SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT

EU’s published green taxonomy criticised over gas & nuclear inclusion

The European Commission has published its new taxonomy for sustainable finance, keeping nuclear and natural gas as sustainable investment categories. The document states that both gas and nuclear activities can be backed by private investment across the bloc, provided they “contribute to the transition to climate neutrality”. For nuclear, this means meeting new environmental safety requirements while gas projects will have to contribute to the transition away from coal to renewables. The taxonomy has received substantial criticism, with Greenpeace stressing it enables spending on technologies that either don’t help or exacerbate climate change, and the European Climate Foundation stating it undermines the EU’s climate leadership and gold standard. The Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change previously lobbed for the EU to renege on its inclusion of natural gas and nuclear. (edie)

DEFORESTATION

COP26 deal to prevent Congo Basin deforestation misses deadline

A major deal signed at COP26 to help end deforestation has missed its first deadline. The Central Africa Forest Initiative (CAFI) was signed by countries at COP26 to protect the Congo Basin which absorbs 4% of the world’s carbon dioxide and is exposed to widespread deforestation. It pledged to provide the Democratic Republic of Congo with $500 million in exchange for an audit on all logging contracts by the end of 2021, to help eliminate illegal logging. However, the audit is yet to be published and CAFI has confirmed that none of the promised $500 million has been sent to the DRC. Campaigners say publishing the missing audit is vital to removing illegal deforestation in the Congo Basin, which provides food for 40 million people and regulates rainfall patterns across the continent. (Sky News)

ENERGY

UK government gives the green light to new North Sea oil and gas field

A new oil and gas development in the North Sea has been approved by the UK government. The Abigail field, which lies 233km from the Scottish coast, has been given approval for construction with an estimated cost of $150 million. The site is owned by Ithaca Energy, and contains 5.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, which will be split equally between oil and gas. The decision will come as a boost for the North Sea’s fossil fuel industry, after Shell pulled out of the Cambo oil field plans in 2021. Environmental campaigners have criticised the move, with fossil-free campaign group Uplift stating the new site “only worsens the climate crisis”, urging the government to stop sanctioning oil and gas developments. (City A.M.)

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Lithuanian government pledges €40 million to fund rooftop solar panel boom

Lithuania’s government has voted to pledge a total of €40.4 million to help people buying solar panels to help alleviate rising energy prices. It had originally allocated €5.4 million to cover part of the cost of rooftop solar panels in 2022, which transpired to be too little to cope with demand for solar power, caused by a global spike in energy prices. The €40 million support also covers power plants built in special rural parks for city residents who do not own the roof of their apartment blocks. Lithuania is pioneering its rural solar parks scheme as it aims to have a third of the country receiving electricity from its own solar panels by 2030. (Reuters)

CLIMATE CHANGE

“Ecological mismatch” feared as flowers bloom one month too early in UK

Plants in the UK are flowering a month earlier as the climate heats up, according to a study published in the Royal Society Publishing journal. Researchers examined 420,000 recorded dates of first flowering for more than 400 species, dating to 1793. The average date for first blooms was 12 May until 1986, with the date being pushed forward to April since. During the most recent recorded year, 2019, spring arrived 42 days earlier than the pre-1986 average. The researchers warn of an “ecological mismatch” when plants, insects, birds and other wildlife are no longer synchronised. The study concluded that if plants continued to flower earlier, then “biological, ecological and agricultural systems will be at an unprecedented risk”. (The Guardian)

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