What's going on in the world of ESG, CSRD, CSDDD, SDGs etc...
1. CAPRI SUN CAMPAIGNS FOR RETURN OF PLASTIC STRAWS
Under the EU’s Single-Use Plastic (SUP) Directive July 2021, plastic straws are banned from distribution outside of medical needs. It also bans plastic cutlery, plates, cotton bud sticks, drinks stirrers and balloon sticks. It covers bio-based and fossil-based plastics.
Now Capri Sun Group, a multinational manufacturer of juice beverages best-known for its flexible pouch packaging is running a petition that states that paper straws can be “less functional” and that it is “not always practical” to separate the beverage container and straw for recycling. As we write this, there are more than 13,000 signatories to the petition.
Sian Sutherland of A Plastic Planet said campaigns like this are disappointing: “The straw, a symbol of our throwaway culture, should remain consigned to history. Instead of reducing the list, we should be expanding it.”
2. MAJORITY SAY DAMAGE TO ENVIRONMENT MUST BE MADE A CRIME
It is important that you know that you are not alone. Most people like you are worried, outraged, anxious and want change. Not everyone is comfortable talking about it, but that’s what we must do.
According to the Global Commons Survey 2024, 72% of people in G20 countries say they want to make it a criminal offence for governments or business leaders to approve, or permit, actions which cause serious damage to nature and climate.
The research follows other changes; in Belgium ecocide is recognised as a crime. Related laws have been passed in Chile and France. Ecocide bills are proposed in Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Peru Scotland, and others.
Advocacy, votes and stubborn optimism matter.
3. ARE ISRAEL’S GOOGLE ADS TARGETTING UN RELIEF AGENCY?
Israel has allegedly been purchasing Google ads targeting searches for UNRWA - the UN relief agency for Palestine Refugees - to discredit and defund the agency. Ads with search terms ‘UNRWA’ and ‘UNRWA USA’ reportedly redirect users to an Israeli government-run website containing misinformation about the agency, including accusations of links with Hamas.
May-July: Israeli ads reportedly came up 44% of the time, while UNRWA USA's own advert appeared just 34% of the time. Google employees reportedly said to WIRED the anti-UNRWA campaign was one of many ad campaigns Israel had orchestrated.
A spokesperson said governments can run ads in line with policies: ‘we enforce [Google policies] consistently and without bias’. Wow!
4. EUROPE’S FARMING AND FOOD LOBBIES AGREE ON NEED TO EAT LESS MEAT
After seven months of negotiations, a new shared report from Europe’s farming stakeholders, looking at EU agriculture, recognises the need to eat less red meat, calling for “urgent, ambitious and feasible reforms.” Big news!
The report says “support is needed to rebalance diets toward plant-based proteins such as better education, stricter marketing and voluntary buyouts of farms in regions that intensively rear livestock.”
Stakeholders also want a major rethink of subsidies, calling for a “just transition fund” to help farmers adopt sustainable practices.”
This is a potentially critical step in supporting the sector to transform to live within planetary limits and to support a just transition of the sector.
5. SUMMER 2024: RECORD HEAT IN NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
Summer 2024 in the northern hemisphere was the warmest on record, according to new data released by the EU's Copernicus earth observation agency. The average temperature between June and August was 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
This makes it likely that 2024 will break the 2023 record and turn into the warmest year on record. "The year-to-date (Jan–Aug 2024) global-average temp anomaly is 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 average, which is the highest on record for this period and 0.23°C warmer than the same period in 2023."
For 2024 to not become the warmest year, the average temp anomaly would need to drop by 0.3°C for all remaining months.
But that has never happened. Buckle up!
6. CALIFORNIA’S SB 219 KEEPS DISCLOSURES ON TRACK FOR 2026
In the latest developments on California’s disclosure laws, with the passing of SB 219, companies did not get any reprieve or delay in the reporting requirements.
California’s disclosure law SB 253 – requiring companies to report on their GHG emissions – was due to apply in 2025. Then a two-year delay was mooted, before Senator Scott Wiener’s proposed bill SB 219 reduced that delay to six months.
SB 219 – Wiener’s version – was passed at the end of August. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) gets until July 1, 2025 to finalise the regulations, but companies still have to report on 2025 Scope 1 and 2 data in 2026 and include Scope 3 the following year.
Governor Gavin Newsom has until the end of September to sign that bill.
7. NO MORE ‘FLIGHT SHAME’ AS SWEDEN CANCELS AVIATION TAX
Sweden, the country that invented ‘flight shame’ – a moral pressure encouraging people not to fly – has announced plans to scrap its tax on airline tickets from 2025.
While the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is delighted with the choice, environmentally-focused politicians and campaign groups are up in arms.
The Swedish Democrats Party, a right-wing nationalist party, say the abolition of the tax “will lead to lower prices for travellers and rising demand, boosting competitiveness”.
Researchers say the existing flight tax has had greater climate effect than predicted and the government is underestimating the emission increases of this decision.
The battle seems to be endless.
8. PHOENIX HITS 100°F+ 100 DAYS IN A ROW, 60 DAYS FROM ELECTION
Arizona is one of the seven swing states that will likely decide the US presidential election. If we lived in that state, we would vote for the person whose policies might reduce the heat.
Phoenix had its 100th straight day of temps over 100°F. The forecast is 113°F this week.
150 heat deaths have been recorded this year in the county that includes Phoenix, and 440 additional deaths are indicated.
States up and down the West Coast are baking, with 26 million under heat warnings. In Oregon, where temp records could shatter as the mercury reaches 105°F in Portland.
US presidential decisions on climate impact us all. Votes matters. This is not just a US issue. We all share the same planet.
9. DONALD TRUMP SAYS SEA LEVEL IS GOING TO FALL OVER NEXT 400 YEARS
During a speech at the Economic Club of New York this week, former President Trump said that because of climate change, “the ocean is going to go down 100th of an inch within the next 400 years,” and dismissed this as “not our problem.”
“Trump’s numbers are orders of magnitude off the mark,” said Heatmap’s Jeva Lange. “The oceans are on track to rise 3.5 feet to seven feet along America’s coastlines by 2100.”
Trump continues to claim that cold weather is proof the planet isn’t warming, and that if it is, the consequences won’t be that bad.
His record speaks for itself. During his four years in office, he rolled back at least 100 environmental rules.
Scary times!
10. BBC ACCUSED OF DOING PR FOR MAJOR POLLUTERS
According to DeSmog, the BBC’s in-house content studio has been paid to promote fossil fuel firms and petrostates with a history of persecuting journalists.
It says that BBC Storyworks has produced dozens of films and articles for O&G, agricultural giants, petrostates, and high-emission transport firms, “greenwashing” their images by trumpeting their dubious climate credentials and promoting their favoured solutions to the crisis.
StoryWorks, who boasts that it leverages the BBC’s reputation “as the world’s most trusted storyteller” to create content “that moves and inspires curious minds, across platforms and across the globe”.
Media has a powerful role to play in the climate crisis narrative. The BBC must do better.
