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Ada Ciganlija – the Belgrade Sea

Foto ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Wikipedia/Vlada Marinković

How much electromobility is represented in Ada Ciganlija, why the blue flag flies at the beginning of the public bath, if the current health crisis has affected the number of visitors, which animal species swim in Lake Sava and how to have fun at the Belgrade Sea while the weather is still nice, reports PE “Ada Ciganlija”.

Ada Ciganlija is undoubtedly one of the central ecological oases of the city of Belgrade. Having in mind the necessity of protection of flora and fauna, PE “Ada Ciganlija” has provided a special shuttle service for visitors in parts that are not accessible to motor vehicles.

Management of the company, in cooperation with the city of Belgrade, provided completely free transportation for all visitors from the parking space at the “Belgrade Bathroom” facility to the swimming pool at Lake Sava with four electric-powered resort vehicles.

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These vehicles are extremely quiet and unique means of transport that achieve great savings on fuel. A new mode of transport is available to visitors to Ada. At the very beginning of the promenade, on the Sava side, there is a station for renting electric scooters. Electric scooters became popular around the world in a short time, and in our country, the interest in this alternative mode of transport is growing. The e-scooter is an ecological means of transport and easy to fold, which enables sufficient speed and a comfortable ride to the desired destination in the city.

The ideal opportunity to try out the electric scooter is now available every day on Ada Ciganlija, where you can rent it for an hour or all day. Electric scooters can develop a speed of up to 35 km per hour, and the battery range is 40 km. Maximum load is 110 kg.

When driving an electric scooter, no harmful gases are released into the air, so it is an environmentally friendly solution, especially for Ada Ciganlija. Seven electric scooters were procured for the needs of the services of the PE “Ada Ciganlija” and are used for performing regular work activities, all in accordance with the commitment to ecologically clean Ada.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

About 450 species of plants have been registered on Ada Ciganlija so far, and above all white poplar, black poplar, white willow, pedunculate oak, field ash, Euro-American poplar, elm embroidery, ash-shaped maple, American ash. In addition to woody plants, there is an abundance of shrubby and grassy vegetation that is characteristic of alluvial habitats. During 2013, the Provisional Authority of the City of Belgrade passed a Decision on declaring a protected habitat “Fungi of Ada Ciganlija”, whereby the natural habitat on Ada Ciganlija was declared one known habitat of the fungus Myriostoma coliforme in the Republic of Serbia.

This fungus is exposed to a very strong anthropogenic influence and is, therefore, a highly endangered and strictly protected species. Its growth area of 21.25 hectares is classified in category II, as a protected habitat of local importance. There is a diverse fauna – a large number of birds, such as the little crow, thrush, woodpecker, titmouse and 94 species of insects, as well as about 250 species of fungi.

The lake is the home to 13 species of fish, snails, crabs, jellyfish, shellfish and turtles. The California tortoise is a rare inhabitant, pikeperch and perch – the most numerous population in the lake, pike, silver carp – ecosystem cleaner, marsh snails and river shells also swim in the waters of Ada Ciganlija. All these species indicate the quality of water in the lake.

Read the whole text in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT, september-november, 2020.

Nature is Our Most Precious Asset – we Must all Act Now to Save it

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Mick Haupt)
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The global financial crisis of 2008 had catastrophic effects on all elements of society with very few economies left untouched. It resulted in a global recession that was the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This was caused by too much risk-taking in a seemingly flourishing economy; drawing down too many resources to extend business and profits with short-term gains; and policies, regulatory mechanisms and institutions that were simply too lax and ineffective. Millions of people lost their jobs, homes and livelihoods, and large amounts of their wealth disappeared overnight.

Out of the ashes of this crisis rose a new dawn for global finance, where greater scrutiny and oversight of banks and other financial institutions became the norm. Governments loosened fiscal policy more strategically to stimulate and support economies, but not to the detriment of society. International entities were established, such as the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which was set up by the G20 to monitor and make recommendations about the global financial system and avoid a cascading global economic collapse from happening ever again.

These lessons and responses from the financial world should be a stark warning for the current plight of our natural world. For decades, we have failed to manage our global portfolio of assets sustainably – that is the mix of produced, human and natural capital – as we have depleted our natural capital significantly. Estimates show that since the early 1990s, produced capital per person has doubled and human capital per person has increased by about 13 percent globally, while the stock of natural capital per person has declined by nearly 40 percent.

Just imagine, how would global financial markets react if 40 percent were wiped off balance sheets and countries’ GDPs were spiraling sharply downwards? They would take drastic collective action, unequivocally so, to avoid catastrophic impacts on the very fabric of life on this planet. Yet this is the very trajectory we are on at the moment when it comes to nature – but the required urgent action is conspicuous by its absence. By drawing down on our natural capital to such an extent, we are taking enormous and disproportionate risks, without regulatory mechanisms being universally applied. We are failing to invest in these assets even though they underpin the fundamental elements of every aspect of our lives.

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Our health, livelihoods and economies depend on nature. As the Nature Risk Rising report found, more than half of the world’s GDP is highly or moderately dependent on nature. We are nearing irreversible tipping points and we will all pay a high price for not acting now. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought our dysfunctional relationship with nature into sharp focus, and has devastatingly demonstrated that we ignore nature – and its associated biodiversity – at our peril. While humanity has been prospering immensely in recent decades, this has come at a high cost to the natural world, with overfishing rampant, deforestation unabated and extinction rates of biodiversity 1,000 times higher than any time in human history.

We are even seeing global systems like the ocean, once thought to be inexhaustible and able to withstand anything humanity did to it, in serious trouble. Work by the WWF has estimated that the global ocean is a USD 24 trillion asset, and goods and services from coastal and marine environments amount to about USD 2.5 trillion each year – putting the ocean as the seventh largest economy in the world in terms of GDP. This is one of the planet’s key savings accounts from which we keep making only withdrawals, even though to continue in such a way can only lead to bankruptcy. We simply cannot afford to let this happen and the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action is driving much-needed transformative change. It is time for significant reinvestment and protection of this and other global nature commons. It is time for us to invest in nature.

Foto-ilustracija: Pexels

The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, released today, underscores our unsustainable engagement with nature and the urgent need to act. It shines a clear light on the extent of the unsustainable relationship between humanity and nature. The Review shows that deep-rooted institutional failure, including short-termism, has led us to collectively fail to engage with nature sustainably, to the extent that our demands far exceed its capacity to supply us with the goods and services we all rely on. Yet we continue to enable and exacerbate this decline by subsidizing activities which are damaging nature, estimated to be around USD 4-6 trillion per year, and not bringing to bear the full force of governance and regulatory mechanisms desperately required to slow this unimaginable pace.

The Dasgupta Review makes clear that learning from the past is important, but that now is not the time to dwell on it. We must look forward, and the Review outlines the steps to take now to change this state of affairs. And we all have a role to play.

Ending the decline in nature and thus reversing biodiversity loss will require us all to take action. Changing our measures of success so that it includes the value of nature at the global, national, local and corporate levels; and moving to a measurement of stocks rather than flows will allow us to identify whether we are truly on a sustainable path to improved wellbeing. Our global financial system needs to be one in which measuring and managing dependencies, impacts and nature-related risks becomes the norm not the exception. A true understanding of the ecological impacts and consequences of our consumption and production patterns will encourage behaviour change, like opting for more sustainable diets and reducing waste.

We need everyone to feel empowered to make informed decisions and hold other actors to account who are taking decisions that deplete nature and sustainability on our behalf. Ask the right questions and demand transparency on the ecological impacts of supply chains and financial investments. One of the aims of the Dasgupta Review is just this: to make available the knowledge and language to discuss these problems and demand change. But we should not stop with one or two generations – we must henceforth include the natural environment in our children’s curricula. That a new qualification in natural history will be introduced in schools in the UK from next year is a promising step that should be emulated by other countries.

