Tag Archives: Climate Change

Climate, News

Awin partners with Ecosia to promote global reforestation

Global affiliate marketing platform, Awin, has announced a partnership with Ecosia, a not-for-profit tech company that plants and protects trees. As part of the partnership, Ecosia will plant a tree for every sale made with an Awin advertiser via Ecosia’s newly launched freetree browser extension, with a goal to plant 100,000 trees.

The strategic partnership enables both Awin and Ecosia to be climate active every day, and promote more sustainable brand practices, while helping Ecosia scale its partnerships with Awin advertisers in the US, UK, Germany, and France. Serving over half a billion search requests, advertisers will also benefit from Ecosia’s wide reach across these markets to support sustainably minded shoppers.

Awin shared its commitment to ethical ecommerce in the Awin Report: Power 100, released in March, and aims to champion efforts both internally and with brand partners through this collaboration. Partnered advertisers should align with Ecosia’s sustainability standards and will be reviewed in an ongoing process based on user feedback.

“Ethical ecommerce has been a key focus for Awin for years and this partnership with Ecosia only further demonstrates our team’s commitment to investing in creating a better environment and a better world,” said Virpy Richter, Chief Financial Officer at Awin. “Consumers will always continue to shop. As a global brand, it is our responsibility to lead the way and execute programs that support our promises to be an ethical partner, and to promote more sustainable consumerism and business as a whole.”

Christian Kroll, founder and CEO of Ecosia shared, “With our browser extension, freetree, we’re enabling people to plant trees at no extra cost as they purchase something online, whether it’s booking a summer holiday or buying a ticket for a festival. Our partnership with Awin gives us invaluable access to global online businesses and can seamlessly slot into the checkout process of their community. Users can now plant trees when they are on other websites, not just searching for them. 100% of the profits from freetree will go towards planting trees with Ecosia, which will be a huge gain for the planet.”

Powered by Ecosia, freetree is the browser extension that uses 100% of its profits to plant trees. To date, Ecosia has planted over 152 million trees across 35 countries with over 70 partners around the world in 13,000 planting sites. It currently has over 20 million active users engaging its search engine with all Ecosia searches running on 200% renewable energy. The trees are planted in biodiversity hotspots globally, which help to regenerate ecosystems, mitigate climate change, protect endangered animals, and improve the livelihoods of local communities.

For more information, please visit: https://www.awin.com/gb/news-and-events/awin-news/ecosia-partnership

 

Food & Drink, News, South East

Ethical Artisan Cafe Chain Announces Investment Round to Fuel Expansion

Canteen Collective aims to double revenues with new outlets planned across London and South East 

Canteen Collective, a fast-growing, climate positive hospitality group that offers a planet-conscious menu focusing on local provenance and seasonality, has launched a £400,000 investment round to help drive forward its ambitious growth plans. The London-headquartered business, which is on target to turnover 2.5m this year, is set to more than double its revenues by 2025 as it expands its sustainability-focused brand.

Canteen Collective provides all day dining with a local artisan café restaurant experience where customers can also enjoy a diverse range of specialty coffee. Founded in 2019 by former British Army Commander Tim Grant, the company is underpinned by a core focus on Community, Environment and Quality. Initially opening in London’s Notting Hill district, the group has expanded, opening two further locations in the capital, including its flagship outlet in Putney, and one in Kent. Despite the impact of the global pandemic, the company generated more than 60% revenue growth last year.

Canteen Collective operates with a clear strategy to measure, reduce and offset carbon, working with carefully selected suppliers which are committed to an environmentally responsible supply chain. These include UK sustainable meat providers The Ethical Butcher, London-based brewers Mondo Brewing Company and local artisan bakers Sciascia & Storey.

The company is involved in a number of net zero programmes including an initiative where it plants a tree for every kilo of coffee sold, offsetting 150% of its carbon footprint in the process. Canteen Collective is also a member of the global network 1% for the Planet, contributing one per cent of its annual revenue to support accredited projects that tackle critical environmental issues.

With a commitment to providing high quality and sustainably sourced food for its customers, Canteen Collective is also a people-focused business. The company pays its staff the London Living Wage or better and provides free private health insurance to full-time colleagues. Through the communication platform Yapster, it encourages open and engaging feedback from its team.

