TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

Amazon invests in nature-based carbon removal solutions in Brazil

Tech giant Amazon has launched a new agroforestry and restoration programme that will utilise nature-based solutions while improving livelihoods for local farmers in the Brazilian Amazon. It has launched the ‘Agroforestry and Restoration Accelerator’ in partnership with global environmental organisation The Nature Conservancy. The Accelerator will initially support 3,000 farmers in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Pará, restoring approximately 20,000 hectares within three years, and removing up to 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through to 2050. Amazon is also part of Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest finance (LEAF), a public-private initiative between businesses and the UK, US and Norwegian governments committing $1 billion of funding to combat the climate crisis through the conservation and preservation of tropical forests across the globe. (edie)

COMMUNITY

National Lottery unveils £2.5m funds for community climate action

The National Lottery has launched a new £2.5 million funding programme for community projects that aim to tackle the climate crisis across the UK. Launched by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK, ‘Together for Our Planet’ is a funding programme that aims to establish a series of on-going climate action projects in communities across the country that can help the UK reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The programme offers grants between £1,000 and £10,000 for community projects that help tackle emissions in areas such as food, transport, energy, waste, consumption, and the natural environment. Specifically, the fund is looking for projects that support the development of longer-term climate action within communities, encouraging communities to plan for the climate emergency and build resilience. (Business Green)

SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT 

UK & India agree $1.2bn sustainable tech & energy funding package

With less than two months to go until COP26, the UK and Indian governments have agreed upon a new $1.2 billion (£900,000) package of funding designed to accelerate the low-carbon transition. The package was agreed upon at the 11th Economic and Financial Dialogue between the two nations. The funding will be allocated across the fields of low-carbon energy, infrastructure and technologies. Called the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) India partnership, the package consists of both public funding from the two national governments, and commitments to mobilise investment from the private sector. It also comes after the G7 nations reaffirmed a past commitment – which has not yet been fulfilled – to provide at least $100 billion of climate finance to poorer nations each year. (edie)

STRATEGY

European Investment Bank launches climate-focused advisory council

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group has announced the launch of a new Climate and Environment Advisory Council. Chaired by European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, the new council will advise and provide expertise on the activities that the EIB carries out to reach its climate action and sustainability ambitions. The announcement follows the approval late last year by the EIB’s board of directors of the EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap, which guides future climate action financing by the EIB and European Investment Fund (EIF), supporting €1 trillion of climate and environmental sustainability investments by 2030, and to align all financing activities with the principles and goals of the Paris climate agreement. The council met for the first time on Wednesday, discussing activities to support adaptation to climate change impacts.  (ESGToday)

CLIMATE CHANGE

Large increase in weather disasters over the past five decades found

The number of weather-related disasters to hit the world has increased five-fold over the past 50 years, says the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). As global temperatures rise so to have the number of disasters related to weather and water extremes. In the 50 years between 1970 and 2019, there were over 11,000 such disasters, according to a new atlas from the WMO that charts the scale of these events. Over two million people died as a result of these hazards, with economic losses amounting to $3.64 trillion. A new report by the Atlantic Council outlined that worsening extreme heat is likely to significantly increase economic and public health costs in the United States without a major course correction on climate change. This all comes as Hurricane Ida wreaks havoc with sudden heavy rains and flooding resulting in deaths and damage across the US north-east. (BBC; Thomson Reuters Foundation; The Guardian)

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