Each and every one of us is a steward of nature and has a responsibility to invest in and protect this most precious asset we all depend on. Government leaders have a historic opportunity to safeguard nature through smart policies, and those in the world of finance must also leave behind the prevailing disregard for nature and invest instead in a thriving planet. A community of leaders, Champions for Nature, is working to halt nature loss this decade and highlight the vast business and economic opportunities of safeguarding our natural assets. Investing in a nature-positive economy in key sectors could create up to USD 10 trillion in additional annual business revenue and cost savings and 395 million jobs by 2030.

Members of Friends of Ocean Action, meanwhile, are fast-tracking solutions for a healthy and thriving ocean like piloting and scaling innovative new financial mechanisms to increase levels of finance flowing towards the ocean, to realize the true potential of a sustainable blue economy.

The Dasgupta Review clearly shows the choice humanity faces – we can either retreat into business as usual, with all the destruction that this will continue to entail. Or we can use this moment in time to leap forward and come together for a common purpose and seek a better world, where we regenerate nature to build resilience and health. I know which side of history I want to be on.

Surely it is time to nurture nature as though our lives depend on it. Because they do.

Source: World Economic Forum

World Leaders Set for Pivotal Environmental Assembly

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

In February 2021, representatives of the 193 Member States of the UN, businesses leaders, civil society and environmentalists from around the world will come together virtually for the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the world’s highest environmental decision-making body.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) answers frequently-asked questions about this biennial assembly, which aims to galvanize international action on climate change, pollution and ecosystem loss.

Given the enormity of challenges the world is facing, why are environmental conferences like UNEA important?

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has said it best: Humanity is waging a war on nature. And this is suicidal. In 2020, the world faced flooding, wildfires, locust invasions and a pandemic that has brought life-as-we-know-it to a halt. The message could not be clearer.

Human economic activity has put extreme pressure on the planet, propelling climate change, destroying biodiversity and ecosystems, and rising pollution levels. UNEA will help strengthen international efforts to tackle these three crises.

Apart from the fifth session of UNEA, the year 2021 will see other landmark environmental conferences, including the IUCN World Conservation Congress, the Food Systems Summit, the UN Ocean Conference, the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26), and the Convention on Biodiversity (COP 15). 

It’s a busy year – and a pivotal one. At the international level, there is a tremendous will to safeguard the planet for generations to come.

In recent years, we have seen countries pull back from their international commitments. Is there still a place for international assemblies, like UNEA?

Even before COVID-19, progress across the Sustainable Development Goals was uneven. But where multilateral action was taken, it has made a difference. Last year, for example, marked the 35th anniversary of the International Convention to protect the ozone layer. As a result of decisive, coordinated action, the ozone layer is now healing, saving millions of lives and avoiding untold economic damage.

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Inclusive multilateralism is the only way to solve the challenges we face. It is time to revisit the Paris climate change agreement – renew the leadership and solidarity that made that landmark accord possible – and lay the groundwork for a more sustainable future.

With much of the world struggling to manage the economic fallout from COVID-19, aren’t there more pressing issues than the environment?

There is no way to address economic fallout without also addressing the environmental challenges we face. Over half of global gross domestic product depends on nature to some extent, but human activities are eroding this economic base. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found in 2018 that land degradation and biodiversity loss was costing the world 10 percent of GDP each year in lost ecosystem services.

Many financiers are already recognizing this and setting targets that align portfolios with the Sustainable Development Goals. Frameworks such as the Principles for Responsible Banking and the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance have gathered hundreds of banks and institutional investors under commitments to transition their trillions of dollars of assets to low-carbon and nature-positive investments.

At UNEA, talks are expected to focus on COVID-19 recovery packages. What is the goal of these discussions?

Stimulus packages represent an opportunity to affect positive change – but as UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report 2020 found, this opportunity has not been seized adequately.

Over the next year, the world is likely to see trillions of dollars directed toward additional stimulus spending. Most of these stimulus packages are based on government borrowing, so if not invested well, we may end up saddling the next generation with a pandemic debt. The discussions at UNEA will focus on how to direct stimulus funds towards creating low-carbon, nature-positive and pollution-free societies and economies, in which finance fuels the energy transition and green jobs. 

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Given the challenges that businesses are facing due to the pandemic, is there a strong case for investing in the planet?

The financial implications of ecosystem loss for businesses include reduced commodity yields, disrupted supply chains and the loss of sources of new products.

Even in purely economic terms, the dividends from investing in nature are huge. For example, between now and 2030, the restoration of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems damaged by development could create USD 9 trillion in value for human societies. The economic benefits are 10 times more than the cost of investment. To take advantage of these cost-benefit ratios, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration from 2021 will mobilize the global community to restore degraded land, coasts and seas.

Diverse ecosystems are also more stable and productive. The World Economic Forum’s ‘The future of nature and business’ report finds that transforming the food, land and ocean use system could create 395 million new jobs by 2030.

Source: UNEP

Schools across Europe share results of their air quality projects

Photo-illustration: Unsplash
Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Macau Photo Agency)

More than 100 schools from eight European countries participated in the citizen science CleanAir@School inititative, organised by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Network of the Heads of Environmental Protection Agencies. The results of the initiative, published today, describe how schoolchildren measured pollution levels, learned about air quality and promoted actions for cleaner air.

The EEA and the European Network of the Heads of Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) organised CleanAir@School, a citizen science initiative to monitor air quality. From 2018 to 2020, pupils, teachers and parents engaged in the project used simple, low-cost devices to measure nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels around their schools. NO2 is one of the key air pollutants harming human health in Europe. Its main source is road transport and it is therefore a problem especially in urban areas.

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Air quality was monitored using so-called passive NO2 samplers, with one sampler on the road at the front of the school and one in a less polluted area such as the school backyard. School children in the eight participating countries measured pollution levels around their school, learnt about air quality and ways to improve it and made posters and videos. The school projects also explored ways to promote walking, cycling and the use of public transport to get to school as an alternative to coming by car.

Aside from this educational aspect, the CleanAir@School initiative tested how citizen science might complement official air quality monitoring data. At a European level, such approaches support the zero pollution ambition and the efforts to promote the wider use of citizen science to complement environmental reporting and encourage citizens’ engagement in air quality issues.

Results

Source: EEA

These Are the ‘Positive’ Tipping Points That Could Slow Global Warming

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

There may be light at the end of the tunnel in the battle to reduce carbon emissions.

Governments and institutions could help halt carbon emissions with just a few carefully selected policy measures, according to a new paper, which looked at the experience of the energy industry and changing trends in road vehicle purchases.

If chosen properly and applied internationally, such “tipping points” could set off a series of other changes that snowball into a movement with enough critical mass to slow global warming and reduce natural disasters.

The paper, published in the journal Climate Policy, argues that actions taken within each industry created a cascade of further developments that helped reduce their carbon footprints.

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“In complex systems – including human societies – tipping points can occur, in which a small perturbation transforms a system,” wrote the paper’s authors, Professor Tim Lenton, Director of the Global Systems Institute (GSI) at the University of Exeter and Simon Sharpe, a Deputy Director in the UK Cabinet Office 26th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 26) unit.

“Crucially, activating one tipping point can increase the likelihood of triggering another at a larger scale, and so on.”

Towards the Paris Agreement targets

Such tipping points are hoped to help the world meet the targets of the 2015 Paris Agreement, in which 196 heads of state agreed to reduce global warming to within 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with a preferred target of 1.5 degrees. Were they achieved, experts say the positive impacts would be felt within two decades.

The accord strives for a climate-neutral world by the middle of this century. It’s expected to be built upon at the United Nations Climate Change conference, or COP26, which is due to take place in November. The World Economic Forum’s Climate Initiative strives also to offer globally linked solutions.

The report in Climate Policy explains how a combination of factors led to the tipping point that prompted the UK to decarbonize its power industry. They included the creation of a carbon tax, an EU scheme that made gas cheaper than coal and an investment strategy for renewable energy that made coal less economical.

“The power sector needs to decarbonize four times faster than its current rate, and the pace of the transition to zero-emission vehicles needs to double,” Lenton said.

“Many people are questioning whether this is achievable. But hope lies in the way that tipping points can spark rapid change through complex systems.”