Canteen Collective aims to use some of the funds from this investment round to open two new locations in London the next year. The company is already working with a number of sustainable landlords to identify suitable locations that would complement its brand. With Canteen Collective managing external catering and coffee sales at a number of major events and festivals, additional funds will also go towards growing its presence within that market. The company will also further invest in its B2B coffee sales and e-commerce.

 

Founder Tim Grant said: “Canteen Collective was founded as a triple bottom line company committed to People, Produce and the Planet. This is a core aim of the business that sits at the heart of everything we do. Our growth plans are entirely focused on expanding this mission, enabling the business to do more to promote sustainability while offering customers a great dining and socialising experience within our venues.

“We’re delighted with the progress of the business which, despite the challenges of Covid, has been phenomenal and we are determined to achieve more on the back of this investment round. With a growing demand for high quality, ethically sourced food and drink and rising consumer expectations over hospitality providers committing to sustainable practices, we believe there is huge scope to expand the Canteen Collective brand across London, the South East and beyond.”

Link to Crowdcube’s Canteen Collective pitch page:

https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/canteen-collective/pitches/b65npZ

Climate, News

Climeworks calls for a move from Climate Change to Change Climate

Climeworks, a pioneer in direct air capture, is calling on us all to take one small specific action to slow Climate Change – and move from thinking about Climate Change to Changing the Climate.

Climate change is happening all around us. But there’s still hope we can change the climate, positively and permanently. To make this change a reality we need to offer solutions that can be accessed by anyone, easily and without huge expense.

A simple solution, that is available now, is to remove CO2 from the air – safely and permanently.  Even capturing small amounts of carbon dioxide, if repeated again and again, can make a real impact and change the climate for the better.

Why do we need to remove CO₂? The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report made it clear that, if humanity wants to limit global warming to 1.5°C and become net negative after 2050, reducing emissions won’t be enough, we need to remove CO₂ from the air. That’s where climate tech comes in and scaling up direct air capture technology becomes necessary.

Direct Air Capture is a method of removing carbon dioxide from the air. The technology has been pioneered by Climeworks and is now available to everyone to help us all take small, but repeated actions, that will result in a real difference.

By signing up for a Climeworks’ Carbon Dioxide Removal subscription, you can take measurable action to remove historic CO2 from the atmosphere and help reduce the long-term impacts of climate change.

There are four subscriptions levels:

  • Special Expedition: GBP £90 per month for 100 kg of CO2 removal
  • Discoverer: GBP £45 per month for 50 kg of CO2 removal
  • Explorer: GBP £27 per month for 30 kg of CO2 removal
  • Customize: you can choose an amount to suit your lifestyle

Simply choose a level of climate-positive action that matches your lifestyle and complete the sign up. The subscription is highly flexible: You choose the amount of CO2 you want to remove on a monthly or annual basis. No strings attached: pause or cancel at any time. Each year, Climeworks will send you a confirmation of the amount of carbon dioxide removal you have ordered. In addition, the subscriptions can be used as eco-friendly gifts to remove CO2 in the name of a loved one.

“Changing our climate seems like an impossible problem, one that is simply too big to tackle. But using the power of small, single actions, repeated over time we can make a real change. Removing small, amounts of carbon dioxide every month, and inviting your friends to do the same can, and will, make a real and measurable difference. These small, repeated actions are what the climate needs, and they are the only way we can truly make our voices heard and powerful.” said Rachael O’Brien from Climeworks.

A Climeworks carbon dioxide removal subscription is not only the most eco-friendly and sustainable subscription you can have; it is an alternative and unique way to start building the solutions that will change the climate. It is essential that the world continues with nature-based solutions such as planting trees, and alongside this we must remove excess CO2 from the air.

When a tree is planted it takes approximately 10 years before the carbon dioxide is removed whereas direct air capture, even allowing for build time, takes around five years – half the time of a tree.  In addition, direct air capture, as a method of removing CO2 is much more efficient than planting trees. “On a land area of 1’700 m2 (0.42 acres), Climeworks’ Orca plant nominally removes 4,000 tons of CO₂ from the air every year, which is almost 1,000 times more effective than trees. The same land area would host approx. 220 trees with an estimated carbon sequestration capacity of 21kg each per year, i.e. a total capacity of 4.62 tons per year.”

All Climeworks plants are powered by renewal energy and have a greater than 90% net removal of carbon dioxide over their entire lifecycle (including build and end of life).

