⚡️ A new era in nuclear technology
This week we're looking COP15, powerful new regulation and a new era in limitless energy...
Happy Monday. 👋
Welcome back to another week of The Grumpy Optimists. We hope you all survived the freezing temperatures of last week, the cycle to work was not all that pleasant, and you’re ready for a week of balmy temperatures reaching 13 degrees in the UK - it’s safe to safe the climate is changing.
This week we’re recapping what happened at COP15 - the biodiversity version of the conference of the parties, the wins, the progress and perhaps what we need more action on. we’re also looking at a major energy breakthrough and the stark divide in emissions between the wealthy and the many.
Have a great break, and we’ll see you in the New Year!
🦋 COP15
What is COP15 and why it matters
COP15 is the 15th Conference of Parties under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The CBD, which came into force in 1993, aims to conserve biological diversity and promote the sustainable, fair and equitable use of the benefits that nature provides us (such as clean water). You could almost see it as the “nature” version of COP27.
Why does it matter? Both climate change and nature are fundamentally interlinked, as we know that nature is being impacted by climate change and has a role in combatting it. According to some figures, wildlife populations have fallen by roughly 70% between 1970 and 2018, that’s a shocking statistic and shows the scale of humanity’s destruction of ‘nature’. This visual guide is fantastic at showing the impact. The summit is seen as the last chance to put nature on the path to recovery
Mari’s take: I’m going to sound like an adaptation broken record again, but a key element that I truly hope comes out of COP15 is the recognition that nature itself is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This means we can’t just see it as the silver bullet to solve all our climate problems, but something we need to support, protect and enhance so that it can adapt in response to a changing climate. Another key area, for me, is the recognition of the role of indigenous people in safeguarding nature.
✅ Positive
This Monday morning a new deal has been agreed by all countries. The plan will:
Put 30% of the planet under protection by the end of the decade.
Ensure the rights of indigenous peoples
Provide finance to boost the flow to developing countries
(more coming out on this as we write)
☺️ Progress
Corporate biodiversity reporting is an incredibly difficult world, there’s very little data and even less regulation. How do you measure the impact on biodiversity of building a new piece of IKEA furniture or brewing a pint of beer - the simple answer is you pay a lot of money for not very accurate results. That’s changing, however, as biodiversity looks to be as integral to corporate sustainability reporting as carbon reporting. That’s leading to more start-ups entering the scene to capitalise on a growing market, Sifted provides an excellent summary of the companies tackling this problem.
📹 If you’re looking for some optimism about how resilient our planet is, look no further than the video below of Palmyra, an island destroyed in WW2 but restored to pristine conditions.
👀 Articles to read
🇪🇺 The EU makes bold climate commitments. There have been several large commitments by the EU over the past week or so, let’s quickly recap them.
🚢 Shipping industry to pay for their emissions. Currently, the shipping industry has escaped regulation of the EU carbon market but that’s set to change in 2024 when they have to buy permits for 40% of their emissions, rising to 100% by 2026. With 90% of the world’s goods transported by boat and accounting for 3% of emissions, decarbonising shipping is key to limiting temperature increases.
💚 EU launches green tariffs on imports. The carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) is an effective tax on high-polluting industries like iron and steel, cement, electricity and chemical production from outside the EU. The aim is to provide financial incentives to decarbonise quickly. While the agreement is provisional, it’s a sign of things to come. There’s likely to be a day when all products have a carbon tax.
☢️ Nuclear fusion passes a key milestone. A federal fusion energy reactor in the US has for the first time produced more energy than required to start the reaction in the first place, the energy out increased by a whopping 50% in what is called a ‘net energy gain’. To better understand what actually happened, the simple video below is highly recommended.
Why it matters: Unlike the other type of Nuclear energy, fusion produces no waste material and offers clean, renewable energy. Nuclear fusion (imagine: atoms fusing together) occurs naturally in the sun and releases 4M times more energy than burning oil, coal, or gas.
It’s only a small step, but it’s a huge milestone. Commercial production of fusion is still potentially decades away, but this is a step in the right direction and the potential for nuclear innovation is huge.
Small step or not, nuclear fusion is truly a gateway to limitless energy at scale and it’s incredibly exciting.
😤 Stark emission divide for top earners and low income in the UK. The top 10% of earners in the UK use more energy flying than the poorest 20% use overall, that’s a shocking insight into the divides in energy use between the rich and the poor. The research is a signal to create policies that tackle high energy use such as frequent flyer taxes, particularly while millions struggle in energy poverty.
🎙️ A podcast to check out
The Civil Service Environment Network aims to strengthen environmental knowledge and awareness among civil servants and bring together like-minded colleagues in discussing key environmental issues.
It explores many topical and fascinating topics, from environmental psychology; to sustainable cities; to vertical farming. Check out this episode about the Carbon Literacy Project: helping people to know more about climate change, their carbon footprint and how to make climate-friendly lifestyle choices.
The Grumpy Optimists 💚