 

Positive tipping points

Besides the UK, the authors of the paper cited Norway as an example of the nations that have acted to reduce greenhouse gases pumped out by motor vehicles.

Through government incentives, new electric vehicles (EV) in Norway are priced similarly to petrol and diesel cars. This has boosted sales of EVs to more than 50 percent of new car purchases, compared with 2 percent-3 percent worldwide.

China, the European Union (EU) and California are responsible for half of global car sales. Professor Lenton suggests that if they formed an international effort to redirect investment from conventional cars to EVs they could reduce costs, boost production and create a broader tipping point that would accelerate the reduction of fossil fuel use.

Lenton argues that if government action can lower the cost of financing renewables to below that of excavating coal, industries linked to transport, heating and power could all rapidly decarbonize.

That’s good news because a new, more urgent, approach is needed to reduce the rate at which the global climate is warming, according to scientists.

2020 and 2016 hottest years on record

Earlier this month, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said 2020 had equalled 2016 as the hottest year on record.

A study published in Climate Dynamics said the planet could breach the threshold for global warming between 2027 and 2042, a decade earlier than previously thought.

“If either of these efforts – in power or road transport – succeed, the most important effect could be to tip perceptions of the potential for international cooperation to tackle climate change,” Lenton said.

Source: World Economic Forum

New Global Commission Headed by Danish Prime Minister Will Focus on Putting People at the Heart of Energy Transitions

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark will head a new high-level global commission that will examine ways to ensure people are at the centre of clean energy transitions around the world.

The new initiative – Our Inclusive Energy Future: The Global Commission on People-Centred Clean Energy Transitions – was convened by Dr Fatih Birol, the International Energy Agency’s Executive Director, and will be chaired by Dan Jørgensen, Denmark’s Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities. Prime Minister Frederiksen will be the honorary patron.

The commission’s members will include Prime Minister Mark Phillips of Guyana; Teresa Ribera, Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition of Spain; Seamus O’Regan, Minister of Natural Resources of Canada; Arifin Tasrif, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia; Rocío Nahle García, Secretary of Energy of Mexico; and Sophie Gladima, Minister of Petroleum and Energy of Senegal. The full list of members to date is available below. The commission will provide key recommendations based on its work ahead of COP26 in November.

As countries seek to advance their shifts to clean energy technologies, the success of these efforts will rest on enabling citizens to benefit from the opportunities and navigate the disruptions. This includes social and economic impacts on individuals and communities, as well as issues of affordability and fairness.

The new commission will explore these questions in depth, taking into account the need to see people as active participants in clean energy transitions – in collective decision-making and through individual actions and behaviours. Equity and inclusion issues will also be examined, including gender equality.

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“Clean energy transitions are gaining significant momentum around the world, and it is essential to their success that they be inclusive and centred around people,” said Dr Birol. “Many countries are now focusing on this issue and seeking opportunities to exchange ideas and advice. The high-level members of our Global Commission on People-Centred Clean Energy Transitions will lead a global dialogue to share experiences and enhance best practice.”

“Denmark has already shown clear global leadership on this issue, and that is why I am delighted and honoured that Prime Minister Frederiksen has agreed to be the Honorary Patron of the Commission and that Minister Jørgensen has agreed to chair it,” Dr Birol added.

“I am very pleased to see that the IEA, under the leadership of Dr Fatih Birol, has been strengthening its focus on green energy transition and now on just transition. Therefore, I am proud to lead the work in this new global commission and thereby help to ensure a just transition to more renewable energy around the world. International collaboration as well as social fairness is at the heart of the Danish government,” said Mr Jørgensen.

“This new commission is an important contribution to secure an inclusive global energy system and putting people at the heart of clean energy transitions. We have to act now to fight the climate changes, but we will only succeed if we are able to inspire and include people in a socially balanced way,” Mr Jørgensen added.

Additional members of the commission are expected to be announced soon.

Source: IEA 

 

Plastics, a growing environmental and climate concern: how can Europe revert that trend?

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Jordan Wozniak)

The challenges posed by plastics are to a large extent due to the fact that our production and consumption systems are not sustainable. The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have amplified public attention for the plastic waste crisis we face.

Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director

While awareness, concern and action over how we dispose of plastics in the marine environment and elsewhere have grown enormously in recent years, there are many other and less known impacts of plastics, including its contribution to climate change and new challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the EEA report ‘Plastics, the circular economy and Europe′s environment — A priority for action’.

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Masha Kotliarenko)

The report looks at plastics production, consumption and trade, the environmental and climate impact of plastics during their life cycle and explores the transition towards a circular plastics economy through three pathways involving policymakers, industry and consumers.

“The challenges posed by plastics are to a large extent due to the fact that our production and consumption systems are not sustainable.

The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have amplified public attention for the plastic waste crisis we face. It is clear that the best way is to shift to a fundamentally sustainable and circular plastics economy, where we use plastics much more wisely and better reuse and recycle them. Moreover, producing plastics from renewable raw materials should be the starting point” said Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director.

The report shows that the production, use and trade of plastics continue to grow. An increasing number of EU policies and initiatives are already in place to address the challenges posed by plastics, in particular those posed by single use plastics. In 2018, the European Commission presented the world’s first comprehensive Strategy on plastics in a circular economy, which lays out the EU’s approach to addressing the challenges of plastics, followed by the Single-Use Plastics Directive in 2019.

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The EEA report points to three pathways for the way ahead including smarter use of plastics, increased circularity, and use of renewable raw materials. Together these can help ensure we achieve a sustainable and circular plastics system. Alongside the report, two related briefings on plastics and textiles and on enabling circular business models are also published today.

COVID-19 pandemic and plastics

The coronavirus pandemic has caused changes in the production, consumption and waste of plastics. Plastic masks play a vital role in limiting the further spread of COVID-19. But the surge in plastic waste due to the demand for masks and gloves, plus changed production and use of single use plastics products like food take-away containers and plastic packaging for online sales can jeopardize EU efforts in the short term to curb plastic pollution and move to a more sustainable and circular plastics system.

Industry’s plastics production adding to climate change

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The consumption and production of plastics involves the use of large quantities of fossil fuels, which has negative implications for the environment and climate change. Adding to the problem, reduced economic activity has seen sharp falls in global oil prices making it significantly cheaper for manufacturers to produce plastic goods from virgin, fossil-based materials than to use recycled plastic materials. If the production and use of plastics continue to increase as projected, the plastic industry will account for 20 percent of global oil use by 2050, an increase from today’s 7 percent.

Data from the EEA’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory shows that annual emissions related to plastic production in the EU amount to around 13.4 million tonnes of CO2, or about 20 percent of the chemicals industry’s emissions EU-wide, the report says. The economic viability of the European and global plastics recycling market is currently under significant pressure. Lower market demand for recycled plastics has also complicated the efforts of many of Europe’s municipalities to manage their waste practices sustainably, and less desirable waste disposal options are being used for significant quantities of plastic waste.

Figure: the environmental impacts across the life cycle of plastics

Synthetic textiles a growing problem

A part of the plastics problem is textiles made from synthetic fibres such as polyester and nylon. According to a separate EEA briefing which looks at plastics in textiles, consumers in the EU discard about 5.8 million tonnes of textiles annually — around 11 kilograms per person — of which about two thirds consist of synthetic fibres. According to data available from 2017, European households consumed about 13 million tonnes of textile products (clothing, footwear and household textiles). Plastic-based textiles make up about 60 percent of clothing and 70 percent of household textiles. Promoting sustainable fibre choices and control of microplastic emissions, and improving separate collection, reuse and recycling, have the potential to improve the sustainability and circularity of synthetic textiles in a circular economy.

Circular business models can help tackle the unsustainable production and consumption of plastics

There are increased interest and gainful opportunities in changing traditional business models to make them more circular, enabling materials and products to be reused and to remain in the economy for as long as possible. An EEA briefing ‘A framework for enabling circular business models in Europe’, also released today, identifies the actions that can be taken to implement circular business models effectively. It also identifies enablers to upscale them on a wide scale as part of the expected shift to a circular economy. Such a transition will require that the right supportive policies are in place and behaviours that lead to change in consumption and education.