Climeworks’ technological solution is a permanent, measurable, efficient and natural way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

 

About Climeworks:

Climeworks empowers people to reverse climate change by permanently removing carbon dioxide from the air.

One of two things happens to the Climeworks air-captured carbon dioxide: either it is returned to earth, stored safely and permanently away for millions of years, or it is upcycled into climate-friendly products such as carbon-neutral fuels and materials. The Climeworks direct air capture technology runs exclusively on clean energy, and the modular CO2 collectors can be stacked to build machines of any capacity.

Founded by engineers Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks strives to inspire 1 billion people to act now and remove carbon dioxide from the air.

Together we can build a climate-positive world. Join us!

Web: https://www.climeworks.com

 

Key FAQs:

Why do we need to remove CO₂?

Multiple climate studies published recently (IPCC Special Report, EASAC, NAS) clearly state that in order to achieve climate targets, not only do we need to do everything we can to reduce emissions; we also need to accelerate climate change solutions, actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Climate scientists agree that by 2050, direct air capture needs to remove between 5 and 30 billion tons of CO₂ annually if we want to achieve net zero emissions globally. To reach this level of carbon dioxide removal, direct air capture needs to be scaled up significantly, starting today.

What is the difference between Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal service and traditional carbon offsetting?

Traditional carbon offsets are typically a trade of avoided emissions: someone reduces emissions on behalf of the offset buyer who pays for the other party’s emissions reduction (= avoidance certificates). Thereby, the offset buyer continues emitting. If done in a transparent way, this trade will at best result in a short-term emissions reduction but never lead to the zero and negative emissions that we need to keep global warming in check.

What Climeworks does is fundamentally different. Rather than trading avoided emissions, we physically remove carbon dioxide emissions that are difficult to otherwise avoid. Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal (= removal certificates) is further permanent and fully measurable, as every ton of carbon dioxide removed from the air and stored underground can be precisely measured using standard industry measurement equipment.

What does CO2 look like in kg?

We often don’t realize, or simply ignore, how much CO2 is produced by the objects we use in our daily lives. All objects and many of our daily activities generate more CO2 than we think. Here are the most common and unavoidable actions:

  • Mobile phone use: 35kg is generated by mobile phone use for 10 hours, about 3.5kg per hour
  • Hot shower: 12kg is generated for an hour-long hot shower, about 2kg every 10 minutes
  • Average meal: 5kg is generated by average meals of a week, 3 meals a day of approx. 600 cal
Food & Drink, News, North of England

North Yorkshire brewery launches first carbon-neutral beer with pop-up pub stunt

To celebrate the launch of its new carbon-neutral cask beer this Earth Day, Black Sheep Brewery has opened the ‘freshest beer garden in Yorkshire’ – a pop-up pub in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.

The Breathe Inn is located beneath Yorkshire’s iconic Ribblehead Viaduct, with only one beer on tap – Respire.

Like a breath of fresh air, Respire is a soft and pillowy Session IPA laced with juicy notes of citrus and tropical fruits.

Not only that, but Black Sheep’s new permanent addition to its cask range is also completely carbon neutral. The brewery has undergone a detailed carbon-footprinting of Respire before then offsetting the footprint through funding high impact bio-diversity projects via official carbon credits.

In addition, Black Sheep has also partnered with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust so that every pint of Respire contributes to the planting of trees across the Yorkshire Dales.

The unique pop-up pub offers hikers a moment of respite as they take on one of Yorkshire’s famous three-peaks routes, allowing punters to enjoy the fresh air and breath-taking views, washed down with a refreshing, eco-friendly beer.

The launch comes as Black Sheep marks its 30th birthday, by embarking on a mission to tackle the misconceptions that surround cask ale, helping reposition the drink and bring it to a new, younger and diverse demographic.

Charlene Lyons, Chief Executive at Black Sheep Brewery, said: “The Breathe Inn is the perfect pit-stop for those with a love for the great outdoors – and of course, for beer!

“We’ve always prided ourselves on going against the grain in this industry, which is exactly why we’ve launched Respire, our first carbon-neutral cask beer as part of our mission to become a more environmentally sustainable brewery – and we hope other breweries will follow suit.

