Happy Monday. š
Welcome back to another week of the Grumpy Optimists and your weekly positive climate news.
This weekend was filled with a big flat move, lots of being outside and a 98 sleep score!! For those of you who care or know, that is bonkers. I am very happy. Probably a weekend highlight. Who knew charging your phone outside your bedroom is a good idea?
Anyway, less from me, more from the world.
š News to make you feel good this week
š¦šŗ Win for communities opposing coal mine in landmark first climate case before Australiaās highest court. Australiaās High Court ruled 3-2 that NSW planners failed to consider limiting the Scope 3 emissions of the Mount Pleasant coal mine extension, which make up 98% of its total. Itās the first climate case decided by the countryās top court. That matters in one of the worldās biggest fossil fuel exporters, with a long pipeline of projects that will now have to answer the same question. The ruling covers process and doesnāt block the mine outright, but the precedent is big.
š My thoughts? Scope 3 is where almost all of a coal mineās emissions live. Itās almost wild that we donāt consider the impact of coal being burnt as part of a projectās emissions. These rulings are very powerful.
š°š· South Korea launches $750 billion decarbonisation strategy. The K-GX plan aims to mobilise 1,000 trillion won over ten years. It targets heavy industry and backs ten green sectors, from batteries to heat pumps, with 100GW of renewables by 2030. Samsung, LG, Hanwha Qcells and POSCO announced projects alongside it, so business has signed up too. Much of the money is still to be āmobilisedā, but treating green industry as core economic strategy is the right instinct.
š§® Tories overstate net zero cost by nearly Ā£500bn in apparent spreadsheet error. The Conservativesā conference document put the CCCās net zero cost at Ā£957bn. The real figure is Ā£478bn. Someone summed a column that already included the totals row. Ah yes, the people to run the country. I do find it wild that this number will probably be mobilised for political reasons and nobody will actually question the real figure.
šµš High gasoline prices drive EV sales surge in the Philippines. With petrol up 68% since February and no fuel subsidies, EV registrations (hybrids included) are up 130%, close to a quarter of passenger car sales. Same lesson as Pakistanās solar boom last week: when fossil fuels get expensive, people donāt wait for policy.
š¢ Six Flags has installed one of the largest solar carports in the US. Six Flags Magic Mountain has switched on a 12.37MW solar carport, Californiaās largest. That means shade for the cars and power for the rollercoasters, without an extra acre of land. The same week, the White House declared October āNational Energy Dominance Monthā in honour of ābeautiful, clean coalā.
š UK bluefin tuna comeback shows nature can recover, says WWF. This yearās Living Planet Report finds wildlife populations down 73% on average since 1970, but it also highlights recoveries. Bluefin tuna, gone from British waters by the 1960s, are back thanks to stricter quotas. Indiaās tigers, lions and rhinos are increasing too.
š My thoughts? The recoveries all follow the same boring recipe: protection that is funded, enforced and sustained for decades. Hope, it turns out, is a method.
š„« WRAP and Wageningen are building one carbon footprint standard for food and drink. Right now the same can of drink can end up with several different footprints, depending on which retailer, brand or tool did the maths. The Global Sustainable Transition Alliance brings major European retailers, brands and footprinting tools together to agree one method, aligned with the GHG Protocol, SBTi, PACT and ISO. Food is roughly a third of global emissions, mostly in the supply chain, so being able to compare like for like matters.
š¢ Scientists discover 180,000 giant tortoises on one Seychelles island. Aldabraās giant tortoises, once eaten down to fewer than 1,000, now outnumber the people of the Seychelles. Some of the jump is better counting, but itās still the slowest comeback in history.
š A year after our ā¬1M pledge for a Climate Nobel Prize. Ecosiaās ā¬1 million for a climate Nobel is still sitting with a Berlin notary, and the prize still doesnāt exist. But senior scientists are lining up behind it, and the people keeping the planet liveable deserve the worldās biggest stage.
Thatās all from me this week. My music recommendation for the week is Sunshine by Jungle. An absolute banger. Have a great week all.
George, the Grumpy Optimist š