Articles 2020

“100% plantaardig!”, “CO2-neutraal geproduceerd”, “Gecertificeerd voor duurzaamheid”… Klinkt goed, toch? Maar let op: wat bedrijven op hun verpakkingen en in hun marketinguitingen claimen, is niet altijd wat het lijkt. Greenwashing, oftewel het misleidend presenteren van producten of diensten als duurzaam, is helaas een wijdverspreid probleem.

Op woensdag 15 november om 15 uur verstoorden activisten van het GrowthKills-collectief [1] het "re-use v. recycle"-panel op de jaarlijkse Sustainability Future Week van Politico in Brussel, een evenement waar verslaggevers en redacteuren belangrijke politici, wetenschappers, campagnevoerders en bedrijfsleiders interviewen over het energie- en klimaatbeleid van de EU [2].

It’s not that our models can’t simulate small-scale weather – they’re basically the same models we use for weather forecasting – it’s just very computationally expensive to have them zoom in and run in “weather mode” to get a highly detailed simulation.

Les Sustainability-linked bonds (SLB) ont un format innovant permettant de lier le taux d’intérêt d’une dette à l’atteinte d‘objectifs environnementaux, sociaux ou de gouvernance. Beaucoup de SLB comportent aujourd’hui des objectifs de réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Ce mécanisme doit néanmoins contraindre davantage les émetteurs pour devenir un véritable outil de décarbonation.

With the Australian Actuaries Institute Climate Index reaching the highest rainfall and temperature levels since the index was launched in 2018, it is not surprising that the Actuaries Institute’s latest Green Paper has warned of climate change’s impact on home insurance affordability in Australia.

Food supply expert paints grim global picture hunger 05.23.2022 By Arvin Donley NEW YORK, NEW YORK, US — Global wheat inventories currently stand at about 10 weeks of global consumption, a food supply expert said during a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council on May 19. Sara Menker, chief executive officer of Gro Intelligence, an organization that gathers and analyzes global food and agricultural data, said she disputes official government agency estimates that put global wheat inventories at 33% of annual consumption, countering inventories are closer to 20%. “It is important to note that the lowest grain inventory levels the world has ever seen are now occurring while access to fertilizers is highly constrained, and drought in wheat growing regions around the world is the most extreme it’s been in over 20 years,” Menker said. “Similar inventory concerns also apply to corn and other grains. Government estimates are not adding up.” Menker told the security council that while much of the blame

On 28 February, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body solely dedicated to looking at the science behind climate change, will release a major report on the impacts of the climate crisis and why it is imperative that we act now to address the growing risks. The report, which focuses on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, is expected to detail how climate impacts are already wreaking havoc in every part of the world and how, without much bolder action, more lives will be lost and more livelihoods destroyed. The report will look at challenges and solutions for addressing these risks and minimizing vulnerability unique to the world’s regions, cities and other habitats.

Tree diversity is fundamental for forest ecosystem stability and services. However, because of limited available data, estimates of tree diversity at large geographic domains still rely heavily on published lists of species descriptions that are geographically uneven in coverage. These limitations have precluded efforts to generate a global perspective. Here, based on a ground-sourced global database, we estimate the number of tree species at biome, continental, and global scales. We estimated a global tree richness (≈73,300) that is ≈14% higher than numbers known today, with most undiscovered species being rare, continentally endemic, and tropical or subtropical. These results highlight the vulnerability of global tree species diversity to anthropogenic changes.

La protection de l’environnement pourrait-elle nuire à une partie de l’humanité ? C’est ce que suggère une étude publiée jeudi 3 février 2022 dans la revue Nature Sustainability. D’après les scientifiques de l’université d’Aberdeen (Écosse) qui en sont à l’origine, l’extension de la surface terrestre mondiale destinée à la conservation, une approche clé pour protéger la biodiversité, pourrait entraîner des centaines de milliers de morts de la faim dans certaines régions du monde.

Approval of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability in a virtual session (14-25 Feb). Press conference (virtual) at 10:00 a.m. CET (Berlin) on Monday, 28 February 2022 – 04.00 EDT (New York), 09:00 GMT (London), 12:00 EAT (Nairobi), 16:00 ICT (Bangkok) Information about media registration is available here. The deadline for registration is Friday, 18 February 2022.

Une étude de l’ETH Zurich publiée dans Nature sustainability démontre qu’entre 1995 et 2015 l'empreinte carbone globale du plastique a doublé, relate la RTS. Cette augmentation drastique est due aux centrales à charbon qui produisent l’électricité nécessaire à la fabrication du plastique. Dans certains secteurs en Inde, en Chine et en Indonésie, elle a carrément été multipliée par cinquante.

Le Safer, un pétrolier abandonné au large du Yémen, menace de sombrer depuis cinq ans, avec plus de 1,1 million de barils de pétrole brut. Une nouvelle étude, publiée dans la revue Nature Sustainability, alerte sur les conséquences potentiellement désastreuses de cette tragédie.

Communications from young people give me optimism. Potential leaders among young people seem to have an ability to see the forest for the trees regarding climate change policy, a desire to follow the data, and a recognition of the need to address political polarization.

Europe’s 25 largest banks are still failing to present comprehensive plans that address both the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, putting their sustainability pledges in doubt, campaigners have warned.

“Once you learn how damaged the world’s ecosystems are, it’s not really something you can unsee,” says Rachel Larrivee, 23, a sustainability consultant based in Boston. “To me, there’s no point in pursuing a career – or life for that matter – in any other area.”

Across the world, resting places for the dearly departed are running out of space: and it’s spelling bad news for the environment. In many countries, splashing the cash to secure a traditional grave in commercial cemeteries and columbaria (urn storage buildings) can be something of a status symbol, not least because of the increasingly limited real estate available for grave sites.

Herrington, a Dutch sustainability researcher and adviser to the Club of Rome, has made headlines in recent days after she authored a report that appeared to show a controversial 1970s study predicting the collapse of civilization was – apparently – right on time. Coming amid a cascade of alarming environmental events, Herrington’s work predicted the collapse could come around 2040 if current trends held.

Everyone from small farms to McDonald’s is getting involved in regenerative agriculture. Could it point the way to a better future for farming?

Consumers are faced with "confusing and often misleading claims about sustainability benefits", according to US vice president's analysis.

More than 1 billion marine animals along Canada’s Pacific coast are likely to have died from last week’s record heatwave, experts warn, highlighting the vulnerability of ecosystems unaccustomed to extreme temperatures.