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Earth Catalyst gathers & hand-filters the most recent updates from over 1,000 green tech and sustainability organizations. Here are all of the updates; if you subscribe to our free newsletter, we'll send you 3 each weekday we think will be meaningful to you.

10/25/24: (Parts of) UN Leadership Says Let's Go!!

Writer's picture: Marshall KirkpatrickMarshall Kirkpatrick

Updated: Oct 28, 2024

Today's newsletter is coming in the afternoon because I spent the usual morning time kicking off a new client's consulting engagement. (Here's a description of my consulting services.) Capacity building is underway!

 

Today's visual and quote of the day are a UN leadership rallying call about just how much work must be done, quickly, to avoid disaster.

 

As always, we've scanned for updates from over 1000 green tech and sustainability orientations, gathering their learnings, analyzing and summarizing them, in order to help advance your work. If you subscribe by email, you’ll find three updates our system selected just for you.  

 

My goal is to deliver information you can connect to your work, now or later, so we can all learn together and make a bigger impact.


Ok, let's go!

 

-Marshall Kirkpatrick

Daily super-personalized email and strategic consulting based on two decades of tech startup trailblazing, now focused on green tech and sustainability.


Visual of the Day


The COP16 UN Conference on Biodiversity kicks off today in Cali, Columbia and there's a whole lot of work to do. I recommend CarbonBrief's excellent round-up of the week's news for in-depth coverage of the event, including a big interactive grid on who supports what and who's blocking what.

 

Also from that post:

 

3,071

 

That's the number of “square brackets” remaining in negotiating documents at COP16, as of Thursday night, according to Carbon Brief’s COP16 text tracker. (Square brackets denote areas of disagreement in UN texts. They must all be resolved before countries can reach consensus.)




And now...

Today's Updates

Table of Contents

  • Agriculture (6 stories) - ASEAN-CGIAR food security initiative, Agtonomy's $32.8M funding for agri-robotics, SAPLING's digital skills program in Tanzania, and concerns over digital agriculture's impact on traditional farming

  • Carbon (11 stories) - Morgan Stanley, Microsoft invest in carbon removal; Climeworks, Ebb Carbon secure deals; Planetary Technologies raises $11.35M; Industrial fishing impacts ocean carbon storage; Geoengineering methods explored; Real estate sector adopts sustainability certifications; Global emissions hit record high

  • Circular (7 stories) - Recycled blankets, EcoBuilding Bargains, advanced plastic recycling tech, yeast-based vegan cheese, and salvaged wood repurposing lead circular economy innovations

  • Ecosystems (12 stories) - Biodiversity challenges and conservation efforts: ACES birding, Cambodia's forest loss, Bolivia's Gran Manupare, right whale population, Northland Council, vulture reintroduction, woodpecker status change, koala DNA tracking, Oregon kelp decline, Texas conservation awards, old-growth forest protection

  • Efficiency (2 stories) - Variable-speed heat pumps and proper insulation deliver comfort, health, and energy savings

  • Finance (8 stories) - Bristol's £1B City Leap project honored; World Bank's disaster resilience program; UN complaint against nature finance initiative; Prime Coalition's catalytic capital research; Nature4Climate's tech reports; $2B nature tech investment forecast; EU's Web3 ESG rules; Azerbaijan's COP29 finance focus questioned

  • Grid (2 stories) - Grid modernization expert joins Great Plains Institute; CA and NY set long-duration energy storage targets

  • Indigenous (12 stories) - Tostan's Hearth Summit, carbon market demands, Coast Funds opportunities, and Brazil's Guarani land declarations highlight Indigenous climate action and rights

  • Industry (2 stories) - Mining giants accused of fear tactics; wood pellet industry's impact on vulnerable communities revealed

  • Policy (13 stories) - Pacific nations demand Australian fossil fuel limits; UN-Habitat boosts African climate resilience; Georgia revokes biomass permit; Australia delays 2035 target; US election's climate impact; UNDRR calls for COP29 action

  • Renewables (4 stories) - Tax credit threats, Democratic nuclear support, King Energy's $10M solar boost, Lightsource bp's global expansion

  • Transport (2 stories) - Québec's ambitious EV charging network expansion; health concerns over ultrafine combustion particles


Agriculture

ASEAN-CGIAR food security initiative, Agtonomy's $32.8M funding for agri-robotics, SAPLING's digital skills program in Tanzania, and concerns over digital agriculture's impact on traditional farming



Carbon

Morgan Stanley, Microsoft invest in carbon removal; Climeworks, Ebb Carbon secure deals; Planetary Technologies raises $11.35M; Industrial fishing impacts ocean carbon storage; Geoengineering methods explored; Real estate sector adopts sustainability certifications; Global emissions hit record high


  • 2 Climate Removal Deals, 1 Final Tax Credit Rule (Heatmap News) - Global financial giants Morgan Stanley and Microsoft invest in large-scale carbon removal projects, with Climeworks securing a 40,000-ton deal and Ebb Carbon partnering for 350,000 tons of ocean-based removal.

  • For Immediate Release: Planetary Technologies Secures $11.35 Million in Series A Funding to Accelerate Carbon Removal Initiatives (Planetary Technologies) - Canadian startup Planetary Technologies secures $11.35M in Series A funding to expand its ocean-based carbon removal technology, aiming to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels.