Source: EEA

ABB to Power South Korea’s First Domestic Zero-Emissions Ferry

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (REVOLT)
Photo: ABB

The new ferry represents the first commitment by South Korean authorities to a plan which will see 140 state-owned conventionally powered vessels replaced with those operating on cleaner alternatives by 2030, in line with environmental legislation.

Sustainable transportation, including marine vessels, will play an important role in South Korea’s plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, set out in the country’s Green New Deal, announced in 2020.

As the first system integrator chosen to support this initiative, ABB will deliver an end-to-end electric power and propulsion solution for the twin-hulled ferry, which is due for delivery in 2022. The 40-meter catamaran ferry will have the capacity to carry up to 100 passengers and five crewmembers and will operate between Busan’s North and South ports, taking about one hour to complete a return journey with an average operating speed of 13 knots (24 km/h). Financial details of the contract were not disclosed.

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Busan-based shipbuilder Haemin, which specializes in lightweight environmentally-friendly vessels, and ABB have also signed an agreement to collaborate on further vessel projects in the future.

“We are truly proud to have been chosen as technology supplier for the first vessel in

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

’s clean fleet renewal scheme,” said Juha Koskela, Division President, ABB Marine & Ports. “Our agreement with Haemin represents a major advance in the local market, supporting South Korea’s plans for sustainable shipping, as part of our strategy for reducing global vessel emissions. Sustainability is a key part of the value that we create for all of our stakeholders and the new partnership with Haemin is an example of how we enable a low-carbon society and help preserve resources.”

“Being commissioned to build the first ever fully electric vessel for the South Korean market is a great honor,” said Hyeong-seok Oh, CEO, Haemin Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. “We are looking forward to working with ABB, whose proven technologies and long presence in South Korea are a key part of this landmark project.”

The ferry will be powered by two 1,068-kWh battery packs, which will provide a clean and flexible energy source for the ferry’s journeys. The batteries will provide enough power for the ferry to complete up to four return journeys before charging from shore during the vessel’s overnight stops. ABB’s Onboard DC Grid™ power distribution system will ensure that the battery output is delivered to the vessel’s subsystems in the most optimal way, while ABB’s Power and Energy Management System (PEMS™) will control the overall power distribution, increase fault tolerance and provide a high degree of reliability.

Once in operation, the ferry will be remotely monitored and supported by experts from ABB’s global network of ABB Ability™ Collaborative Operations Centers. Remote support and connectivity, together with advanced data analytics enabled by the ABB Ability™ Remote Diagnostics System, will further enhance the vessel’s operational safety and ensure optimal performance, while helping to promptly detect and correct faults on board.

The global ferry industry, which, according to trade association Interferry, is responsible for transporting over 2 billion passengers annually is under pressure to reduce its carbon footprint. ABB’s electric propulsion technology will mean Busan Port Authority’s new ferry immediately achieves the International Maritime Organization’s global target to cut annual emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 from 2008 levels.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Electrification is widely considered as one of the key solutions for reducing ferry emissions worldwide. According to data from the Maritime Battery Forum, over 130 battery-powered ferries are in operation, with more than 90 on order. ABB is well advanced in ferry electrification, supporting leading ferry operators such as P&O Ferries, Washington State Ferries and others in their advances for achieving sustainable operations.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 110,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com

Source: ABB

New Funding and Strategic Plan Boosts Haiti’s Hydro-Meteorological Service

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

WMO is supporting the first ever national strategic plan to strengthen Haiti’s Hydro-Meteorological Service (UHM), as well as a new international initiative to build resilience to extreme weather and climate change impacts in the western hemisphere’s most impoverished nation.

The Climate Risk and Early Warning Services Initiative Haiti project was launched on 27 January to improve forecasts and early warnings of hazards such as hurricanes, floods and droughts which regularly impact the vulnerable Caribbean nation.

WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas said early warning systems were now more important than ever, given that warmer temperatures and waters are providing more heat and humidity to fuel tropical cyclones and associated flooding.

“We have to strengthen observing systems and invest in early warning systems and National Meteorological and Hydrological Services. We have been able to demonstrate that when you make such investments, you get your money back ten-fold in terms of avoiding economics and human losses,” said Prof Taalas.

On behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, his chief of staff Karly Jean Jeune said: “This ceremony has a special importance, not just for UHM and the Ministry of Agriculture, but also for the entire government and people of Haiti, given the socio-economic impact of weather, climate and water-related events and also the importance of the services provided each day by UHM for farmers, fishers, maritime and air transport and civil protection etc.”

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“These services are an indispensable pillar of the economic life of our country and for the protection of lives, livelihoods and infrastructure,” he said.

WMO has been committed to Haiti ever since the devastating 2010 earthquake. Inclusive in this rebuilding process was the partnership between WMO and the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to initiate a project which sought to restore hydrological and meteorological services. 

This project, titled Climate Services to Reduce Vulnerability in Haiti was allocated CAD 6.5 million by ECCC and implemented by WMO to help re-establish these services to be accessible to all critical sectors and vulnerable communities. 

Since its inception in 2012, the project has provided essential support to establish and modernize the National Meteorological Service’s main functions of observations, forecasting and service delivery. The five main achievements have been: 

  • Construction of a Net-Zero Energy, earthquake and hurricane-proof building to house the National Hydro-Meteorological Services of Haiti.  
  • Capacity building of both scientific and technical personnel and development of a business plan for the NMHS considering all aspects of developing a functioning and modern weather, climate and hydrology service. 
  • Re-establishment of climatological and hydrological observing networks and implementation of a data management system. 
  • Development a wide-reaching dissemination system, to inform stakeholders and the general population of climate related risks. 
  • Development of a five-year National Strategic Plan to chart the way forward for UHM 

“We are very grateful to Canada and to many other countries for supporting the reconstruction of Haiti’s meteorological and hydrological service,” said Prof Taalas.

“Canada is extremely happy to have been invited to take part in this event, because it shows the extent to which UHM will serve its citizens, said Jennifer Collette, Director General of Policy, Planning and Partnerships of the Meteorological Service of Canada. Collette offered remarks on behalf of Marc Josue, representative of the Canadian Embassy in Haiti.

Collette described the National Strategic Plan as the bedrock for the future, adding that Canada will be happy to participate in analyzing the future progress to be made by UHM.

The four-year USD 1.5 million CREWS project seeks to improve the capacity of UHM to develop and deliver co-produced multi-hazard alerts, as well as to strengthen its cooperation with key ministries, priority sectors and communities that will increase the effectiveness of Haiti’s early warning system.

This will be done through improving the technical capacities of UHM to better calibrate and integrate systems for flood warning; improve the numerical weather prediction use and forecasts and to have an overall quality management system.

These areas will be supported by the existence of a more robust governance framework that will be reflected in the National Strategic Plan.

Key Objectives:

  • Enhanced UHM to deliver high quality services to Civil Protection and other stakeholders
  • Established/Improved hydrometeorological warning system
  • Enhanced preparedness and response capacities at national and community levels

John Harding, Head of the CREWS Secretariat thanked national authorities for their leadership on the project, stating, “country-led projects are a key principle for CREWS, along with ensuring that early warning systems are gender sensitive and focus on the needs of the people most at risk.”

UHM director-general Marcelin Esterlin added, “This is a major initiative to improve the capacity of UHM to provide climate, hydrological and meteorological services of a high quality, enhancing the security of the Haitian people and decision-making in climate-sensitive economic sectors.”

Source: WMO

ABB Sensor Onboard SpaceX Rocket to Detect Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Photo-illustration: Pixabay
Photo: ABB

An optical sensor manufactured by ABB was deployed with the successful launch of satellite Hugo from GHGSat, the emerging leader in greenhouse gas sensing services in space.

The ABB supplied optical sensor can map methane emissions from space at a resolution that is 100 times higher than any other sensors. Whilst previously only larger regions could be surveyed, for the first time the new greater granularity now allows the identification of the source of emissions. An additional nine units are currently under manufacture at ABB to be launched by the end of 2022 ready to be on-board across the first private satellite constellation dedicated to emission measurement.

