Institutional Investor (November Issue)
“After three decades of breakneck economic growth, China is cleaning up its act. Lately, Beijing has been rolling out a raft of environmental regulations, chief among them June’s announcement of ten measures to improve urban air quality, including a target to reduce emissions from highly polluting industries by 30 percent within four years.”
Tags: Air quality, Beijing, China, Economic growth, Emissions, Environmental regulations, Highly polluting industries, Urban
New York Times (September 23)
The U.S. “has made commendable progress in reducing its emissions, and is halfway toward meeting Mr. Obama’s pledge at the Copenhagen climate summit meeting in 2009 to reduce its emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.” Globally, however, progress is not being made. “Steadily increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, rising sea levels, more violent weather events, persistent droughts…. The burden on the United States to set a positive example is as heavy as ever.”
New York Times (August 11)
“In a welcome development for the planet, the cars on American streets are becoming much more climate-friendly much sooner than many had expected. Consumers are increasingly buying fuel-efficient hybrid and electric vehicles thanks to breakthrough innovations and supportive government policies…. Increased fuel efficiency helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions from passengers cars by 16 percent from 2005 to 2012.”
Tags: Breakthrough, Cars, Climate-friendly, CO2, Consumers, Emissions, EVs, Fuel efficiency, Fuel-efficient, Government policies, HEVs, Innovations, Planet
The Economist (August 10)
China’s emissions are a worldwide concern. “Since 1990 the amount of CO2 pouring from Chinese smokestacks has risen from 2 billion tonnes a year to 9 billion—almost 30% of the global total. China produces nearly twice as much CO2 as America. It is no longer merely catching up with the West. The average Chinese person produces the same amount of CO2 as the average European.”
Bloomberg (August 2)
“Earth’s atmosphere seems to have found a way to get back at the human race. For almost three centuries, we humans have been filling the air with carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. Now, it turns out, the climate change these emissions have wrought is turning people against one another.” Researchers have found “a surprisingly close link between climate change and civil wars, riots, invasions and even personal violence such as murder, assault and rape.”
Tags: Air, Atmosphere, Civil wars, Climate change, CO2, Earth, Emissions, Greenhouse gases, Human race, Methane, Researchers, Violence
Washington Post (June 12)
“The world is wildly off-target in its effort—if you can call it that—to limit global temperature rise to only 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels. Last year saw the highest level of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions ever, and the Earth is on a path to warm between 3.6 and 5.3 degrees, an outcome the World Bank recently warned would be very disruptive to human civilization.”
Tags: CO2, Earth, Emissions, Energy, Global warming, Temperature, World Bank
New York Times (July 22)
“Climate change is staring us in the face. The science is clear, and the need to reduce planet-warming emissions has grown urgent. So why, collectively, are we doing so little about it?” Aside from economic and political considerations, one major hurdle is our psychological wiring. We are designed to “navigate the local, practical demands of day-to-day life,” which makes “it difficult to engage with the more abstract, global dangers posed by climate change.”
“Climate change is staring us in the face. The science is clear, and the need to reduce planet-warming emissions has grown urgent. So why, collectively, are we doing so little about it?” Aside from economic and political considerations, one major hurdle is our psychological wiring. We are designed to “navigate the local, practical demands of day-to-day life,” which makes “it difficult to engage with the more abstract, global dangers posed by climate change.”
Tags: Abstract, Climate change, Emissions, Global danger, Psychology
CorpComms (November 28)
Accuracy needs to be improved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports according to researchers at the University of Leeds and Euromed Management School who looked at 4,000 CSR reports. They concluded “reports often feature unsubstantiated claims, holes and inaccurate figures.” Among the biggest errors, the researchers found one Italian energy company reported carbon emissions four times those of the entire planet earth.
Accuracy needs to be improved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports according to researchers at the University of Leeds and Euromed Management School who looked at 4,000 CSR reports. They concluded “reports often feature unsubstantiated claims, holes and inaccurate figures.” Among the biggest errors, the researchers found one Italian energy company reported carbon emissions four times those of the entire planet earth.
The Economist (November 12)
A recent survey of top leaders at 300 major global companies showed that 83% want “a legally binding multilateral deal…to update the ailing Kyoto protocol and help to put a price on carbon emissions.” However, less than 20% think that world leaders will accomplish this when they meet in Durban. Companies aren’t, however, waiting for the politicians. Since 2008, 88% have either increased or maintained corporate spending on sustainability, which is increasingly viewed as a core strategy to increase competitiveness by decreasing costs, combating resource scarcity and countering the impact of global warming.
Tags: Corporate strategy, Costs, Durban, Emissions, Scarcity, Sustainability
The Economist (October 21)
By the end of October, the world’s population will reach 7 billion, just 12 years after hitting 6 billion in 1999. Would policies supporting slower population growth help solve pressing environmental problems? Probably not. “The populations that are rising fastest contribute very little to climate change. The poorest half of the world produces 7% of carbon emissions. The richest 7% produces half the carbon. So the problem lies in countries like China, America and Europe, which all have stable populations. Moderating fertility in Africa might boost the economy or help stressed local environments. But it would not solve global problems.”
Tags: 7 billion, Emissions, Environment, Growth, Population