“Respire is a light, refreshing pint with a purpose, and beyond being an environmentally-friendly cask beer, we hope its release will help us to combat the misconceptions that exist around the cask beer category. For too long, cask beer has found itself unfairly categorised as a drink for the older generation, losing ground to newer, on-trend drinks. But we know this just isn’t true – cask beer is a drink that everyone of all backgrounds, genders, cultures, and ages can enjoy (above 18 of course!).

Cask beer boasts a plethora of environmentally-friendly properties due to the repeated use of the container which has a life span of over 20 years. We hope that innovations like Respire will help us not only become more sustainable, but also help to shed light on the additional benefits that cask beer offers drinkers”

Respire will be exclusively available from Black Sheep’s pub estate from Earth Day – April 22nd before becoming available to pubs across the country from 24th April.

News

Segura warns retailers to prepare for the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD)

Retailers need to be ready to act on the requirements of the Taskforce on Climate related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) or potentially risk a number of financial and reputational penalties, according to Segura, the leading platform for next-generation supply chain transparency.

Peter Needle, Founder and President at Segura, said: “The time for procrastination is over as this legislation requires urgent action. Retailers must fully understand and asses their supply chain risks. TCFD is already advisable and reporting becomes mandatory for the financial year following April 2022. Non-compliance will immediately affect the cost of capital, create negative publicity, threaten board room incentives and will gradually attract sanctions.”

TCFD was set up by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) in 2015, to develop recommendations for climate-related disclosures. From 6 April 2022, over 1,300 of the largest UK-registered companies and financial institutions will have to disclose climate-related information on a mandatory basis. This will include many of the UK’s largest traded companies, retailers,  banks and insurers, as well as private companies with over 500 employees and £500 million in turnover.

With less than 6 weeks to go companies will need to be ready to disclose their governance around climate-related risks and opportunities; the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on the organisation’s operations, strategy, and financial planning; how the organisation identifies, assesses, and manages their climate-related risks; together with what metrics and targets they will use as part of their assessment.

Needle comments: “Although initially the legislation will focus on climate-related information for the 1,300 largest UK-registered companies, others shouldn’t be complacent. If it follows previous legislation, this could be rolled out across a much broader number of companies, and encompass other environmental considerations.  At Segura we are already working with some of the UK’s leading retailers, helping them to achieve ethical, sustainable and compliant multi-tiered supply chains through automatic supplier onboarding, mapping and reporting.”

Needle strongly advises that failure to comply with TCFD will put companies at risk of audit non-compliance and strategic risk to business continuity.  “In the next financial year, larger UK retailers must fully understand all parts of their supply chain, in order to provide TCFD reporting. This requirement goes beyond Tier 1 and Tier 2 and reaches through the whole multi-tier supply chain. Typically, this is where 96% of a retailer’s carbon footprint exists and 100% of their exposure around safe and ethical working practices.”

Please see the whitepaper download here: https://inbound.segura.co.uk/resources/downloads/tcfd-and-the-implications-for-retail

News

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.

News

Expert Advice on Minimising Your Company’s Carbon Footprint – Even If Your Business is Entirely Remote.

Norango, the World’s First Zero-Emissions Online Contact Centre Shares Top Tips for Minimising CO2 Emissions

In the light of COP26 UN Climate Summit held in Glasgow, Scotland earlier this month, many businesses are left wondering how they can reduce their carbon footprint and adapt to changing climate policies. It’s clear that just switching to remote working is not enough – all companies and individuals need to make extra effort to reduce their CO2 emissions on all levels. Norango, the world’s first zero-emissions contact centre, shares top tips on how to minimise your company’s carbon footprint – even if you’ve already switched to an entirely remote business model.

Choose Sustainable Web Hosting Services

This might seem like an unexpected step to take, especially for businesses that are already working hard to reduce their carbon footprint in other ways, but it’s a factor you will want to consider. Hosting services are invisible fossil fuel consumers, as they require huge amounts of energy to power their data servers and keep them cool at all times. By switching to a sustainable hosting service provider, you can take your remote business to a new level of energy efficiency. Take some time to research the various providers and find one that is right for your needs.

Purchase Carbon Offsets

Even for the most environmentally-friendly, energy-efficient businesses, it’s hard to bring your carbon footprint down to net zero. According to an eight-month carbon footprint assessment conducted, a remote worker at Norango produces only 0.5 tonnes of CO2 compared to an average of 3.5 tonnes produced by a regular office worker, which skyrockets up to 20 tonnes of CO2 per worker at high-energy organisations. For companies like Norango that have come close to bringing their CO2 emissions down to a minimum, carbon offset programmes are a highly effective way to help you reach your net-zero goal.

