Tag Archives: Carbon Emission

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Why are investment funds targetting companies unable to meet climate goals?

Written by Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Media

As natural disasters are increasing impact of climate change can be felt across the world.  Businesses are asked to do their parts to reduce greenhouse emissions by following more green initiatives and focusing on their sustainability efforts as much of the Carbon emission comes from business-driven economic activities either directly or indirectly. However, Customers and investors are becoming more environmentally conscious and are willing to switch to more eco-friendly brands.

Investors target companies failing to tackle climate changes

The major UK investment fund, including Aviva and BlackRock investors, has recently said that they will hold accountable to directors and will vote to get them kicked out of the company if they fail on climate goals. Aviva Investors has set out its expectations in a letter that will be sent to 1,500 companies across 30 countries this week and want companies to clearly set up climate strategies and transition plans for both short and medium-term to adopt a net-zero emission target by 2050 and commit to the Science-based Target initiative (SBTi). The fund further added that it has broadened its definition of sustainability and will now focus on human rights and biodiversity issues along with climate change and executive pay that need to be linked to sustainability goals.

Similarly, the UK’s largest private pension fund has announced to move £5 billion of its investment in equities to a climate transition index developed by Solactive to avoid the worst polluters and to reduce carbon emissions related with the shareholdings by 30%. The initial 30% fall in emissions will ensure that the carbon emission falls by 7% each year.

Why it is now important to tackle Climate change

Various researchers and scientists have warned that immediate action is needed to avoid the environmental disaster caused by global warming emissions. Boris government has pledged to cut emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels to keep temperature 1.5C.

Temperature around the world is still recorded higher than pre-industrial levels of 1.1-1.2C, and emissions are continuously increasing to maintain the temperature at 1.5°C so that the global emissions can be reduced by 7% a year for this decade. Cutting greenhouse emissions can help the world in preventing 0.6°C of warming by 2050 and achieving the 2°C targets set by the Paris Agreement.

Reducing Carbon emissions offer significant benefits such as protecting vital ecosystems and ecosystem services, improving food security, reducing the risk of dangerous and irreversible climate tipping points, preventing millions of premature deaths annually, and making significant contributions to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Why should businesses be more environment-conscious?

Over the last few years, customers have become more environmentally conscious and are demanding businesses to produce more eco-friendly products and services.  So, more businesses are aiming to reduce their carbon footprint to satisfy their customers and more dedicated community of their customers who are concerned about the company’s mission. This not only sets the business apart from competitors but attracts new customers. Also, employees are also choosing to work with a company that is actively working on their Net Zero goals.

A sustainable business can help mitigate climate change on a local and global scale, reduce pollution and deliver a more sustainable future. Businesses can also reduce their costs by avoiding, reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Climate, News

Zero emission planes to boost net zero plan

Written by Mr. Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Media

In a bid to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and expedite the progress for reaching the net zero target by 2050, the government of the United Kingdom has been continuously supplementing various existing measures with new plans of action that can comprehensively help in diminishing the overall carbon footprint across the widespread geography.

For effectively counterbalancing the gross carbon emissions in the UK, a thorough support is required from the industries, enterprises, large-scale corporations, government-run settings, passenger vehicles, manufacturing facilities, commercial vehicles and aircrafts. As the Downing Street administration continues to scale down the dependency on coal-fired electricity, it is also incorporating several measures that can certainly turn very effective after a period of 5-10 years from now.

Following the ongoing research around carbon neutral planes that are being designed to harness energy from liquid hydrogen, people would be able to fly on longer routes through carbon emission free planes with just one stop for the purpose of refuelling the jet.

The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) on Monday, 6 December, showcased the concept aircraft, equipped with liquid hydrogen. The ATI-led FlyZero project has developed the concept aircraft that will be powered by liquid nitrogen. The mid-size carbon neutral jet has a seating capacity of 279 individuals, it can operate on long distances including London to San Francisco and Lonon to Auckland by taking a single layover for refuelling.

Zero carbon emissions from the plane will unequivocally make it very popular right after the initial commercial runs, while it will help in reducing the pollution around the airports as Heathrow remains one of the busiest airports in the world.

Commercialisation of such planes can certainly provide strength to the government’s ultimate objective of reducing the carbon emissions in the upcoming decades.

With the industries increasingly committing to reduce the net emissions from their operations, including the extensive supply chain networks and other processes, it becomes very crucial that the country should make proportionately similar progress across all the carbon-heavy processes including the commercial vehicles segment and industrial emissions.

Under the ongoing green energy revolution, the UK government has already fixed ambitious targets of banning the sale of petrol and diesel powered passenger vehicles by the end of 2030. With the nature and scope of Covid-19, rapidly emerging strains and persisting uncertainty in the operative environment, the pace of technological advancements has been partly hit, while, on the other hand, many individual entities are progressing very aggressively. Alongside achieving industry-wide breakthroughs in several state-of-the-art capabilities and a number of innovations that are touted to ease the pain of conventional processes, effectively streamlining the complexities.

