🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #78
Shell get sued for their inadequate climate policy, UK creates a new department for net zero and NatWest stop funding oil and gas projects...
Happy Monday. 👋
Welcome back to another week of The Grumpy Optimists. For those of you in the northern hemisphere, your days are getting lighter and as I finish this at 7am on Monday morning I’m so happy to be seeing light and I‘m ready for summer to start, for leaves to come back to trees and for it to be light after 6pm.
There’s quite a lot of good news this week in the climate world, from Shell being sued to Australia stopping a coal mine under environmental law. It’s a short one this week, but it’s a good one.
I hope you have a great week and enjoy this week’s newsletter.
👀 Articles to read
🐚 Shell directors personally sued over climate strategy. ClientEarth is suing Shell and their 11 directors personally over their flawed climate strategy which they claim is inadequate to meet climate targets. ClientEarth, acting as a small shareholder suggests that the best interest of the company is to its carbon emissions quicker than currently planned and that Shell is over-exposed to the risk of climate change. This comes just days after Shell recorded a profit of £33bn in 2022.
Why it matters. 💭 One of my big predictions for 2023 was the importance of climate litigation in helping accelerate the transition to net zero. I’m doing well so far. This is just one of many lawsuits Shell face, with the Netherlands taking them to court to reduce their emissions by 45% by 2030 and 14,000 Nigerians seeking justice for the pollution of waterways in the Niger delta. Shouting from the sidelines without political or legal power is insufficient to stop huge companies like Shell reduce their impact. This lawsuit has the power and the precedent to change Shell’s corporate strategy and highlights the power and importance that lawyers have and will continue to have in the fight against climate change.
🏦 NatWest stop lending to oil and gas projects from 2025. The British bank is to immediately stop lending to new customers involved in oil and gas projects and phase out funding completely by 2025. The bank will also increase funding to $10bn for energy-efficient homes by the of 2025, signalling a shift away from fossil fuels and towards energy efficiency.
🇬🇧 UK creates a department for net zero and energy security. The UK announced it will split its business department into four departments covering science, business and energy with a new department for Energy Security and Net Zero - dubbed DESNEZ. The hope is that the change will put more emphasis on net zero as a separate entity, rather than having to tie it into a business department and potentially cause challenges with pushing through climate bills. This news is very welcomed, the abbreviation, not so much, DESNEZ? Surely it could have been easier.
💼 US climate bill creates 100,000 green jobs. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a $370 billion bill to support climate tech in the US, has helped create over 100,000 jobs (and counting) since its inception in August 2022. It is projected that the bill will create over 9 million climate-related jobs by 2030, and even climate sceptics are starting to talk about the benefits of job creation and investment in their local communities. This goes to show that climate bills can be labelled as more than just a climate bill; how we frame them is important. I’ve written about this in the past here.
🇦🇺 Australia blocks coal mine to protect Great Barrier Reef. For the first time in history, Australia blocked the creation of a coal mine under environmental laws, again, signalling the importance of the law in fighting climate change. The new government is aiming to turn back years of poor climate policy and rapidly cut emissions.
⛷️ US skiers wear climate change-themed race suits at work championships. In a year when a lack of snow due to warm temperatures has closed ski resorts in Europe, bringing the message of climate change to a sport that relies heavily on predictable weather is important. The US ski team are not alone in bringing the conversation around climate to sport, Reading FC also don climate stripes on their sleeves.
🐄 Lidl reduces animal products and expands its plant-based range. As part of its 2025 sustainability goals, the value chain Lidl is planning on increasing its plant range.
Why it matters. 💭 Whether you’re vegetarian, flexitarian, vegan or a straight carnivore, it’s hard to ignore the impact that the animal industry has on our planet. Agriculture is responsible for roughly 1/3 of all global greenhouse gas emissions and cutting its impact is crucial, but reducing food miles is not always the best option, cutting animal products is. The graph below shows the impact of our food system with the farm and land use change causing the largest impact, not your packaging or how far your avocado comes.
📹 Videos to watch
A slightly odd one to include this week but perfect for a realisation that nature is pretty powerful and will thrive if we allow it. One point for the wholesome scoreboard. This is how I feel feeding robins worms while I garden, perhaps not quite the same but still, it’s bloody great to have a connection to our surroundings.
The Grumpy Optimists 💚