This week’s sustainability progress round-up from Sustainable Future News includes a finance package from US President Joe Biden’s administration to help tribes face extreme weather, a potential breakthrough on net zero fuel for planes, a first-of-its-kind net zero dairy farm and more.
Biden administration announces $75m package to relocate tribes facing flood threat
US President Joe Biden’s administration announced they will help fund the move of three tribal communities facing urgent threats from climate change.
As part of the package, the three tribes, located along coastal areas and rivers in the states of Alaska and Washington, will receive $75m (£62m) divided equally between them. The money will fund the move of critical buildings and residential homes to higher ground, away from rising waters.
Scientists make a potential breakthrough for making net zero aviation fuel
Researchers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) developed a potential recipe for a net zero fuel for planes that will pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air. The research, which used computational modelling and analysis, was recently published in the journal Fuel.
The project, led by Jagan Jayachandran, assistant professor of aerospace engineering, and Adam Powell, associate professor of mechanical and materials engineering, addresses an urgent climate change problem. Aviation currently accounts for approximately 2.5% of all global greenhouse emissions, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), and that number is expected to rise.
Nestlé and Fonterra to develop first net zero dairy farm in NZ
Nestlé and Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest milk producer partnered to develop the country’s first net zero carbon emissions dairy farm.
The ‘Net Zero Milk’ project will be the first of its kind in the country and will look to increase awareness and adoption of low-carbon techniques and technologies that the wider farming sector can implement in order to decarbonise the industry.
After running for 5 years, the project will assess the new dairy farm’s total carbon output, looking to reduce emissions by 30% by mid-2027 and achieve net zero emissions in 10 years’ time.
EU’s sustainability reporting directive gets green light
The European Council has given the green light to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) which will require more companies to publish detailed information about their impact on the environment.
CSRD builds upon pre-existing rules on non-financial reporting introduced in the 2014 non-financial reporting directive (NFRD) with more European and non-European companies now subject in the future to sustainability reporting requirements.
EU takes step towards banning plastic waste exports
A Committee of the European Parliament voted this week to ban plastic waste exports outside of the European Union which is good news for communities around the world impacted by exports of European refuse.
Instead of processing and reducing their own waste, EU member states ship more than 1,000 metric tons of plastic waste each year to other countries for recycling. Nearly half of that plastic waste is sent to Turkey, where Human Rights Watch research found that plastic recycling facilities threaten the health of workers and nearby communities.
By voting for a ban on plastic waste exports outside the EU – part of its proposal to revise the EU Waste Shipment Regulation – the Environment Committee of the European Parliament sends a clear message: EU countries should take responsibility for their own waste instead of sending it to countries with weak environmental regulations and little government oversight for environmental, health, and labour rights violations.
