Climate change
Climate Change Is Harming the Planet Faster Than We Can Adapt, U.N. Warns
Satellites map huge methane plumes from oil and gas
Satellites can now map methane leaks from oil and gas fields. The IPCC suggests that up to 50% of the current rise in temperatures is down to methane, so plugging these leaks would be a major win against climate change. And with higher resolution sensors coming in the next few years, it will be possible to identify individual oil and gas facilities, making it more difficult for the industry to claim ignorance about leaks, unintended or otherwise.
Oil and gas facilities could profit from plugging methane leaks, IEA says
On the same topic as above, there are also financial benefits: plugging methane leaks would be free globally and actually produce a significant profit.
Force pension funds to align with net zero goal, says Richard Curtis
Rivers and burns in the Scottish highlands and uplands are already too warm in summer for wild Atlantic salmon on their journey upstream to spawn, which is threatening the species’ survival. Millions of trees are therefore being planted beside these waterways to provide shade and cool them down. Such projects improve overall biodiversity in the rivers, by increasing insect life, leaf fall, managing essential nutrients and flood control.
Biodiversity
Scotland hopes to save wild salmon by planting millions of trees next to rivers
Five ways AI is saving wildlife – from counting chimps to locating whales
Artificial intelligence is still met with suspicion by some, but perhaps not among conservationists, who are increasingly using AI to tackle biodiversity loss and manage climate change. In fact, it is one of the top three emerging technologies in conservation, helping to protect species such as humpback whales, koalas and snow leopards.
Sustainable finance
Green investing: the risk of a new mis-selling scandal
ESG funds have recently become increasingly popular – but the risk of greenwashing runs high. In August, a report by climate think-tank InfluenceMap found that 421 out of 593 ESG equity funds it assessed had portfolios that were not aligned with the Paris climate targets. New regulations are being introduced to tackle the greenwashing issue, such as SFDR, and some lawyers warn that litigation on mis-selling in Europe or the US could come, and fast.
Can bitcoin be sustainable? Inside the Norwegian mine that also dries wood
Bitcoin receives a lot of criticism over its environmental credentials – most recently its annual carbon footprint has been reported as comparable to that of the Czech Republic, and using the same energy in a year as Thailand. Norwegian company Kryptovault is trying to fight back against these claims by using renewable energy to power the bitcoin mining process, and using the waste heat emitted to dry wood for local lumberjacks to sell.