Space offers the ideal location to freely monitor emissions across jurisdictions and quantitatively report on improvements. The ABB sensors will provide valuable insights which will enable governments and industries around the world to meet their emission reduction targets and reduce the negative impact on global warming.

We selected ABB for its ability to deliver world-class instruments while meeting the challenges of a new space company like ours.“ said Stephane Germain, CEO of GHGSat. “We strive to innovate for the needs of the future, and we’re excited to work with ABB to achieve that.”

“ABB shares GHGSat’s goal of reducing emissions through the creation of their greenhouse gas sensing constellation. Our selection as the manufacturer for these advanced sensors demonstrates our competitiveness and strong fit with the private space sector requirements.” said Marc Corriveau, General Manager ABB Measurement & Analytics Canada.

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“The space revolution is well underway and ABB with its heritage of unique space instruments and serial production of advanced measurement sensors for industrial applications is extremely well positioned to serve this emerging sector.” he continued.

GHGSat announced the constellation contract award with ABB in October 2020, with first deliveries in 2021. The unit launched by SpaceX was a single unit procured by GHGSat from ABB two years ago ahead of a selection for the constellation.

With its involvement in the Canadian SCISAT mission and the Japanese GOSAT series of satellites, ABB has been at the forefront of the field of greenhouse gas sensing from space for more than two decades. ABB optical equipment already in space cumulates more than 100 years of reliable operation. The SCISAT sensor tracks long-term subtle composition changes in the earth’s atmosphere down to parts per trillion of more than 70 molecules and pollutants since 2003. Weather agencies across the world base their predictions on ABB equipment flying onboard the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather satellites (NPP and JPSS), which saves lives by improving the timeliness and accuracy of weather forecasts for up to seven days.

ABB is also a global leader in earthbound continuous emission monitoring with over 60,000 systems installed in more than 50 countries worldwide. Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) continuously record and evaluate emission data across all industries. They provide important information for the environmental and economic operation of production facilities. The range includes the ACF5000 that accurately and reliably monitors up to 15 gas components simultaneously.

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 110,000 talented employees in over 100 countries.

GHGSat is a leader in high-resolution greenhouse gas monitoring from space, providing actionable emission data to businesses, governments, and regulators worldwide. With proprietary remote-sensing capabilities and patented technology, GHGSat can monitor individual facilities, offering greater data accuracy, and facilitating timely strategic decision-making insights.

Source: ABB

Measuring the Extent and Condition of European Ecosystems

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Grant Ritchie)
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Protecting ecosystems and biodiversity are key policy targets in the EU’s biodiversity strategy for 2030 and the European Green Deal. EU and national policymaking require approaches to be developed to measure the extent and condition of ecosystems to improve their management.

This briefing presents the EEA’s work on ecosystem extent accounts and pilot ecosystem condition accounts in the EU INCA project.

Examples illustrate the potential use of ecosystem accounting results to design measures to protect and restore European ecosystems, e.g. in implementing the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030.

Key messages

-The EEA has developed a set of ecosystem extent accounts that provide good spatial insight into the distribution and trends of up to 30 ecosystem types in Europe.
-Pilot accounts on ecosystem condition have been produced for species trends, freshwater quality and nutrient pressures.
-Successful ecosystem accounting builds on compiling different ecosystem reference data sets in one geo-spatial accounting system — the EEA Integrated Data Platform.
-The strength of input from ecosystem accounting to policy analysis is linked to the availability of geo-spatial ecosystem data based on regular monitoring.

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The international ecosystem accounting framework

The methodological framework for ecosystem accounting builds on the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA), coordinated by the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD).[1] The UNSD handbook on experimental ecosystem accounting (SEEA EEA) describes the various components of ecosystem accounts (UN et al., 2014).

Ecosystem extent accounts:

-measure the location and size of different ecosystem types in a spatially explicit manner (e.g. in ha or km2);
-track the opening and closing stock of ecosystems across a territory over time.

Ecosystem condition accounts measure the condition of ecosystem types. Together, ecosystem extent and ecosystem condition accounts:

-provide a detailed analysis of the area and the quality of ecosystems and their changes over time;
-describe the biological capacity of ecosystems to deliver ecosystem services, which are then measured by ecosystem service accounts in a third step.

Figure 1 sets out the basic overall structure of ecosystem accounts.

 

Building European ecosystem extent accounts

The production of ecosystem extent accounts requires three essential components:

-data sets that can be used to measure the extent and distribution of ecosystems — in Europe such data build on Corine Land Cover (CLC), which is part of the EU Copernicus programme;[2]
-software and methodology for processing these data sets within a structured accounting system — the EEA has developed specific accounting tools for this purpose (see EEA, 2020a);
-a typology for ecosystems, to allow the identification of different ecosystem types — the EEA proposes a three-tier approach to developing ecosystem extent accounts in Europe.

Tier I comprises ecosystem extent accounts for 9 of the 12 broad ecosystem types developed in the Mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services (MAES) process.[3] The tier II accounts sub-divide the broad tier I ecosystem types and comprise 23 ecosystem categories. The tier III accounts further subdivide tier II accounts and comprise 30 ecosystem types, e.g. salt marsh, broad-leaved forest and arable land. All current tiers in the EEA ecosystem extent accounts are based on the CLC database.

Figure 2 shows the general structure of the ecosystem extent accounts developed by the EEA (for additional details, please see EEA, 2020b).

 

SEEA EEA established the principle that ecosystem extent accounts should cover the entire terrestrial area of a country or territory and that the individual ecosystem classes should not overlap. The EEA’s approach complies with these principles and offers the potential to calculate ecosystem extent accounts for a variety of geographical areas within the EEA-39 territory[4]. This means that they can be used for analysing ecosystem trends at country level but also for more focused spatial analysis, e.g. at the level of river basins or of trends in protected areas (EEA, 2018b). This approach is based on the EEA’s land and ecosystem accounting system, embedded in the EEA Integrated Data Platform (EEA, 2020a).

Selected results for tier I European ecosystem extent accounts (EEA-39)

Table 1 shows the changes in ecosystem extent for the period 2000-2018 across the EEA-39 countries collectively. The accounts show changes in ecosystem extent in absolute terms (km2) and as a percentage of the initial ecosystem stock (see ‘Net changes to ecosystem extent’). This variable indicates that the area of urban settlements and associated vegetation expanded by 7.1 percent between 2000-2018. Rivers and lakes also increased in extent by 1.5 percent (mainly due to an increase in water reservoirs). Both trends reflect an increasing share of very modified ecosystem types in the EEA-39 area. Cropland and grassland lost most area in absolute terms, whereas heathland and shrub suffered the largest relative decline among the semi-natural ecosystem types.

The variable on stable ecosystem stock represents the areas that are the same ecosystem type in 2000 and 2018. In all cases, the percentage of ecosystem types remaining unchanged between 2000 and 2018 is very high (> 98 percent, except for forest). This is relevant knowledge as ecosystems maintain more ecological integrity if they remain stable over time than if they are recreated (as in a forest being replanted elsewhere).

 

Note: The non-allocated area includes the CLC classes 334 (Burnt areas) and 523 (Sea and ocean) which could not be assigned to one of the nine MAES ecosystem types.

Figure 3 illustrates the spatial focus enabled by the EEA’s accounting infrastructure and summarises the information on relative changes in ecosystem extent inside and outside the EU-27[5]Natura 2000 network. This indicates that reductions in the extent of most ecosystem types — cropland, grassland, heathland and shrub, and inland wetlands — are lower within the Natura 2000 areas. Generally, protected sites in the Natura 2000 network show lower rates of ecosystem change than the area outside the network, which indicates a higher degree of ecosystem stability inside the EU protected area network. The exceptions are the rate of urban expansion (which probably indicates a pressure on more natural ecosystem types) and the increase in marine inlets and transitional waters (which may be the result of restoration measures).

 

Note: The trend figures presented above exclude data for the United Kingdom.

