority of our carbon reduction efforts — on the farm, working with farmers to realize emission reduction projects. Recently, we’ve committed $1,000,000 with our partners at FarmRaise to increase funding for carbon-reducing projects on farms through 2023, and we don’t want to stop there. The goal is to have every farmer implement sustainable farming practices so we can solve the climate crisis and for families and individuals to take climate action without having to leave the grocery aisle. Neutral’s Offsets and Insets Implementing a carbon reduction project on a farm and witnessing the climate benefits is not instantaneous; these processes take time. To accurately assess the effectiveness of a carbon reduction project, we must account for the emissions before and after its implementation. At the conclusion of each year, Neutral’s scientists calculate the total product footprint and subtract the verified emissions reductions/removals achieved through the project. Any remaining emissions are then addressed through the utilization of verified offsets. Using offsets to achieve carbon neutrality is not the end goal for us, but they do enable us to bring carbon neutral products to consumers now. Offsets aren’t here to solve the climate crisis completely, because only real and lasting climate action can do that. Think of it this way — offsets are the ambulance ride to the hospital, and climate action is living a healthy lifestyle that would avoid these ambulance rides. With offsets covering the emissions that we cannot reduce, we also develop insets. Insets are verified reductions or removals of greenhouse gas emissions that occur within the supply chain or supply shed of a product, but the main takeaway in the difference between inset and offset is that insets directly address supply chain emissions (a.k.a. scope 3 emissions). At Neutral, we develop insets that are real, additional, permanent, and independently verified by a third party. Decarbonizing agriculture by helping producers is our reason for being, and thus developing insets is where we spend the lion’s share of our time and resources. Our goal is to eliminate the majority of Neutral’s carbon footprint via insets. Neutral purchases all of its offsets from the Climate Action Reserve (CAR), which is a leading verifying body and registry of carbon offsets. CAR works to ensure that offsets on their registry are real, additional, permanent, verifiable, and enforceable. The offsets Neutral purchases are from dairy methane digesters, which trap methane emissions that otherwise would have been released into the atmosphere and can be used as a renewable natural gas fuel source. Neutral is Certified Carbon Neutral Farms are at the heart of our mission to radically transform agriculture, and we continue to focus most of our efforts on carbon reduction there. At Neutral, everything from our climate claims to the greenhouse gas reduction projects we conduct with farmers, are independently verified by a third party on an annual basis. Specifically, we hire global climate advisory firm SCS Global to audit our analyses, and continually ground our work in the best available science and most accurate math. While many carbon claims are self-reported, being certified means that our carbon claims have passed a stringent set of requirements defined and verified by independent standard bearers. Our most recent certification from SCS can be found here. Stay in touch with Neutral by following our We Don’t Have Time page, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our newsletter here. Tell us in the comments what our next article should be about!
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Your commitment to operate sustainably and control your carbon foot print is to be emulated world wide.
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Fascinating to learn all the processes that go into measuring and offsetting emissions on farms!
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Keep it up. I hope diaries around the world copy your concept. @arla !
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Mercer Investments
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Cara Williams, global ESG strategy leader, Mercer Impact investing differs from ESG by being particularly focused on measured outcomes. It can be adopted by a much broader audience if we can unlock the opportunity for smaller investors. ‘Investing in Earth’ is the goal of Earth Day 2023, but investing with intent – and with ESG outcomes in mind – has been on investors’ minds for several years already. The challenge for everyone in the market is how we can find ways to connect this investment ambition with effective opportunities to do actually do so. ESG has become one of the investment industry’s most significant trends in recent years, as investors, governments and the public alike have recognized the potential for investment value when incorporating non-financial performance measures around environmental, social and governance challenges. But while ESG as a term is seeing broader uptake by all parts of the investments space, in some instances, the nuances of sustainable investing have been lost amid buzzwords, unclear outcomes and in some cases, box-ticking exercises. For asset owners with wide-ranging responsibilities for their members, it is critical to remain focused on financial returns, as well as measurable outcomes around carbon, social responsibility or other non-financial focuses. ESG is not the same as impact At Mercer, we oversee more than $16trn in assets under management and we have assessed asset managers on their ESG factor integration for around 20 years. Incorporating ESG factors is a question of investment acumen and how well you integrate all the information available to you when you make decisions as a portfolio manager, which is quite different from trying to ‘do good with your money.’ It is particularly about asking if the thing you are investing in is doing well enough to produce the sustainable revenue necessary to thrive in the future. That means treating people well, treating communities well, treating the environment well, responding effectively to current and future regulations that could hurt or potentially benefit that organization or market. These are typical indicators of course, of most well-run businesses. We actually consider impact investing to be quite different. In impact investing you are investing with specific intent, within areas where you want to make a specific impact. The challenge here is that the potential choices on where to focus are so wide that investors or asset managers need a very clear aspiration of what they want to impact, and can build their portfolio around that – for instance clean water. Where? In developing markets. Specifically? In the global south. Greater granularity allows more precise measurement of outcomes. We find that only the most sophisticated asset owners can currently go to the ground and see if their investments will have the impact they are hoping for. Smaller investors don’t have the breadth of expertise or resources to have a well-diversified impact portfolio that still delivers returns. But what if they could? An opportunity for smaller and larger investors There is about $1.2 trillion in assets under management in the broad impact space right now (according to the Global Impact Investing Network or GIIN) – more if you took a wider view. Pitchbook data suggests that about 34% of that is in Private Equity and around 39% is in Infrastructure, so you are seeing most of the money in these areas in private markets or less liquid markets. The challenge is making it accessible for the broader public. Frankly, a major constraint around investing with intent is accessibility. Private equity offers access to the exciting unlisted emerging companies that are dedicated to tackling some of the biggest social and environmental issues today, while infrastructure investing is helping entire countries move towards a more sustainable future. We know that more retail investors, particularly younger ones, want their investments to have a positive impact. But for the average investor, private markets are inaccessible because of their illiquidity, longer lock-up periods, and higher fees. Private markets may open as new fund structures emerge, and understanding of the asset class deepens. New technologies, such as tokenization, which has helped contribute to the growing range of digital assets, may help democratize what has been a restricted asset class for the mass market. Perhaps, as we all consider how we can deliver results for ourselves, our clients and the planet, having an impact on accessibility might be the next area to make meaningful change. Mercer was proud to be part of the panel Investing with Intent at Stockholm Climate Week 2023.