As far as developing the sustainable aviation fuel is concerned, eight corporations have secured an approval from the government’s £15 million competition aimed to introduce aircrafts that can be operated on clean energy. The shortlisted winners in the project are entitled to receive a definitive proportion from the multi-million pound funding to the tune of £15 million. The Department for Transport (DfT) will remain responsible for giving the go-ahead on funding agreements.

The Jet Zero Council has been working religiously towards the predetermined objectives with the FlyZero project displaying the huge potential of liquid nitrogen. Introducing more and more midsize emission-free aircrafts in the British fleet for domestic, as well as international usage, most of the flight operators will be able to transform and rejig the fleet efficiency when it comes to the gross emissions from the planes operating on air turbine fuel.

The Jet Zero Council has aimed to deliver carbon neutral transatlantic flight within a generation, effectively contributing in the road to net zero according to the Prime Minister’s Ten Point plan. Along with the aim of delivering emission free aircrafts, the department has been working to introduce a low-carbon fuel that can be utilised by the airlines. Produced from waste materials, sustainable aviation fuel will certainly help in decarbonising the flying experience.

News

Supercharging EV revolution to help achieve ambitious goals (Authored by Mr. Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Media)

In the ongoing process to revolutionise the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the government of the United Kingdom has been continuously taking measures that are highly likely to expedite the transformation, supplementing the ultimate objective of achieving the definitive target of net zero by 2050.

While purchasing a new vehicle, people are increasingly shifting towards EVs as their choice for a primary vehicle due to wide-range of benefits including cost savings and higher efficiency. Such decisions are collectively helping the nation to reduce the carbon footprint, as far as the proportion of carbon emissions associated with passenger vehicles are concerned.

As the masses shift their focus to EVs, hybrid vehicles and other low-emission vehicles, the government has been keenly working to ease the owning experience for the consumers. This includes the capabilities of rechargeable batteries that can provide a hassle-free run on longer routes, availability of charge points across the country, semi-urbanised locaties and remote locations, and readily-accessible service stations in case of a breakdown.

The Downing Street administration approach to revolutionise the EV uptake has been exemplary among the leading economies as the government periodically rewards a number of innovative companies and enterprises that have managed to achieve state-of-the-art breakthroughs in the technologies supporting the production of EVs and key components.

In the upcoming years, hundreds of thousands of extra charge points are set to be inducted across the widespread geography of the UK. Higher the number of recharging stations productively decreases the dependability on a handful of charge points, ultimately resulting in large runs and increased adaptability of EVs in the forthcoming years.

The government is ready with new laws to supercharge the EV revolution under which world-leading regulations will be instituted for new homes and buildings in England.

From 2022 onwards, all the new homes, residential buildings, commercial setups, workplaces and supermarkets will be obligated to install EV charge points under the new legislation drafted by the government. Alongside this, the buildings undergoing major renovations will also be required to set up EV charge points.

The move is expected to increase the presence of charge points, while paving the way for fresh employment opportunities in the green energy sector with thousands of EV charge points easing the owning experience of an EV.

According to the initial estimates, as many as 145,000 extra charge points will be installed in England following the new mandate of setting up a charge point at aforementioned facilities. Having an adequate number of charge points has been one of the major challenges as countries gear up for the mass adoption of EVs.

The government of the UK has been gradually levelling up the charging infrastructure, alongside assisting the new-age technology enterprises that can help make new EVs more efficient and easy-to-own. This could be one of the biggest opportunities to level up the UK economy with the government and businesses collaborating on various initiatives to improve the comprehensive outcome.

This will further help in achieving the predefined short-term objectives of terminating the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 and hybrid by 2035. So far, the government has already supported 250,000 charge points in various localities including homes and workplaces.

Following the mass induction of charge points at new residential properties, the consumers would be able to select the best residential units that are equipped with a charge point as majority of charging happens at home. This can potentially alleviate the worries of visiting a refuelling station or taking the vehicle to an urbanised locality with an abundant number of charge points. People can also make sure of the availability of charge points in the nearby shopping complexes and workplaces before choosing the residential space and new employment opportunity.

All the properties that are undergoing major renovation and improvements with more than 10 parking spaces will be mandatorily required to install EV charge points, the decision that can provide a direction to the building owners looking forward to revamping the residential, as well as non-residential spaces in the upcoming years.

Along with bolstering the recharging infrastructure in the country, the government has also decided to simplify the payments at charge points to further encourage the people as they plan to buy their next vehicle. All the commercial charge points will be required to offer contactless payments for the users to make the process more efficient, while modernising the charge points.

With the collective approach of the government and a number of commercial setups to strengthen the charging infrastructure in the UK, the country can surely meet the upcoming objectives that can lead to the possibility of reaching a net zero status by 2050. The large-scale production of clean power and country-wide adoption of EVs, alongside the commitments by businesses to turn carbon neutral in the upcoming years are the most pivotal steps that can downsize the carbon emissions in the country.