Source: Follow this link for more information

Tiers II and III of EEA ecosystem accounts are calculated following the same principles but provide more detail than can be integrated into this short briefing. For information on ecosystem trends at tiers II and III level, please consult the EEA’s analytical report (EEA, 2020b) or the ecosystem extent account dashboard[6] for detailed results.

Pilot ecosystem condition accounts

Ecosystem condition reflects the overall quality of an ecosystem asset in terms of its characteristics. Measuring the ‘overall quality’ of ecosystem condition is a complex challenge, which has been analysed in the EU MAES process (EC, 2016, 2020). Ecosystem condition can be assessed in two ways:

-indirectly, by analysing pressures acting on ecosystems;
-directly, by tracking habitat condition, biodiversity and environmental quality.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The following EEA pilot ecosystem condition accounts are examples of these two approaches — the rivers and lakes ecosystem condition account is based on direct measurement, while the spatial nutrient account analyses nutrient pressures.

Rivers and lakes ecosystem condition account

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) (EU, 2000) establishes a 6-year river basin management plan (RBMP) reporting cycle for Member States on the ecological status of freshwater (lakes and rivers), transitional and coastal water bodies. The EEA has reported on the status of European waters (EEA, 2018a) and now uses this rich data set to develop ecosystem condition accounts for rivers and lakes in the EU.

Ecological status is an expression of the quality of the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems associated with surface waters (EU, 2000). The ecological status for each water body is reported as a composite indicator based on biological, hydro-morphological and physio-chemical quality elements. Hence, the ecological status can be regarded as a good indicator of ecosystem condition in water bodies. Ecological status is classified on a 5-point scale from high (1) to bad (5), with the lowest scoring quality element defining the overall ecological status of a water body. An accounting time series has been available since 2019, based on two rounds of reporting under the WFD:

-first river basin management plans (status in 2010);
-second river basin management plans (status in 2016).

Table 2 shows a pilot ecosystem condition account based on the WFD RBMP data for river and lake water bodies. Just as for ecosystem extent accounts, this tracks opening and closing stock, and the change in ecological status of water bodies between two reporting cycles of the WFD RBMPs. The stock measures reflect the number and extent (lake area or river length) of water bodies in each of the five WFD status classes i.e. high, good, moderate, poor and bad, as well as ‘unknown’. The approach developed allows tracking of intermediate changes among those water bodies having less than good ecological status (i.e. from poor to moderate or vice versa). This facilitates the calculation of a range of indices, of which two are shown here:

Photo-ilustration: Pixabay

-overall trend index — allowing the calculation of overall status trends for the water bodies with data on ecological status available for both reporting periods;
-coverage index — describes the share of water bodies for which a trend was calculated (as water bodies with ‘unknown’ status in 2000 or 2016 were excluded from the analysis).

The coverage index shows that a trend calculation can only be performed on about 50-75 percent of the water bodies in each category. The overall trend index shows that, between 2010 and 2016, the reported average ecological quality status declined substantially for lakes (16.7 percent by lake area and 6.1 percent by number of lakes reported on) and declined much less so for rivers (ca 1.1 percent by river length or 3.7 percent by number of river counts). It should be noted that some Member States updated their assessment methodology between the two reporting periods, which may affect the size of trend for lakes in particular. These EU-level results can be further broken down by country, river basin and other geographical areas. These results are available in the EEA’s summary report on pilot ecosystem condition account for rivers and lakes (EEA, 2020c).

 

Note: RBMPs = river basin management plans;
EU-28 refers to (the 28 Member States comprising) the EU up until the departure of the UK. However, this table does not include data for Greece and Lithuania, because data was unavailable.

Pilot nutrient pressure accounts

Nutrient enrichment is a key pressure indicator for ecosystem condition, as all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are negatively affected by it (EC, 2016). Nutrients derive from a variety of sources, including agriculture, waste water discharges and atmospheric deposition.

The EEA has cooperated with the EU Joint Research Centre to develop spatially explicit nutrient pressure accounts for the EU using various input data and modelling. These include:

-gridded farm statistics provided by Eurostat;

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Jordan Opel)

-atmospheric nitrogen deposition data from air monitoring programmes;
-data on agricultural nutrient use generated by the common agricultural policy regionalised impact (CAPRI) agro-economic model.

The model-derived data on nutrient pressures (at the soil surface) are spatially allocated to different MAES ecosystem types by using the same CLC data underpinning the ecosystem extent accounts. This allows ecosystem condition accounting tables to be produced that can show:

-the average nutrient pressures on different ecosystem types over time, at EU, country or regional level;
-a breakdown of nutrient pressure by varying input levels and their spatial distribution.

By developing a spatially explicit accounting approach, it is possible to identify areas where nutrient inputs exceed certain load levels. This adds a new analytical functionality, compared with standard nutrient balances that provide average values per country or at the large region level. Table 3 presents information on the trend in the shares of four different nitrogen input levels for grassland ecosystems between 2000 and 2010.

 

Note: The trend figures presented above exclude data for Croatia, as it was not available.

The available data suggest that the area share of the N input category of below 50 kg N/ha has increased over the period monitored, whereas the area shares of all higher N input levels have decreased. Analysis based on the average N input level per hectare for the entire area covered would not have identified these sub-trends. However, the approach presented above includes only a coarse spatial representation and lacks sensitivity with regard to the response of different grassland ecosystem sub-types to N input. For example, highly productive grasslands are adapted to N input levels of 100kg N/ha or more but are often species poor. The botanical species diversity of semi-natural grasslands can only be maintained if yearly N input levels stay below 30 kg N/ha.

Figure 4 illustrates how the spatial nutrient accounts could be further developed to identify ecosystem sub-types and areas that require policy action to reduce nutrient pressures. Work is under way to develop further spatial detail and extend the current times series to 2018. This will allow the presentation of spatial nutrient accounts that have more analytical power and provide concrete policy input, e.g. on the nutrient pressures inside Natura 2000 areas compared with those of general farmland. Additional information and results from the pilot nutrient accounts are available in the EEA’s summary report on pilot EU nutrient accounts (EEA, 2020d).

 

Overview and conclusions

We have made good progress in developing European ecosystem extent accounts. They offer a substantial level of ecological detail and can be used to look at trends in Natura 2000 areas, river basins, etc. However, it would be useful to further differentiate agriculture and forest ecosystem types, e.g. by building on forthcoming Copernicus phenology data.

The pilot ecosystem condition accounts show how the accounting methodology can be used to show spatial trends for key ecosystem condition parameters. The EU-level ecosystem condition assessments per MAES ecosystem type provide an important comprehensive review of ecosystem condition (EC, 2020). Future work at EU level could combine such ecosystem assessment work with ecosystem accounting tools in a shared platform for tracking the condition of European ecosystems over the coming years.

The spatial foundation for the pilot nutrient accounts enables the identification of pressure hot spots, where ecosystem thresholds have been exceeded. This adds spatial detail to the analysis of the condition of agro-ecosystems, which could be used to address nutrient reduction targets in the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, for example.

The EEA Integrated Data Platform enables many different ecosystem reference data sets to be compiled in one geo-spatial accounting system. This supports the development of more complex ecosystem accounts and detailed geo-spatial analysis. Further analytical progress in describing the pressures on, and trends in, European ecosystems will also require a further investment in geo-spatial ecosystem data sets based on regular monitoring programmes.

Source: EEA

Surge in Court Cases Over Climate Change Shows Increasing Role of Litigation in Addressing the Climate Crisis

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Markus Spiske)

Climate litigation cases have spiked in recent years, making the courtroom increasingly relevant to efforts to address climate change around the world. A UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report released today finds that climate cases have nearly doubled over the last three years and are increasingly compelling governments and corporate actors to implement their climate commitments, as well as pursue more ambitious climate change mitigation and adaptation goals.

The report, published by UNEP in cooperation with the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, shows climate litigation has become more common and more successful worldwide.

In 2017, 884 cases were brought in 24 countries; as of 2020, cases had nearly doubled, with at least 1,550 climate change cases filed in 38 countries (39 including the European Union courts). While climate litigation continues to be concentrated in high-income countries, the report’s authors expect the trend to further grow in the global south – the report lists recent cases from Colombia, India, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines and South Africa.

