Black Friday sales hit record despite inflation

Good Morning,

The global sales promotion campaign Black Friday has extended to Black week or even Black month in some places. The environmental impacts of increased consumption on Black Friday are considerable:

• 80 % of products bought at Black Friday will end up in landfill, are incinerated, or not recycled properly

• Only 29 % of Black Friday electronic waste is recycled

• Product deliveries alone are estimated to produce 429,000 tons of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions – an equivalent of 435 return flights from London to New York

• Despite the negative environmental impacts and high inflation, this year the U.S. Black Friday online sales hit a record $9 bln, according to Adobe Analytics 

In Finland, there has been some critical discussion on Black Friday – but the main criticism focuses on sellers' 'fake discounts' rather than the environmental aspects of the campaign.

According to an analysis conducted by Hintaopas, up to 11 % of the Black Friday discounts in Finland are in fact 'fake sales'. The sellers raised their prices just before Black Friday campaign, making their Black Friday discounts seem larger than they actually are. A law reform taking effect next year aims to put stop on such pricing and add transparency in all sales campaigns.

Although there have been numerous initiatives towards greener consumption and marketing, including the EU initiative on substantiating green claims, the current means to reduce the negative impacts of overconsumption remain quite limited.

Perhaps the most visible anti-campaigns for Black Friday are Green Friday and boycotts promoted by civic movements and NGOs.

This year several clothing brands announced to join conscious consumers in boycotting Black Friday – could such company-based boycotts be an emerging trend for businesses with sustainable-minded customers?

Let's jump into this week's major headlines.

EU's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

UK's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

Reuters | EU proposes boosting recycled content and reuse of packaging. The European Commission proposed on Wednesday new rules to reduce packaging waste through increased recycled content in plastic drinks bottles and targets for reuse of take-way cups and materials used for online deliveries.

UNEP | U.N. launched negotiations in Uruguay to end plastic pollution. From 28 November to 2 December, representatives from governments, the private sector and civil society will start developing an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, a document they hope to finalize by 2024.

Reuters | UN panel: Great Barrier Reef should be put on 'in danger' list. The world's largest coral reef ecosystem has suffered significantly due to climate change and warming of oceans.

Reuters | World's largest active volcano in Hawaii began erupting on Sunday. The Mauna Loa has been inactive since 1984, marking the past decades its longest quiet period in recorded history.

The Guardian | Evidence grows of forced labour and slavery in solar panel and wind turbine production. A report by the Clean Energy Council, representing renewable energy companies and solar installers, has called for more local renewable energy production and manufacturing and a “certificate of origin” scheme to counter concerns about slave labour in mineral extraction and manufacturing in China, Africa and South America.

HS | First-ever climate trial in Finland: Greenpeace and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation sue the Finnish Government for their climate policy. The organizations accuse the government of breaking the Climate Change Act, referring to inaction in protecting carbon sinks.

HS | Nature conservation law causes turmoil in the Finnish Government. The Center party joins the opposition in the Environment Committee discussions, demanding changes to the law.

HS | Large Wind Farm under construction in Eastern Finland. Niinimäki wind farm, funded by Helen and Ålandsbank, consists of 22 wind turbines. The wind farm is expected to be ready by the end of 2024.

STT | ABO Wind Oy receives approval in the environmental impacts assessment for wind farm plans in Southwest Finland

Reuters | Canada to invest C$1.6 bln in first national climate adaptation strategy.Canada published its first-ever national climate adaptation strategy last Thursday. Like many countries around the world, Canada is seeing a rise in extreme weather caused by climate change, with average annual losses from disasters forecast to reach C$15.4 billion by 2030, according to the government.

Reuters | Swedish engineering group Alfa Laval announces 1 billion Swedish crown energy transition-related investment. The investment aims to raise capacity in the manufacture and distribution of gasketed heat exchangers, which are used in both cooling and heating processes and are more energy efficient than counterparts such as shell-and-tube systems.

STT | Airbus and Neste to cooperate in developing renewable aviation fuel

HS | Helen plans small-scale hydrogen production in Vuosaari. The two-megawatt pilot plant would produce fuel mainly for heavy vehicles.

University of Oxford | Microplastic fibers discovered in various samples from the last remaining pristine environment on Earth. Right before the U.N. meeting for Global Plastics Treaty, marine and forensic scientists published the discovery of synthetic plastic fibers in air, seawater, sediment, and sea ice sampled in the Antarctic Weddell Sea. The field research was undertaken during an expedition to discover Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance. The results are published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. (Science Daily)

Rice University | New catalyst could be the key for hydrogen economy. Rice University researchers have engineered a key light-activated nanomaterial for the hydrogen economy. Using only inexpensive raw materials, a team from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics, Syzygy Plasmonics Inc., and Princeton University's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, created a scalable catalyst that needs only power of the light to convert ammonia into clean-burning hydrogen fuel. The research, published in the journal Science, follows government and industry investment to create infrastructure and markets for carbon-free liquid ammonia fuel that will not contribute to greenhouse warming. (Science Daily)

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) | Great potential for aquifer thermal energy storage systems. Aquifer thermal energy storage systems can largely contribute to climate-friendly heating and cooling of buildings: Heated water is stored underground and pumped up if needed. Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have found that low-temperature aquifer thermal energy storage shows considerable potential for Germany. This potential is expected to grow in the future due to climate change. (Science Daily)

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