Sustainability Roundup

Good Morning,

UN Secretary General calls for climate tax on fossil fuel companies, Drought threatens UK government’s mass forestry scheme, Nigeria is battling floods ‘beyond control’, Democrat Senator Joe Manchin’s gas pipeline deal brings problems, Norway’s $1.2 trillion investment fund sets 2050 climate target, UK's first CO2 storage round attracts bids from 19 companies.

Let's jump to the major news.

EU's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

UK's Carbon Allowance (ETS) price development

Major News Roundup

• UN Secretary General calls for climate tax on fossil fuel companies. Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, Guterres urged richer countries to tax the profits of energy companies to fund climate damages (Time)

  • Guterres argues that rich energy companies should be forced to fork over some windfall profits to aid victims of climate change and offset rising fuel and food costs, the United Nations Secretary-General told world leaders Tuesday. Vulnerable countries demand global tax to pay for climate-led loss and damage.

• During the UN General Assembly, poor nations exhorted UN to consider ‘climate-related and justice-based’ tax on big fossil fuel users and air travel (Guardian)

• Drought threatens UK government’s mass forestry scheme, which was announced just last year. The government said it would treble tree cover before the next general election in 2024, with mass forestry schemes around the country. This aim was to help increase biodiversity, capture carbon and make landscapes more resilient to flooding and drought - but this year’s record dry conditions have put this at risk, with many trees planted unable to take the strain (Guardian)

• Before it was Pakistan, now it's Nigeria. The country is battling floods ‘beyond control’ as warning given of dams overflowing. Floods have affected half a million people, including 100,000 displaced, Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency says (Guardian)

• Russia's invasion of Ukraine has elevated security concerns as a key driver of the energy transition, says Fatih Birol, International Energy Agency's director. “The consequence of this global energy crisis may end up being that fossil fuels, all of them, have an outlook less optimistic than it was before" (Time)

• Democrat Senator Joe Manchin’s gas pipeline deal irks both parties, as the West Virginia Senator is trying to attach an oil and gas permitting measure to must-pass spending legislation (New York Times)

  • Senator Joe Manchin extracted a promise from his party leaders in late July when he agreed to give his crucial vote for the new climate legislation: Congress would pass a separate bill to build a natural gas pipeline in his state and other fossil fuel infrastructure.

• Puerto Rico struggles to reach areas cut off by Hurricane Fiona, which is on track to menace Bermuda and far-eastern Canada after leaving hundreds of people stranded across Puerto Rico, where it smashed roads and bridges and caused historic flooding (Al Jazeera)

  • The hurricane packing winds of 140 km/hr (85mph) made landfall in US territory after causing an island-wide power outage

Latest from the environmental news in Finland

• In the midst of the Uniper crisis, Fortum published plans to start battery recycling opera­tions in Germany, serving the European EV automotive indus­try’s rising demand for battery raw materials (company PR)

  • The new recycling hub for ‘end-of-life’ lithium-ion batteries and wastes from battery manufacturing is expected to start its operations by the end of 2022

• Mika Anttonen, owner of the energy company St1, estimates that humanity has an "astronomical challenge" in converting energy to emission-free. Before then, there will be a chronic shortage of electricity (HS)

• Finland's wolf population is far too small to remain genetically viable, even though the number of wolves has been increasing for the past 30 years, states the Natural Resources Institute Finland in its latest report (Luke)

Climate pledges and action

• Norway’s $1.2 trillion investment fund sets 2050 climate target. The “net zero” carbon goal aligns the fund, which has stakes in over 9,000 companies, with many other large asset managers (Reuters)

  • It’s the first time that the huge Norwegian government fund has set a date by which companies it invests in should be at “net zero

• UK's first CO2 storage round attracts bids from 19 companies as firms applied to develop carbon dioxide storages off Britain in the country's first such licensing round, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) said on Thursday (Reuters)

  • Britain aims to use CCS technology, which involves filtering planet-warming carbon from industrial smokestacks before it hits the atmosphere and storing it underground, to hold 20 million to 30 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030

• Shell's incoming new CEO, Wael Sawan, is set to accelerate the group's drive to build its renewable energy business, including through a possible "transformative" clean power acquisition, company and industry sources said (Bloomberg)

  • Sawan will join Shell in January, as the company aims to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and to become a net-zero emitter by 2050

• Indonesia’s state-owned energy company Pertamina aims to test its injection of carbon for underground storage by the end of 2022, in first such endower in the country, as authorities prepare a regulation to encourage the development of carbon capture infrastructure (Reuters)

• French giant Total and Indian billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate plan to invest USD 5 billion to produce green hydrogen and related products in India as the world’s third-largest polluter seeks to decarbonize (Al Jazeera)

• HSBC asset management is to phase out thermal coal in active funds, although, that policy won’t apply to its existing ETFs and index products (Bloomberg)

Latest from the academics on environment, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration

• Crop disruption from war in Ukraine could increase global carbon emissions and food prices. New research shows the disruption of crop production after the Russian invasion of Ukraine is expected to increase CO2 emissions and food prices across the globe, without easing food insecurity. Nations already facing significant food insecurity will be impacted most, the study predicts (Indiana University)

• Coral reefs can adapt to climate change if given the chance to evolve, according to a study led by Coral Reef Alliance, Rutgers University and the University of Washington. But, only if we protect a sufficient diversity of coral reefs, particularly when it comes to temperatures (Nature Ecology & Evolution)

  • The authors of the study said if humanity takes rapid and effective action to keep coral reefs healthy at local scales and addresses climate change, coral reef ecosystems may recover over the next century and thrive in the future.

Picture of the week: as freshwater crisis also also nears (Morgan Stanley)