The background of plaintiffs is becoming increasingly diverse as well, with NGOs and political parties joined by children, senior citizens, migrants, and indigenous peoples. Just as they are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, those groups of plaintiffs often stand at the forefront of climate change, enduring extreme weather, rising sea levels, and pollution.

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“Citizens are increasingly turning to courts to access justice and exercise their right to a healthy environment,” said Arnold Kreilhuber, Acting Director of UNEP’s Law Division. “Judges and courts have an essential role to play in addressing the climate crisis”.

Some of the recent trends in climate litigation identified by the report include:

  • Violations of “climate rights”, i.e. cases are increasingly relying on fundamental human rights including the right to life, health, food, and water.
  • Failures of governments to enforce their commitments on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
  • “Greenwashing” and non-disclosures, when corporate messaging contains false or misleading information about climate change impacts.

In the coming years, UNEP expects climate litigation to increase in national and international bodies, especially with respect to companies misreporting climate risks, governments failing to adapt to extreme weather events, and cases brought to enforce previous court decisions. A rise is also expected in cases concerning persons displaced by climate change impacts.

“Climate litigation is a key lever for keeping governments and corporations on task in the fight to combat climate change,” said MIchael Burger, Executive Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change at Columbia Law School. “And it is a powerful tool for holding them to account for their failure to do so. Courts can equalize the power imbalances in society and give force to the rule of law.”

Source: UNEP

 

Reform Is Not Enough to Build Trust – a Call for System Change

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Markus Spiske)
Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Markus Spiske)

In 2021, the world has a chance to not just move beyond the acute COVID-19 public health crisis, but to do it in a way that sets us on a just and green path to recovery. As Greenpeace has previously said, we have an unmissable chance to put people and planet before private profit and power.

This will only happen when leaders face up to the causes of the interconnected medical, environmental, and economic crises we are facing. For that to happen the ‘global elite’ coming together for The Davos Agenda must acknowledge how 2020 has brought into sharp focus the many things that are wrong with our current economic system.

Building a better world is within our reach, but it requires global cooperation at unprecedented levels. It will require system change, not mere reform. It requires new rules and new investments, not saving the old failed system via adaptation or reform.

To foster trust, as The Davos Agenda aims to do, world leaders need to be seen to be working together, effectively, for the public good. Trust in political leaders is in decline because they are failing to keep people safe. Only honesty in the face of failure and cascading crisis backed by immediate, coordinated action can begin to change that.

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Right now, the most visible – and urgent – way to earn trust is to come together to deliver a People’s Vaccine, available free of charge to all. No country is safe from COVID until all countries are safe from COVID. Delivering a vaccine to everyone, quickly, would not just prevent further human and economic hardship, but could be a powerful first sign of a more cooperative global spirit emerging for the post-COVID world.

Last year was, once again, the hottest year on record. In 2020, significantly more people woke up to the need for fundamental change. Across the globe, vast majorities indicated (in polls) that they are looking for radically better policies. In Japan, for example, 60 percent of people want transformational economic change. While in many countries, including India, Mexico, China, Brazil and South Africa, support for a green economic recovery is at 80 percent or higher. Only an ambitious and just green recovery agenda can earn the trust of these majorities.

Meanwhile, the Global Risks report 2021 illustrates how only urgent action on the climate and biodiversity crisis, as well as inequality and public health, can make the world resilient to future shocks.

In response, governments must urgently shift ‘our’ money, and invest it in public and planetary health. The vast previously ‘unavailable’ public funds that are being found amidst the pandemic must support a just transition to a better, safer, fairer, future.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

So far, governments are failing this test by a huge margin. Thirty major economies have pledged $268 billion to fossil fuels, 47 percent of all public money committed to energy-intensive sectors as part of the COVID response. This, as UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has pointed out, is simply unacceptable. It undermines the trust of people who want this crisis to be used to build resilience for the future.

In addition to shifting ‘our’ money, governments must change the rules that govern our economies. They must do so via transformational green and just recovery proposals, that strengthen our communities, respect our planet and address the root causes of injustice. No attempt to restore trust through reform can succeed. No simple notion of getting back to normal will suffice.

Civil society, including Greenpeace, has developed many proposals for a better future, whether for India, the United States, Spain or New Zealand. There is an abundance of ideas of how we can use this moment to build a new, and better normal. To deliver it, governments must do more than adopt the language of civil society proposals (such as US President Joe Biden using the phrase #BuildBackBetter during the transition), but also embrace the substance. Governments must adopt a true People’s Recovery.

Without fundamental change in trade or finance rules, for example, there can be no climate-resilient or just economic recovery. And without a shift in the hierarchy of norms of our decision-making on the local, national and international level, public and planetary health will continue to be sacrificed on the altar of private profit.

Part of the change we need is therefore a shift of power in the international system. With President Biden, we can expect the World Trade Organization to end its Trump-induced paralysis. Via its powerful dispute settlement system, it will be able to enforce its rules across the globe. The Paris Agreement, which the United States is thankfully rejoining, does not have such powers of enforcement. Indeed, no global organization ensuring human, social and environmental rights does. This has to change.

Photo-illustration: Pexels

This year, both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) will hold major summits. There is a danger that these will be mostly greenwashing. That governments and businesses alike will use them as a stage to announce positive sounding net zero emission targets for 2050, 30 years from now, aiming to hide the fact that there are no clear benchmarks or binding laws to achieve them.

Instead, both meetings (COP 26 on climate and COP 15 on biodiversity) must be moments of immediate, transformational action, that illustrate to the world that leaders are ready to build a post-COVID global order where public good trumps private profit. They must, for example, be the place where International Financial Institutions announce that they are moving from conditionality based on neoliberalism and endless growth (GDP) to supporting just and green economic systems. They must be moments where governments commit to just transition funds and a global social protection mechanism. They must be where governments end the funding of fossil fuels once and for all and commit to their orderly and just elimination. They must also be where governments deliver a concrete plan to fully protect 30 percent of both land and oceans by 2030 in a just manner, fully supporting and realizing Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

“The seeds of trust lie in the truth of action.”

—Jennifer Morgan, Executive Director, Greenpeace International

The seeds of trust lie in the truth of action. We need to see immediate honest action we can believe in, that means a People’s Vaccine and investments in renewable energies and local economies, the economies of the future.

In 2021 the world has a chance to build a future that is open, cooperative, egalitarian, peaceful, in harmony with nature. A world with public and planetary good as its driving force.

These are the lights on the path towards a safer, fairer future. If our leaders are brave enough to change the system, then maybe, just maybe, they can lay the foundation for future trust.

Source: World Economic Forum

Jamaica: Plastics Ban Creates New Opportunities

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Unsplash ( Alexander Schimmeck)

Every September, on International Coastal Cleanup Day in Jamaica, plastic is the most collected material. In 2019, the top 10 items collected were all single-use plastic and polystyrene (foam) waste, anything from plastic bottles to food wrappers.

More than 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans globally, each year, adversely impacting ecosystems, biodiversity and potentially human health.

According to the Jamaica’s Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), marine litter within the country’s coastal waters has significantly impacted the tourism and fisheries industries. To reverse this trend a national ban on single-use plastics was launched on January 1, 2019, with several phases.

The final phase, which applies to 24” by 24” single-use plastic bags and disposable drinking straws attached to drink boxes or pouches, began on January 1, 2021. The government has granted a six-month transition period to the private sector and has committed to increasing public education and awareness-raising activities.

A growing problem

Of the 800,000 tons of residential waste, Jamaica generates annually, 15 percent is estimated to be plastics. While three-quarters of this is disposed of at legal disposal sites, the remainder often ends up in drains, rivers, gullies, beaches and, ultimately, the ocean. The plastic pollution results in flooding and damage to coastal and marine ecosystems and is creating an unhealthy environment for local populations.

Places like Rae Town, a coastal Kingston neighborhood, suffer the most from the wave of plastic pollution that makes its way into Kingston Harbor. The gully that traverses the area brings even more plastic waste to the area.