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this is a major step
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A very important step
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Thank you, Cara Williams, for elevating the importance of impact investing. It seems that #ESG is becoming more bogged down with politicization in the USA...
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Wil Sillen
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Delft students smash world record with economical hydrogen car and are now going for a real city car By: Ellen Lengkeek They are very proud, the 24 students of the Eco-Runner Team Delft. With their small aerodynamic hydrogen car, the ECO XIII, they covered 2,488.5 kilometers. Before that, the test car consumed only 950 grams of hydrogen gas. A world record. A few hours after the previous record of 2,055.7 kilometers was smashed by the French engineering company ARM, Eco-Runner spokesperson and team member Eliane van Boxtel is very proud. The target number of 2,056 kilometers was easily achieved beyond expectations. How did the race go? “We had already driven this distance in the evening and continued until half past eight the next morning. With 8 of the 24 team members we drove 71.5 hours in a row on a circuit in southern Germany in shifts of two hours each. The rest of the team was also divided into shifts, with some analyzing data, others following the ECO XIII in a Toyota Mirai hydrogen car while constant communication took place between all team members. During the entire test, team members were on stand-by to carry out minor repairs, change tires and support others if necessary,” says Boxtel, who studied civil engineering at Delft University and has been involved in the Eco Runner project for a year. In the hydrogen car Eco-Runner, hydrogen is converted into electrical energy. This only creates water vapor and heat. Van Boxtel: “With a kilo of hydrogen, think of five small gas tanks of about half a meter long. These tanks contain hydrogen gas under high pressure, which is converted via a fuel cell into electricity for the electric motor in the Eco-Runner.” As light as possible What the Eco-Runner excels at is the efficiency level of the design, which the team achieves by pushing the technical limits of the lowest possible weight. The aerodynamic shape of the car is also important. One of Eco-Runner's goals is to inspire the transportation and automotive industry to create lighter, smaller and aerodynamic cars. Working towards an economical city car on hydrogen Van Boxtel: ''Today we see that cars are getting heavier and bigger. That all costs extra fuel to transport on the roads. Eco-Runner's message is twofold. We must use sustainable energy, but we must also use less energy and more efficiently. In the coming years we will work towards a street-legal Eco-Runner with license plate. In this way we want to show that efficient cars that use sustainable energy will play an important role in the energy transition.”
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It is encouraging to see young students taking the lead in developing and promoting sustainable mobility solutions.
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Way to go.Kudos
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This is a great achievement. Congrats 👏
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Sarah Chabane
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Standing up against greenwashing in the advertising industry is more crucial than ever. Last year at Cannes Lions, climate activist Tolmeia Gregory's viral moment exposed the complicity of the ad industry in the climate crisis. Now, she's back, urging fellow creatives to join the disruption. Tolmeia's question to a Shell executive during a female empowerment event resonated globally. She challenged Shell's concealment of the impact on women in Nigeria affected by oil spills. The uncomfortable truth sparked overwhelming interest, with over 400,000 views across social media and support from organizations like Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace. Despite the green image portrayed in ad campaigns, the oil and gas sector's commitment to low-carbon technologies remains minimal. Greenwashing continues unless engaged citizens, including creatives, confront it head-on. Tolmeia Gregory was in Cannes campaigning with Clean Creatives, an organisation calling on the advertising industry and its agencies to stop working with fossil fuel clients. Their efforts generated some of the festival’s most viral social media content and their campaign gathered 637 pledges from agencies worldwide. A good start but there's more work to be done. 💪 https://app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/c8d4877b-bb69-466f-8034-91efa52fd9f4
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Pinned by We Don't Have Time
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Thank you for sharing this and for the lovely comments! I appreciate the support! I will note that I personally don't love the title of 'hero' as I believe everybody has the ability to take action like this in one way or another - so, here's a little nudge to anyone who has thought about asking the uncomfortable questions but hasn't quite done it yet. I believe in you!
