🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #84
We need to act now to avoid the worst of climate change and how you can own a piece of the UK's most sustainable mobile network.
Happy Monday. 👋
Welcome back to another episode and if you’re in the UK, I hope you enjoyed the extra hour of sunlight last night. From blossom, magnolias and lighter evenings, this is by far the happiest period of the year.
Quite a lot happened in the world of climate last week, from the final IPCC report telling us this is our final chance to sort it out and rapidly decarbonise, to the EU making greenwashing harder and a number of interesting legal battles there’s lots to cover.
There is also a special shoutout to the folks at Honest Mobile and how you can own a piece of the UK’s most sustainable mobile network.
👀 Articles to read
🚨 IPCC sounds the final alarm to take climate action. "Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once." Those are the words of the UN secretary general, António Guterres when talking about the release of the IPCC’s latest report on climate change. The report sets out how we can reduce emissions and still keep temperatures below 1.5°C but it makes it incredibly clear, this is the final time they can issue the alarm. In order to limit the worst of climate change, we need to rapidly expand renewable energy production, invest in removal technology, increase climate finance and phase out all fossil fuel infrastructure.
Interestingly, switching to a plant-based diet was a recommendation in the initial report by the IPCC but was blocked by the meat industry. They weren’t the only group trying to influence the paper to their advantage. Norway watered down wording about the urgency to reduce emissions; China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Egypt called for references to “subsidies” to be deleted; Saudi Arabia pushed to suggest carbon capture and storage as a replacement for using renewable energy; and Switzerland and the US pushed back on a reference to developing countries access to climate financing.
🧑🏻💻 The EU has just proposed new rules that could change the way we repair our products. With 35 million tonnes of waste e-waste created each year, this is a really important piece of legislation. Under this bill, consumers will have the right to demand repairs within 10 years of purchase, even if the product is no longer under warranty as well as be able to use an online database to find repairers.
⚖️ Britain's top lawyers refuse to prosecute climate activists. Around 120 prominent British lawyers are set to sign a "Declaration of Conscience" stating they will refuse to prosecute eco-protesters brought before the courts, including those from groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil. A powerful and bold move that I agree with.
👩🏻 Badass elderly Swiss women take on government over climate injustice. A group of elderly Swiss women, ranging from 63 to 96 years old, are taking their government to court for not doing enough to tackle the climate crisis. The ladies argue that Switzerland is violating their human rights by not taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect them from the harsh effects of global warming. Grandma goals.
🌍 Client earth taking legal action against excessively polluting vehicles. Environmental law charity ClientEarth is taking legal action against three governments – France, Spain and Italy – for their alleged failure to take action against car manufacturers who produce vehicles that exceed EU air pollution limits. The legal complaints demand that the governments take steps to enforce EU emissions limits, investigate and sanction car manufacturers, and inform the public about the health risks of high pollution levels. ClientEarth is hoping that these legal actions will hold governments accountable for their failure to protect public health and push them to take more decisive action on air pollution.
It’s important to note that banning vehicles or limiting their use often comes at the cost of being seen to take away people’s freedom. The expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in London is a clear sign that taking climate action is sometimes difficult.
👟 Allbirds make the world’s first net zero shoes. Allbirds unveiled their latest shoes, Project M0.0NSHOT, a net zero shoe without any offsets with a carbon footprint of 0.0kgCO₂e. That's compared to the average of 14kgCO₂e per shoe. Instead of relying on offsets, the shoes use three materials that Allbirds say are carbon-negative: regeneratively farmed merino wool, a sugarcane-based EVA foam and a bioplastic made from methane. This is an incredible step, looking at the full lifecycle of a product and signals a way forward for the footwear industry, albeit at a hefty cost for now.
🥃 Bruichladdich make regenerative agriculture whisky. After finding out that Rye is a beneficial rotational crop that improves soil health and structure but also reduces the need for artificial fertilisers, Bruichladdich looked to create “The Regeneration Project”. The limited edition whisky aims to promote regenerative agriculture and provide a profitable way for farmers to grow Rye and protect nature. I’ll drink to that.
♻️ EU tackles greenwashing with new "green claims" rules. In an era where greenwashing is rife, the European Union is cracking down on "greenwashing" with their new "green claims" rules, making it harder for companies to get away with false claims about products being better for the planet or green. These new rules require companies to back up their claims with scientific evidence and use specific wording and symbols to indicate the environmental impact of their products. This is a much-needed step and one that the UK should look to replicate.
🤷🏻♂️ Flight tax cut will create a surge in UK domestic flights. In baffling news during a climate emergency, the UK government is cutting the Air Passenger Duty by 50% on flights between. The move is expected to incentivise more people to fly rather than take the train and is in stark contrast to countries like France where all flights where a train can be taken in under 2.5 hours are banned.
⚡Energy providers manipulate the market to the tune of £525 million. Energy traders at firms in the UK have been exploiting loopholes to artificially increase energy prices, suggesting they will switch off energy production unless they are paid up to 4 times the market rate for their energy. This has resulted in higher costs to consumers to the tune of £525 million between 2018-2022. This comes at a time when three million low-income households can’t afford to heat their homes and councils are having to establish ‘warm rooms’ in places like libraries for the most vulnerable. Ofgem is trying to crack down on the loopholes to make it harder for energy companies to artificially create profits at the expense of everyday consumers.
📱 STOP! Do you want to own part of the UK’s most sustainable mobile network?
Before you go, I want to bring to your attention something cool. Our friends over at honest mobile are fundraising on Seedrs and you can own a part of the UK’s most sustainable mobile network.
Honest mobile are on a mission to build the world’s most sustainable network. Whilst isn’t something you typically associate with carbon emissions, your phone can emit around 70KgCO2 each year when you consider the manufacture, data and daily charging.
Honest remove double your phone’s carbon footprint, using high-quality carbon removals and you can track it all in their app. If you’d like to learn more or even invest in their upcoming crowdfund, you can get priority access to invest before the general public here!
Not only do they care about sustainability, but they also care about making your phone contract better. From bills that go down each year (yes, really!!), access to customer support in seconds and sustainability at its core, they’re really building a mobile network for the 21st century.
Josh, Andy and the team are genuinely some of the best people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and if I was to back anybody to take on a massive industry, it’s Honest Mobile.
*Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. I am in no way offering financial advice or being paid to promote this.
Thanks for reading this week’s episode. This episode was written to Suki Waterhouse and the incredible scenes of there being light (albeit no sun) until 7.30pm!! Have a great week folks.
The Grumpy Optimists 💚
Just to say that I always look forward to reading your newsletter on Mondays! Thank you for compiling it.
Another great newsletter, keep up the great work George. Your positive approach to summarising the climate industry is really inspiring.