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Jets belonging to entertainers, CEOs, oligarchs and billionaires produce equivalent to emissions of almost 40,000 Britons

Private jets belonging to 200 celebrities, CEOs, oligarchs and billionaires have spent a combined total of 11 years in the air since the start of 2022.

The carbon footprint of all those flights – a jaw-dropping 44,739 journeys – would be the equivalent of the total emissions of almost 40,000 Britons.

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Does being an effective agency mean helping sell more products or can it mean helping mitigate climate emergency?

When Bartle Bogle Hegarty won one of the advertising industry’s most coveted prizes – the Effectiveness award – for their amazing car-selling prowess, two executives from another company worked out that the resultant carbon emissions of the extra 132,700 Audis that BBH had managed to shift came to about 5.2m tonnes, roughly equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of Uganda.

The work has been a lightning rod in an industry that is deeply divided over its role in the climate crisis. There is increasing agreement that although individual behaviour should not be the primary focus for change, some individuals’ behaviour – namely that of the world’s wealthiest people – has a much bigger impact not only on global emissions but also on broader economic and political trends. But how should the advertising and PR industries grapple with the overconsumption of the top 10%?

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Health companies reliant on functioning ecosystems and healthy water supplies for business continuity are taking the lead in reporting their nature dependencies through the Taskforce on Nature Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and striving to curb their impacts on the natural world, with several leading multinationals mapping their value chains to understand their biodiversity impacts more closely.

Climate Impact X (CIX) has temporarily suspended credits from a troubled Kasigau corridor project (VCS 612) into delivery for its nature-based benchmark, Nature X, with immediate effect, a day after two senior staff member at the project were sacked in relation to ongoing investigation into sexual harassment and abuse allegations.

Carbon prices in Europe initially tumbled on Tuesday morning, taking their cue from a declining natural gas market and a weak auction, to approach the year-to-date low reached at the start of the month, before later rallying as selling activity dwindled towards midday.

The EU’s first draft legislation defining a framework for certifying carbon removals passed with a large majority during a vote in the full European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, paving the way for negotiations with member states and the European Commission for an agreement on the file.

Amid the heat and humidity, energy bills in New Orleans are surging – but the options for low-income residents are severely limited

Darlene Jones spends most of her time holed up in the bedroom to minimize the amount of electricity she uses to cool and light her home in downtown New Orleans.

Air seeps out from the doors and windows of the 1890 one-bedroom shotgun house – and through the bashed-up floorboards and ceiling that Jones cannot afford to repair. She has wrapped foam around the leaky air-conditioning pipes, and taped handwritten signs on the front door above the metal letterbox that read “Please close the slot”.

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The implications of policy are felt very differently depending on how well-off you are. It’s time for politicians to recognise this

Many of Rishi Sunak’s political decisions are baffling, but one that’s easy to understand is his recent rowing back from the UK’s climate commitments: he, like many creatures of Westminster, thinks working-class people don’t care much for climate action. This is a lazy stereotype and, predictably, did nothing for his poll numbers.

The simple truth is this: when it comes to the climate crisis, working-class people are often the first to spot the changes occurring because even slight fluctuations can make or break family finances. That doesn’t mean this is the first subject working-class people raise when a canvasser knocks at the door or a pollster asks, but it is there in the background when deciding who to trust with our futures.

Roger Harding is the founding director of Round our Way

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Australian miner Fortescue took another step to trying to realise its vast clean energy hopes Monday with the sanctioning of two hydrogen projects prior to its annual general meeting in Perth at a cost of over $700 million.

Indonesia has launched its Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan (CIPP) under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), which includes a $20-billion plan to invest in renewables as part of efforts to rid its power sector of coal.

Chris Bowen also says climate disaster fund will need to be bankrolled by broader-than-expected range of countries in speech ahead of Cop28

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Australia’s climate minister, Chris Bowen, says Pacific nations and other countries vulnerable to climate catastrophe should be the major beneficiaries of “loss and damage” funding, and a broader range of countries should bankroll the international effort along with the private sector.

Bowen used a speech to a foreign policy thinktank on Tuesday night to signal Australia’s position ahead of Cop28, the looming United Nations-led climate talks, which get under way in the United Arab Emirates later this month.

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A major carbon credit project developer and trader in South Korea on Tuesday made its debut on a major domestic exchange, with plans to secure more carbon credits under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

An emissions reduction requirement in Australia’s National Energy Objectives (NEO) came into effect as of Tuesday, however analysts say key questions remain around its implementation. 

A Malaysian state has become the nation’s first to pass legislation that will support the generation and sale of carbon credits, and impose a carbon tax of companies failing to report on their emissions.

Jealous Mpofu wins Tusk’s ranger of the year award for his work with a maligned and misunderstood species

When Jealous Mpofu was a boy, he overheard his father’s bosses talking negatively about painted dogs, wild African canines with distinct marble coats that are among the world’s most endangered species.

“They said they didn’t kill an animal, they grabbed the flesh. They said they were rough animals,” Mpofu said.

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Nature Talks presents the results of the nature photographer of the year 2023 competition. Jacquie Matechuk, from Canada, is the winner in the contest, an initiative from the organisation also responsible for the annual Nature Talks photo festival in the Netherlands

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Surfers Against Sewage finds 60% of representative sample of popular locations to be unsafe for swimming

The majority of popular inland bathing spots in the UK surveyed in a report have been found to be unsafe for swimming.

In a representative sample of popular swimming and water sports locations, 60% were found to have pollution at unsafe levels, the annual report from campaign group Surfers Against Sewage found.

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Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group has announced three of the first green hydrogen deals to reach a final investment decision in the United States and Australia.

The post Fortescue presses go on more than $1.1 billion of green hydrogen and iron projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Nearly two months since the official launch of Indonesia’s national carbon exchange the platform has seen little trading activity, with its operator and market participants raising several key issues holding it back, however growing international interest and further regulatory development will see the market grow, they said. 

A Southeast Asian gas lobby group has launched a new carbon capture and storage accreditation study that will look at the best way to earn carbon credits.