Invest in Educational Programmes

Change starts with awareness. For many companies, the conversation around climate change still seems complex, confusing and simply overwhelming. Your company can combat the confusion and make a positive difference to the health of our planet by upskilling your employees, customers and community on climate issues. Climate-centred educational programmes can focus on the easy steps to take to make your lifestyle more sustainable and energy-efficient.

Climate, News

Increasing zero emission vehicles to firmly expedite path to net zero

Written by by Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Media

In the race to achieve net zero status, the largest economies are putting their best foot forward by incorporating a slew of measures that can bring a comprehensive change, through which the transformation to clean energy solutions can be done in a seamless manner.

The abrupt hardships of climate change have reached a critical phase as nations surrounded by snowy islands and huge glaciers are fearing the possible event of massive floods, while the plains and other geographical regions already experiencing a record-breaking rise in the annual temperatures during the peak summers are severely anxious over a fractional upsurge in the temperatures as it is increasingly developing the areas into hard-to-survive locations due to extreme habitual conditions.

Taking a couple of measures at a time is actually required now as it will only help in achieving the objective within the anticipated time, as the potential repercussions of climate change are mushrooming at a rapid pace, as we speak and discuss various strategies to contain the consequences.

Further ameliorating the road to net zero, the government of the UK has recently reiterated its commitment to eliminate the fossil fuel-powered commercial vehicles, including the heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) by the end of 2040. With this objective, the Downing Street administration is aiming to roll-out zero emission commercial vehicles at a large scale in the next two decades, enough to meet the cumulative supply chain and logistics demand in the domestic, as well as connected roads to cross-border regions.

In order to effectuate the predefined goal of selling 100% zero emission new cars and vans, the government has instituted a group of ministers and industry leaders that will remain responsible for working towards fulfilling the target by 2040. Bolstering the initiative, six major automakers including General Motors, Mercedes, Ford, BYD, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover, 13 investors, 28 fleets and 34 countries have collectively pledged for all new car and van sales to be zero emission by 2035 in the leading markets and by 2040 on a global level.

Countries including New Zealand and El Salvador and corporations such as Sainsbury’s are among the group that have committed to integrate 100% zero emission vehicles following the proposals made by the European Union, a number of states under the control of the US, Canada and Chile. All these have committed to ensure that all the new cars and vans are emission free by 2035.

A number of emerging markets and developing economies including India, Turkey, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and Paraguay have pledged to expedite the adoption and country-wide usage of zero emission vehicles, the move that can help achieve the global target of carbon emissions.

Alongside this, a new design for electric vehicle chargepoints is underway with the UK government set to unveil it as Britain charges up the green energy revolution by scaling up the power generation through renewable resources of energy and extensively working out to augment the potential of present EVs.

The new design concept for the EV chargepoints can certainly help in raising the awareness, generating the excitement around the EVs, increasing the adoption of EVs amidst the middle-income earners as a large section of people look forward to changing the primary vehicle with some of them exploring options to buy their first vehicle.

Not only this, the concept for EV chargepoints will provide a greater choice for local governments and industries as the primary objective is to ensure that everyone benefits from the transition to zero emission transport.

As countries and corporations build one of the most reliable, affordable and convenient charging networks for EVs in the world, the major area of focus will remain on diminishing the pain points in buying and owning an EV over the traditional vehicles fuelled by petrol and diesel.

At the moment, the zero emission vehicles are already affordable to run in the UK as compared to the petrol and diesel variants of similar configuration. In the upcoming years, with the scheduled technological advancements in the rechargeable battery segment, and other significant parts, the zero emission vehicles will become cheaper to buy.

As many as 30 countries have agreed to work collectively to make zero emission vehicles a new normal by making them sustainable, accessible and affordable in all regions by the end of 2030 or earlier.

The Zero Emission Vehicle Transition Council (ZEVTC) is set to unveil its first annual action plan, while it discusses how international collaboration can strengthen global transition towards green technologies with the experts and representatives on transition in emerging markets and developing economies.

