Headlines like “Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest certifier are worthless, analysis shows” tell of the big problems faced by Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM). VCMs are markets for buying, selling, and investing in carbon credits tied to avoided, reduced, or removed greenhouse gas emissions. But they are struggling to define, measure, verify, and value carbon credits in an efficient, transparent, and standardised … [Read more...]
Circular Battery Economy: what policies and processes can accelerate recycling and reuse?
As battery production scales up so do the risks of the long global supply chain failing, or causing more emissions, damaging the environment, and breaching human rights. A circular battery economy should greatly reduce those risks. Yet the U.S. has no federal recycling mandates or requirements for lithium-ion batteries, and state policies are inconsistent. Marie McNamara at RMI maps out the five critical issues that must be dealt with. Before … [Read more...]
Steel, Aluminium: 20% of emissions reductions target must come from Recycling. How?
Recycling is needed to achieve 20% of the emissions reductions targets for the steel and aluminium sectors. It’s an integral part of the 1.5°C climate-aligned decarbonisation pathways in many metal sectors, explain Sravan Chalasani, Wenjuan Liu and Lachlan Wright at RMI. For aluminium products, the share that comes from post-consumer scrap needs to increase from 21% in 2020 to 46% by 2050. Recycling is already a reality, but reporting and … [Read more...]
COP 27: an analysis of what gets prioritised and ignored at UN climate negotiations
Getting an issue on the agenda of a COP is essential for its chances of being dealt with properly. Jennifer Allan at Cardiff University and Rishikesh Ram Bhandary at Boston University, writing for Carbon Brief, have analysed 218 agendas, tracking 502 agenda sub-items, going back to the first COP in Berlin in 1995. Certain agendas stand out – Adaptation, Mitigation, Finance, Transparency, Technology, Capacity Building, Response Measures, … [Read more...]
46% of Buildings “Embodied Carbon” can be slashed at little to no cost
Buildings and their construction account for around 40% of all carbon emissions today. Half those emissions come from the construction alone, so buildings successfully powered by clean energy won’t come close to fixing the whole problem. John Matson and Rebecca Esau at RMI describe how industry leaders are creating the tools to measure and gather data on the “embodied carbon” in building materials (concrete, rebar, glazing, insulation, other … [Read more...]
Green Finance standards: the EU Taxonomy and China’s “Catalogue”
The EU Taxonomy was published in June 2020. It is the first official document to define and classify what is a truly sustainable economic activity in Europe. Six months later China’s regulators published their own version, a new edition of the China Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue (the Catalogue). Both documents will act as important standards for green finance institutions and investors in Europe and China. They are intended to improve … [Read more...]