  • Industrial Fishing Undermines World’s Greatest Carbon Sink, Experts Warn (DeSmog) - Industrial fishing weakens the ocean's ability to store carbon by damaging ecosystems and releasing trapped CO2, contradicting claims of fish as a climate-friendly food source.

  • Morgan Stanley partners with Climeworks to remove CO₂ (Climeworks) - Global financial giant Morgan Stanley commits to removing 40,000 tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere by 2037 through its first Direct Air Capture credit purchase with Climeworks.

  • Stormfury (Keep Cool) - A new study outlines 13+ geoengineering methods, from stratospheric aerosol injection to space-based solar reflection, detailing their potential, challenges, and development stages in the fight against climate change.

  • The role of sustainability certifications in driving the real estate industry towards net zero (Thallo) - Sustainability certifications such as LEED and BREEAM are propelling the real estate sector towards net zero emissions through reduction strategies and carbon offsetting measures for remaining emissions.

  • U.S. shale natural gas production has declined so far in 2024 (EIA) - U.S. shale gas output fell 1% in the first nine months of 2024, potentially ending a 24-year growth streak, with declines in Haynesville and Utica regions due to low prices.

  •  (Climate Action Network) - A UN video presents three potential climate futures for 2030, underscoring the critical importance of swift emissions cuts to keep global warming within the 1.5°C target.

  •  (UN Environment Programme) - Global greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high, increasing 1.3% last year, and must decrease 9% annually until 2030 to limit warming to 1.5°C and prevent catastrophic climate change.

  •  (UNEP) - Global greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high in 2023, necessitating a 42% reduction by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5°C, while current policies project a 3.1°C rise by 2100.

  •  (Climate Central) - New research reveals climate change has dramatically increased the likelihood of hurricanes like Milton, with the probability now 800 times higher due to rising global temperatures and warmer oceans.


Circular

Recycled blankets, EcoBuilding Bargains, advanced plastic recycling tech, yeast-based vegan cheese, and salvaged wood repurposing lead circular economy innovations



Ecosystems

Biodiversity challenges and conservation efforts: ACES birding, Cambodia's forest loss, Bolivia's Gran Manupare, right whale population, Northland Council, vulture reintroduction, woodpecker status change, koala DNA tracking, Oregon kelp decline, Texas conservation awards, old-growth forest protection



Efficiency

Variable-speed heat pumps and proper insulation deliver comfort, health, and energy savings


  • Ep. 12: Jim Bergmann's religious conversion... to heat pumps (Amply Energy) - Heat pump expert Jim Bergmann reports significant comfort and efficiency improvements after installing a modern variable-speed system in his home, calling the experience transformative.

  • There Is a Wrong Way to Insulate Your Home (Heatmap News) - Experts warn that inadequate home insulation can result in mold growth, structural issues, and compromised air quality, underscoring the importance of professional building science knowledge in weatherization efforts.


Finance

Bristol's £1B City Leap project honored; World Bank's disaster resilience program; UN complaint against nature finance initiative; Prime Coalition's catalytic capital research; Nature4Climate's tech reports; $2B nature tech investment forecast; EU's Web3 ESG rules; Azerbaijan's COP29 finance focus questioned



Grid

Grid modernization expert joins Great Plains Institute; CA and NY set long-duration energy storage targets



Indigenous

Tostan's Hearth Summit, carbon market demands, Coast Funds opportunities, and Brazil's Guarani land declarations highlight Indigenous climate action and rights



Industry

Mining giants accused of fear tactics; wood pellet industry's impact on vulnerable communities revealed



Policy

Pacific nations demand Australian fossil fuel limits; UN-Habitat boosts African climate resilience; Georgia revokes biomass permit; Australia delays 2035 target; US election's climate impact; UNDRR calls for COP29 action



Renewables

Tax credit threats, Democratic nuclear support, King Energy's $10M solar boost, Lightsource bp's global expansion


  • How bad could Trump be for renewables? (HEATED) - Analysis suggests Trump's potential repeal of clean energy tax credits could slash renewable development by 212 GW and boost emissions by 1.8 billion metric tons by 2040.

  • The Democratic Party Is Pro-Nuclear — and Ready to Talk About It (Heatmap News) - The Democratic Party has embraced nuclear energy, backing existing plants and new reactor development through recent legislation and policy shifts, marking a significant change in their energy stance.

  • UtilityDive: King Energy Secures $10M in Solar Financing (UtilityDive) - King Energy secures $10M funding to grow its solar platform for multi-tenant commercial buildings, offering property owners roof rental income and tenants discounted energy.

  •  (Lightsource bp) - Global solar developer Lightsource bp, in partnership with bp, plans to expand utility-scale solar projects worldwide, targeting increased electricity demand and net-zero goals.


Transport

Québec's ambitious EV charging network expansion; health concerns over ultrafine combustion particles


  •  (Hydro-Québec) - Québec plans to deploy 116,700 public EV charging stations by 2030, aiming for a 1:16 charger-to-vehicle ratio in a bold move towards widespread electric mobility.

  •  (YouTube) - Researchers warn of potential health hazards from ultrafine combustion particles, which can infiltrate lungs and possibly enter the bloodstream, though comprehensive data on their impact is still scarce.

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