The first annual action plan by the ZEVTC will set out the areas for sustained international cooperation that will help in expediting the transition during 2022. With the cumulative support of various countries and companies responsible for developing advanced mechanisms in the green technology space, the United Kingdom is set to become the first country in the world to phase out new, non-zero emission HGVs weighing more than 26 tonnes by the end of 2035.

Making sure that each and every commercial vehicle, including the HGVs sold in Britain are zero emission by 2040, materially places the country ahead of many tech-intensive nations which are yet to roll-out EVs on a large scale. Decarbonising the overall carbon footprint certainly requires a number of actionable and measurable steps that can develop a sense of responsibility among the citizens, as consumer preference remains one of the most important factors in bringing such a transformational change.

Over the years, the number of people adopting EVs have grown significantly with the purchases of hybrid electric vehicles gaining pace in emerging markets as battery electric vehicles are quite expensive to purchase and run as compared to the vehicles of similar configuration running on petrol and diesel engines.

According to a research conducted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the proportional sale of zero emission vehicles is set to escalate to 70% of the new car sales by the year 2040.

Education, News, Sustainability

ESSEC Business School launches new MSc in Sustainability Transformation

ESSEC Business School will launch a new MSc in Sustainability Transformation in 2022.

The MSc is designed to equip future managers with the knowledge, know-how and network they need to have a sustainable impact on their companies and organizations. This will aid them in becoming agents of change in an increasingly volatile world and to seize new opportunities from sustainability development. It combines knowledge in management and a keen understanding of current social and environmental issues.

Students will be able to specialize in one of six topics, including Circular Economy, Inclusiveness & Diversity, Food Transition, Sustainable Finance and Climate & Biodiversity.

The programme is built on close ties with the world of business, public stakeholders and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) through tailored case studies, learning expeditions, as well as an internship or thesis.

Taught in English, this programme will offer its graduates an array of opportunities, paving the way to a growing range of careers in the field of social or environmental transition in a variety of sectors.

Alexis de La Tour du Pin, Executive Director of the MSc in Sustainability Transformation says “we need to help a new generation of talents emerge: young people graduating from our School with a systemic understanding of these critical issues, boundless creativity for imagining new solutions, and the ability to embody this transformation within organisations. That is precisely the challenge we aim to address with this new program: to train a generation of sustainability transformers.”

The programme will admit it’s first intake of students at the end of August 2022.

 

News

Managing stormwater sustainably in urban spaces with Wavin’s new AquaGrid 40

Wavin, the leading global manufacturer of stormwater solutions, has launched its innovative new pervious paving system, AquaGrid 40. The product offers a sustainable water management solution for car parks, landscaped areas and driveways.

An extension to Wavin’s Stormwater Range, AquaGrid 40 comprises modular square grids made from recycled plastic that interlink with integrated locking lugs. These sections can be filled with grass or gravel to provide an effective solution which improves the management of captured rain and stormwater. This means that by making use of AquaGrid 40, developers can contribute directly to water conservation on their projects, while easing pressure on local mains drainage.

The permeable surface that AquaGrid 40 creates is strong, sturdy and also operates as a sustainable drainage system. This makes it much more convenient and safer than other materials like loose gravel, as it means pedestrians, vehicles and even emergency services can travel at normal speeds across it.

The product’s ability to fit in with the surrounding environment makes it a great choice for developers looking to incorporate more subtle rainwater management products into their projects. It also contributes to wider Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), supporting the aims of Part H of the Building Regulations.

Lightweight and easy to install, AquaGrid 40 is also ultra-reliable, with impressive strength, loading and durability credentials. The sections can be used to direct rainfall either into the underlying ground or into an underground attenuation structure.

Chris Mellor-Dolman, Marketing Communications Manager at Wavin said: “Climate change has brought more frequent bouts of heavy rainfall and flash flooding to the UK, and our drainage infrastructure needs to adapt and improve. AquaGrid 40 is a vital addition to our Stormwater range, reducing the chances of local drainage infrastructures becoming overwhelmed and property damage occurring. We’ve been able to deliver a sustainable product that effectively captures, controls, conveys and conserves water (when used with an attenuation system) in paved areas.

“At the same time, its ability to blend in means that AquaGrid 40 is able to play its crucial role without being overly prominent to residents or passers-by.”

To find out more about AquaGrid 40, and the complete Wavin Stormwater management range, please visit: https://www.wavin.com/en-gb/catalog/rainwater-stormwater/surface-drainage/aquagrid-permeable-paving