🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #86
Happy Tuesday 👋
Welcome back to this week’s episode, a day late due to the Easter weekend and having more than one day of downtime since Christmas, a delight! I hope all of those who celebrate Easter had a great time too.
In climate news and in a week where greenhouse gases reached historic highs, it’s probably a good time for some optimistic news. Without further ado, let’s dig in!
👀 Articles to read
⚖️ Only 5% of FTSE 100 have credible plans for net zero. New research by EY has found that despite 80% of the FTSE 100 committing to public targets on net zero, only 5% would comply with new draft legislation called the Transition Plan Taskforce. While this isn’t great news, it is something that can be learnt from, that regulation will drive decarbonising businesses forward and that more is needed and to some extent desired by businesses to make them take action.
💡March breaks low carbon electricity record. A record-breaking 83% of electricity came from zero-carbon sources in the UK in March, with coal accounting for just 0.5% and wind power setting new records, generating 29% of energy.
🛫 Amsterdam airport bans private jets and reduces night flights. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport will ban private jets effective immediately and night flights from 2024 in a bid to tackle its carbon footprint and minimise noise pollution.
⚡Should we be hugging pylons, not trees to fight climate change? This article by The Economist calls for society to build more and grow our production of low-carbon electricity, and I think it’s a pretty great call. There is no denying we need rapid electrification of everything from transport to how we heat and cool our homes. That will rely on greater electricity production, there’s no doubt about it. We need to build, and we need to invest nearly $750bn a year more into expanding electricity production according to the article. To make mass green electrification work, this article calls for us to remove the political barriers and also help communities where new infrastructure is built benefit from lower energy prices and reduce NIMBY-sim.
🚽 England set to ban plastic wet wipes. Flushing wet wipes down toilets causes 93% of England’s sewer blockages and costs around £100 million a year to clean up. The ban is set to come into effect in 2024, but in the meantime, the government is letting sewage spill into our waterways 825 times a day. That’s really quite sh*t.
🐄 Sainsbury’s new packaging saves plastic but causes beef with consumers. For those of you not in the UK, Sainsbury’s a leading supermarket, switched their plastic packaging to save on carbon emissions (slightly ironic given it is beef) and plastic use. While it’s relatively inconsequential in the face of climate change, it’s still something. However, the funny thing about this is that some shoppers are complaining about the packaging making the beef look unattractive which truly shows the disconnect with where our food comes from. Not necessarily positive news, just very interesting psychology of change.
👗 Fashion industry finally starts taking climate action. A new report from the UN and the Carbon Disclosure Project says that the fashion industry is starting to take climate action and is disclosing its climate reports under The Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action. With greenwashing in the industry rife, it’s good to see progress, but more is required.
🚨 Want a job in climate?
Lamington Group are hiring a sustainability officer and it could be you. You’ll get the chance to work on great projects across their Room2 Hometels. You can apply for the role here.
Reach out to the wonderful Mel if you have any questions!
This week was written after a nice long Easter weekend, a long run, homemade bagels and making raised beds from wood in a skip, true environmentalist over here. Thanks for reading, I love you.
The Grumpy Optimists 💚