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UNEP’s Caribbean Sub-Regional Office and its International Environmental Technology Centre have been working since 2018 with the Government of Jamaica and the National Environment & Planning Agency (NEPA) on a Plastic Waste Minimization Project. This project, which is funded by the Global Environment Facility and the Japanese Government with co-financing through the Jamaican Government, aims to further strengthen policy and enhance legal frameworks that will enable Jamaica to reduce and manage plastic waste from land-based sources in an environmentally sound manner.

Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Focusing on policy development and public education, the project is empowering Rae Town citizens to find innovative solutions to the plastic problem, from creative upcycling and income-generating opportunities to environmental warden initiatives.

Refuse, Reuse, Reduce, Recycle

November 2019 saw the launch of a flagship Plastic Recycling Pilot Project. Under this initiative, Rae Town residents were encouraged to participate in clean-up activities following the 4 R’s of: Refuse, Reuse, Reduce, Recycle.

Environmental wardens have been trained in the community to prevent improper waste management and the country has received the first government-owned plastic collection truck.

“This is a significant milestone,” said Ms. Kashta Graham, the Project’s Manager. “Prior to this, there was no truck for collecting only plastic.”

Rae Town residents have collected 6,974 pounds of plastic from their local environment and shoreline. These hauls of “waste” are increasingly becoming new means of livelihoods.

From plant pots to playground furniture, Rae Town residents are repurposing plastic in collaboration with 360 Recycle (a local social enterprise that manufactures and sells recycled plastic products). Residents are also encouraged to participate in competitions to find new ways to re-use plastic waste to benefit the community.

Edson Carr, Planning Manager at Jamaica’s National Solid Waste Management Authority says the Rae Town project aims to shift in how residents perceive plastic and manage plastic waste. “Success will entail residents engaging in the separation of plastics from their regular waste as well as community members adopting better practices”, he said.

Leading by example

Businesses are also getting involved through the Green Business Jamaica Environmental Stewardship Programme. Since the initiative started in May 2019, the seven companies and five public sector entities that are participating have made significant efforts to cut plastic pollution in their operations.

The project also recently launched an Eco-Rewards Plastic Recycling Pilot with Lee’s Food Fair, one of the largest supermarkets in the Kingston metropolitan area. Through the store’s customer loyalty scheme, customers earn eco-reward points for every 10 pounds of plastic they bring in to be recycled. A “no plastic” pledge board encourages people to publicly commit to reducing their consumption of plastic materials.

As Jamaica, along with the rest of the world, grapples with COVID-19, the Plastic Waste Minimization Project offers a ray of hope.

“The Rae Town project is proof that, when policy makers and the public work together, systemic and sustainable change is possible,” says Kashta Graham.

Source: UNEP

 

 

 

This Electric Car Battery Takes the Same Time to Charge as Filling up With Gas

Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay
Photo-illustration: Pixabay

An electric-car battery that can be charged in five minutes, the amount of time it takes to fill up a tank of gas, has been produced for the first time in a factory in China. The new lithium-ion batteries were developed by the Israeli company StoreDot and manufactured by Eve Energy in China. The company has produced 1,000 sample batteries compliant with li-ion battery certifications, StoreDot said.

The samples will be used to showcase the company’s technology to prospective buyers and investors looking to get a jump on the electric-vehicle market, including BP, Daimler, Samsung Ventures, and TDK.

Faster-charging batteries would make electric vehicles more functional

For many drivers, electric cars do not cut it for long trips because of the amount of time it takes to charge the vehicles. Electric-car batteries on the market can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 12 hours to charge, though a typical EV takes about eight hours to charge from empty to full, according to Pod Point, a manufacturer of electric-vehicle chargers.

Electric vehicles are a crucial part of Biden’s USD 2 trillion climate-change plan, in which he wants an entirely green electric power grid by 2035 with cars running on electricity instead of gasoline. StoreDot’s new battery technology would make this green future more feasible, eliminating what CEO Doron Myersdorf called electric vehicle’s biggest barriers: “range and charging anxiety.”

“Today’s announcement marks an important milestone, moving XFC for the first time beyond innovation in the lab to a commercially-viable product that is scalable for mass production,” Myersdorf said in a press release. “We’re on the cusp of achieving a revolution in the EV charging experience that will remove the critical barrier to mass adoption of EVs.”

More:

Electric cars average about 250 miles of driving per charge. With a battery that could charge faster, drivers would not be range-bound and could take EVs on longer trips.

While lithium-ion batteries use graphite as an electrode, the StoreDot battery works faster by replacing graphite with semiconductor nanoparticles that allow ions to pass more easily and quickly. The company expects to replace this electrode with silicon, a much cheaper component, by the end of the year.

Tesla is also working on developing silicon electrodes. Elon Musk has long been calling for faster charging speeds for electric cars. On Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted, “Battery cell production is the fundamental rate-limiter slowing down a sustainable energy future. Very important problem.”

Tesla has been making strides to give EVs a longer travel range through an extensive Supercharger network, as well as its new generation of long-range electric cars that can go up to 400 miles between charges. Musk hopes to make electric cars as convenient and accessible as conventional combustion-engine vehicles.

Fast-charging EV batteries are still several years away

StoreDot’s five-minute battery will likely not enter the mainstream market for many years, as mass production will not be available for quite some time as the company continues to hone its technology.

The startup has experimented with fast-charging batteries in the past for phones, drones, and scooters. In 2014, the company developed a prototype of a charger that could boost your phone’s battery from dead to fully charged in 30 seconds.

Source: weforum

 

Secretary-General Welcomes Us Return to Paris Agreement on Climate Change

Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Anthony Delanoix)
Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Gayatri Malhotra)

Following the inauguration of United States President Joe Biden on Wednesday, the UN Secretary-General said he looks forward to an era of new leadership towards accelerating climate action, with the US back inside the landmark Paris Agreement.

President Biden signed an executive order at the White House just hours after being sworn in, to reverse the previous administration’s withdrawal from the 2015 accord, which seeks to limit global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“I warmly welcome President Biden’s steps to re-enter the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and join the growing coalition of governments, cities, states, businesses and people taking ambitious action to confront the climate crisis”, the UN chief said in a statement.

The US was among 194 countries that signed the Agreement in December 2015 under then President, Barack Obama.

More:

Two years later, the Trump administration announced the country would withdraw from the treaty: a decision which became effective last November.

US deposits instrument of acceptance

A new instrument of acceptance of the Paris Agreement by the US, expressing its consent to be bound by the Agreement, was deposited with the Secretary-General, later in the day.

According to the UN chief’s spokesperson, the Paris Agreement will enter into force for the United States on 19 February 2021, in accordance with its article 21 (3).

Long road to carbon neutrality

The Paris Agreement requires governments to commit to increasingly ambitious climate action through plans known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

The Secretary-General recalled that countries producing half of all global carbon pollution committed to carbon neutrality, or net-zero emissions, following a summit held last month.

“Today’s commitment by President Biden brings that figure to two-thirds. But there is a very long way to go”, he said.

“The climate crisis continues to worsen, and time is running out to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and build more climate-resilient societies that help to protect the most vulnerable.”

Climate crisis and COVID-19

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Lucrezia De Agrò)

The Secretary-General underlined his commitment to work with the new US President and other world leaders to address the climate crisis and COVID-19 recovery.

Last year, the UN was forced to postpone its latest global climate change conference, known as COP26, due to the pandemic.

“We look forward to the leadership of United States in accelerating global efforts towards net zero, including by bringing forward a new nationally determined contribution with ambitious 2030 targets and climate finance in advance of COP26 in Glasgow later this year”, the statement said.

In his inauguration speech, President Biden made it clear that addressing “a climate in crisis” was a priority, noting that “a cry for survival comes from planet itself”.

Senior officials from across the UN system have congratulated the new administration in Washington.

Inger Andersen, head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), tweeted that her agency looks forward to working closely with President Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris to strengthen climate action, “to address a planet in crisis, and to build a just and green transition for all.”

Source: United Nations

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