NATURAL CAPITAL

World Bank launches tracking system to clean up carbon market

The World Bank has launched a global tracking system to clean up the opaque market for carbon credits and help developing countries raise climate finance more quickly. Carbon credits – generated through activities such as planting forests or sequestering GHG emissions – are sold to polluters to offset their emissions. The World Bank’s ‘Climate Action Data Trust’ (CAD Trust) aims to address concerns over poor market transparency and limited supply of credits by collating carbon credit data into one place and making it free to the public. The CAD Trust, co-funded with the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), will provide a platform listing various existing carbon offset registries to make it easier for companies and countries to share data. Bhutan said the facility will allow it to offer credits as soon as 2023. (Reuters)

WASTE

PepsiCo to house 20% of drinks in reusable packaging by 2030

Food and beverage giant PepsiCo has pledged to house 20% of its drinks in reusable packaging by 2030, up from around 10% at present. The commitment builds on PepsiCo’s current public pledge to reduce the amount of virgin plastic used per serving of beverage by 2030. PepsiCo aims to meet this target through a combination of increasing refillable use and procuring more non-virgin plastic to use in its packaging. It is aiming to reduce the use of virgin plastic across its packaging portfolio by 35% by 2025, and to achieve an average of 25% recycled content in the same timeframe. PepsiCo has already trialled reusable cups in partnership with Closed Loop Partners NextGen Consortium. (edie)

CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Apple rolls out self-repair service for products across Europe

Technology giant Apple has rolled out its self-service repair service to the UK, offering customers who want to fix their own phones and laptops access to official parts, tools and repair manuals. The company announced it was expanding the service, which was launched in the US in 2021. Customers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden are also set to benefit from the expansion of the service, which will offer customers access to more than 200 parts and tools, as well as repair manuals that can help fix some Macbooks and iPhone models. Apple's programme is borne from right-to-repair regulation brought in by regulators in the US and Europe to help tackle e-waste and encourage more sustainable use of electronics. (Business Green)*

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Solar power set to overtake coal as war fuels renewable boom

Solar power will become the world’s biggest source of electricity within the next five years, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The agency revealed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is powering a massive ramp-up in renewables, with the world set to add as much renewable power in the next five years as it did in the past 20 years. Global renewable power capacity is now expected to reach 2,400 gigawatts (GW) over the 2022-2027 period, an amount equal to the entire power capacity of China today. The IEA forecasts renewables are set to account for over 90% of global electricity expansion over the next five years, collectively overtaking coal to become the largest source of global electricity by early 2025. (City AM)

CONSUMERS

Uber fined A$21 million by court for misleading consumers

Ride-hailing service Uber has been fined A$21 million by the Australian Federal Court for misleading customers about fare estimates and trip cancellation fees. The case was lodged by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) after Uber admitted its conduct had misled or deceived consumers. Despite both parties filing joint submissions seeking a $26 million fine against Uber, the court decided the penalty was excessive. The consumer regulator alleged that, from at least 2017 to 2021, Uber’s app displayed a misleading cancellation warning. Whenever consumers tried to cancel bookings, they received an ambiguous prompt. The ACCC said more than 2 million consumers were shown the misleading cancellation warning. Uber also admitted it misled customers of its ‘Uber Taxi’ ride option, by giving price estimates that were inaccurate and too high. (ABC News)

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