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Environment
Australia divided over “Brazilian-scale” land clearance
A pristine eucalyptus forest near the Great Barrier Reef has become a political battleground in a bitter dispute over land clearing in Australia, which green groups warn rivals deforestation rates in Brazil. A draft report published last week by the Australian government recommended that 2,000 hectares of forest and swampland could be bulldozed by Kingvale cattle station to make way for crops, the area is home to more than a dozen threatened and endangered species. The news sparked fury among conservationists. They claim land clearing in Queensland is occurring at a rate of 1,000 rugby pitches a day and creating a biodiversity crisis in one of the world’s richest countries. Queensland is bulldozing trees at twice the rate of Brazil, according to research by the University of Queensland. The draft report on Kingvale has fuelled a political outcry with the opposition accusing the government of hypocrisy for supporting land clearing at a time when it is spending billions of dollars to protect the Great Barrier Reef. (Financial Times*)
Waste
Iceland becomes first UK retailer to trial deposit return machine
Frozen food giant Iceland is continuing its high-profile push to tackle plastic waste by becoming the first retailer in the UK to host a “reverse vending machine” for collecting used plastic bottles. Shoppers visiting Iceland’s Fulham store in London will be able to use the machine to collect cashback for their old plastic bottles, as part of a six-month trial to see if a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) could work in practice. Customers depositing bottles in Iceland’s machine will receive a 10p voucher for each bottle recycled, which can be redeemed in its stores. The trial will feed into the government’s plans to develop a nationwide DRS to boost recycling rates for plastic bottles. It follows a series of high-profile environmental promises from Iceland in recent months including pledging to eliminate plastic packaging from its own label products by 2023 and that it would be the first to use a “plastic free” label on its goods. (BusinessGreen)
Energy
Report: Bitcoin mining could take up 0.5% of global energy consumption in 2018
A study has found that by the end of 2018, bitcoin mining could be using as much as half a percent of the world’s global energy usage, making it a significant threat to renewable energy efforts and potentially making it an inefficient investment. Bitcoin mining is currently estimated to use at least 2.55 gigawatts of electricity which is already almost as high as the energy consumption of Ireland. However, the study found that this figure could potentially triple to 7.67 gigawatts as early as the end of 2018, which puts the consumption to roughly the same amount of energy the entire country of Austria consumes. Alex de Vries, the author of the study and blockchain specialist at PwC, concluded: “The bitcoin development community is experimenting with solutions such as the Lightning Network to improve the throughput of the network, which may alleviate the situation. For now, however, Bitcoin has a big problem and it is growing fast.” (City AM)
Climate Change
Report: Carbon Tracker release report assessing alignment of companies’ scenario analyses with investors’ requirements
Carbon Tracker has released a new report, Under the Microscope: Are companies’ scenario analyses meeting investors’ requirements, that provides in-depth analysis of company disclosure of Paris Agreement-aligned scenarios. The report focuses on the largest oil and gas companies: BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, ENI, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch, Shell, Statoil and Total. This was done to assess the degree to which the scenarios disclosed are useful for investors and financial regulators who are increasingly asking companies for decision-useful disclosure and analysis of 2°C scenarios. The report focuses on four major themes: 2°C scenario modelling, scenario outputs, market risk and carbon pricing. The findings of the report include the need for the standardisation of scenarios, with companies currently taking different approaches to different scenarios which hampers comparability. They additionally found that the quantification of financial impacts associated with a 2°C pathway is often absent from companies’ scenario analysis. (Carbon Tracker)
African cities commit to reaching zero carbon by 2050
At a meeting in Nigeria, nine African cities pledged to cut carbon emissions to zero within the next three decades. The cities include major Africa capitals and urban centres, such as Accra, Cape Town, Lagos, and Johannesburg. Despite all countries in Africa having signed the Paris climate agreement, progress has been slow in making the transition to a low-carbon economy. Much of the world’s future population growth is estimated to take place on the continent, making climate action an even greater priority. Adjei Sowah, Major of Accra, said that “We cannot ignore the implications of what will befall us if we do not act now… Part of the actions we need, is the creation of a vision that embodies our passion to plan and implement initiatives that mitigate the negative effects or aids us to be able to adapt to the impacts.” The other cities making the commitment at the meeting were Durban, Tshwane, Dar es Salaam, Dakar, and Addis Ababa. (Climate Action Programme)
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