Snippets for 30 January 2020

Welcome to another edition of our SnippETS newsletter. In this edition we cover developments made at the World Economic Forum Annual Summit in Davos, hot topics in sustainability for the new decade and how European Union plans to tackle climate change.

In addition, we cover climate commitments made by finance and tech companies, the future of low emissions ocean shipping and finish off this week with a heart warming article from Rwanda.

This week we open with some insightful and first hand feedback coming from the World Economic Forum Annual Summit at Davos. Joel Makower, the Green Biz editor, indicates that there is true intent on improving reporting and transparency on implementing the SDGs and sustainability in general. These are based on four main themes: Principles of Governance, Planet, People and Prosperity. As always however, the devil is in the detail and the metrics rarely lie. Read more.....

As we continue to embrace 2020, we examine what will be the main developments in this new make-or-break decade. These include: how we protect and look after our oceans, how we protect and look after our biodiversity (as presently around 1 million species are threatened with extinction) and how we really take action on addressing climate change with COP 26 to be held in Glasgow later this year. Read more.....

One sector that is truly embracing taking climate change action is the European Union. It recently announced plans to dedicate a quarter of its budget to tackling climate change by shifting US$ 1.1 trillion, over the next ten years, towards making the EU economy more environmentally friendly. The Green Deal is aimed at making Europe the world’s first carbon neutral continent by 2050. “This is our pledge of solidarity and fairness,” said Frans Timmermans, the Dutch politician tapped as executive vice president of the European Green Deal.Read more.....

Who would have thought that the world of finance could ever be a force of positive change in relation to climate change? It seems that every day we are hearing more stories of the finance industry waking up to climate change related risks. Now, the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has put the word out that climate change will be central to investment decisions going forward. Read more.....

Among some of the largest tech companies there appears to be a competition as to who can get to zero carbon faster, and some are now saying that they plan to be carbon negative. Of course, the details around how they plan to achieve that goal are scant, but the intent is there. Microsoft is the latest to announce their intentions and we wish them well and hope that they and others manage to achieve their lofty goals. Read more.....

Moving from the corporate world and on to the NZ Government, we have a new government policy that mandates that government legislation or decisions will be subjected to a “climate impact assessment”. This will help to ensure that long term investments will not be made that lock NZ into high emissions pathways. Read more.....

With big business making moves to minimize carbon, the transportation of goods by sea is in the limelight. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set policies that will force source ship owners to phase out low cost (and low quality/high emissions) bunker fuels. 90 percent of global trade is tied to international shipping. Zero emissions ships will need to be built by 2030, and their fuel type must be energy intensive, easy to store on board and safe. Not long till we need clarity and certainty of fuel options. Read more.....

New Zealand is joining almost 100 other countries, with our government agreeing to sign an international treaty targeting ship emissions. The convention's regulations limiting sulphur emissions from shipping (new maximum being 0.5% by mass down from the current limit of 3.5%) are due to come into force on January 1 for those already signed, but the limits would not apply to NZ ships until early 2022 as we won’t be signing until late 2021, giving our shipping industry time to prepare. Read more.....

One possible option for ocean shipping, (and aviation, steel production and other energy intensive sectors) is green hydrogen – made from splitting water with electricity generated from renewable means. Currently investment and infrastructure is lacking, but Japan is showing what can be done, with its Olympics athletes village. The Hydrogen Council envisages that by 2050 green hydrogen could provide almost a fifth of total power consumed globally and avoid six billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year—roughly the equivalent of the carbon emitted by the United States annually. Read more....

We finish up this week with a look Rwanda and its capital city Kigali. 26 years after coming out of a terrible civil war, Rwanda has almost reinvented itself. They are one people now that have pride in their surroundings, having to do umuganda (community service) on the last Saturday of every month. As important as the community maintenance and clean ups are the social interaction and community spirit. Carbon EMS is a firm believer in community service and the interactions that it brings. Read more.....