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she's a true climate chapion https://basketball-stars.io/
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great work speaking truth to power!
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So brave of her! she's a true climate hero
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The 2023 winner of Miss America is Grace Stanke, a nuclear engineering student at the University of Wisconsin. She’s been on a mission to dispel myths about nuclear energy and inspire the next generation of female scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. At the Anthropocene Institute, we are thrilled to see what Grace Stanke is doing. As Miss America, she is using her voice to bring attention to the importance of STEM careers to women and the benefits of nuclear energy in the fight against the climate crisis. In this article, we want to spotlight the 2023 Miss America winner, Grace Stanke, on her important work. Communicating the Complexity of Nuclear Power as Miss America Representing the state of Wisconsin in the 2023 Miss America pageant, Grace Stanke showcased her knowledge of employing nuclear power to achieve carbon-free energy in the climate crisis. Shantel Krebs, the chair of the Miss America Organization Board of Directors, recalled what Grace Stanke’s intellect brought to the Miss America competition and said, ”The role of Miss America is not of vanity, but rather community impact and contribution to the crown. Grace has strongly demonstrated her abilities, and there is no doubt in our mind she—and all of this year’s class of candidates—are destined for greatness.” After winning the 2023 Miss America competition and receiving $50,000 in scholarship assistance, Grace Stanke earned an appearance contract from the Miss America Organization. With this appearance contract, Grace has been traveling the country as Miss America to serve as an inspiration and role model for young women, while sharing her passions and life story. Additionally, since being crowned Miss America 2023, Grace Stanke has also gone on to partner with the American Nuclear Society (ANS). With her partnership with the ANS, Grace has been traveling throughout the United States to communicate the positive benefits of nuclear energy, tour nuclear energy plants, and promote the value of STEM careers to women. During her visits to nuclear energy plants and meetings with the public, Grace Stanke emphasized the importance of bridging the gap between science and communication regarding nuclear energy with her social impact initiative: Clean Power, Clean Future. Grace Stanke explains the mission of Clean Power, Clean Future by saying, “America needs to convert to zero-carbon energy sources, and I’m helping to make that happen by breaking down misconceptions surrounding our most powerful source of zero-carbon energy: nuclear power. I advocate for nuclear power and improved communication about nuclear science with both the general public and nuclear engineers to bridge the gap of the unknown between the two groups of people.” Grace Stanke leverages the power of simple and effective science communication about the benefits of nuclear energy by writing articles with ANS and keeping an active social media presence. Through these platforms, Grace Stanke has addressed misinformation about nuclear energy and given her unique perspective as both Miss America and a nuclear engineering student about the positive role that nuclear energy can provide to society today. In a video for the U.S. Women in Nuclear, Stanke said, “I have three main goals. The first is to help recruit new individuals for the nuclear industry and improve communication skills for nuclear professionals across the whole world. And help increase funding going toward the nuclear industry and clean energy as a whole.” On the subject of Grace Stanke’s career ambitions, she wants to utilize nuclear energy to create clean energy production in the United States. Grace wants to “produce efficient, clean, zero-carbon energy for America through nuclear energy in a core design position.” From all of us at the Anthropocene Institute, we are so proud of you, and we hope you reach your career ambitions. Your role as 2023 Miss America is already influencing America’s next generation of women scientists. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYrl8fWqf_8&t=1s Check out Grace Stanke's articles on the American Nuclear Society website: - Nuclear in a world where nuclear is not - Wisconsin: Producing more than just dairy - Miss Wisconsin: Breaking down misconceptions about nuclear
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She took on a worthy cause. Good for us all
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Her advocacy and communication toward clean energy and emphasising America should convert to zero carbon is a very important step.
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Very interesting article! How do you believe Grace Stanke's promotion of STEM careers can inspire young people to contribute to sustainable energy solutions?
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Tradewater
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Our COO Gabe Plotkin shares 3 reasons why #carbonoffsets are critical in the fight against #climatechange. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKkqWTEt25k
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Does the price of Tradewater's carbon offset credits vary for the different type of Non-CO2 gas?
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@petter Great question! No, we price our project types and the regions where we work unilaterally. We set our price so that we are able to cover the blended cost to execute our work and invest in the continuous development of new projects around the world. Our project types specifically impact the globe's ability to prevent catastrophic climate change and we want to ensure that our customers are not forced to choose based on price, but rather the high environmental impact our projects have. One price, global impact!
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Thanks, Gabe! I like how you broke down three simple reasons and explained the importance of additionality and permanence!
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Hi Pachama, you mention that some jurisdictions mandate keeping part of the land as natural forest. In what direction does that push the calculation? Are natural forests not the most effective carbon sink?
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Great point of view towards propelling a low carbon economy.
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A bit technical but very interesting!