Attijariwafa Bank launches initiative to limit single-use plastic bag consumption 

Research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has found that for highly glazed buildings, like the shimmering skyscrapers of big cities, photovoltaic (PV) windows make a sizable difference in the building’s carbon footprint, reducing energy use and CO2 emissions by as much as 40%.  The study, published in the journal One Earth, outlines how PV windows can be an important component for designing highly glazed buildings that reach net-zero targets. According to the study, about one-third of global energy consumption comes from buildings, showing the need to reduce energy demand and related emissions. But despite the known downsides of highly glazed buildings, like poor energy performance and thermal efficiency, they are still a popular choice in the industry.

Several beauty and personal care majors have joined 100+ businesses in signing a statement from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation calling for recycling costs and responsibilities to be extended to industry. The public statement​​ said that without Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) – where supply chain members were mandated to take on certain costs and joint responsibility – packaging collection and recycling was “unlikely to be meaningfully scaled” ​in the future. Among the 100+ signatories, including a raft of food and beverage players like Coca-Cola and Nestlé, non-profit WWF and the European Investment Bank, several leading beauty players had aligned their support, including Beiersdorf, Henkel, L’Oréal, Schwarz Group and Unilever, among others. “For a circular economy, packaging that can’t be eliminated or reused must be collected, sorted and recycled or composted after use. But currently, the economics do not stack up: collection, sorting and recycling or processing packaging costs more than the revenues made from selling the recycled materials. We need dedicated, ongoing and sufficient funding to make the economics of recycling work,”​ the Ellen MacArthur Foundation said.

A global energy consumption reduction is essential to address the many dimensions of the current ecological crisis. In this paper we have compiled the reasons that justify the necessity to start this energy descent process in the countries of the global North, where the annual per capita final energy consumption was 118 GJ in 2017. Based on recent research, we approach the necessary redistribution of energy consumption at the global level and the elements that should be present in energy descent strategies. We establish an approximate threshold of minimum and maximum per capita final energy consumption, between 15.6 GJ and 31.0 GJ for the year 2050, which serves as a reference for evaluating scenarios. We continue with an analysis of two ecological transition scenarios for Spain between 2020 and 2030, Green New Deal and Degrowth. Based on a schematic calculation model defined in “Labor Scenarios in the Ecosocial Transition 2020–2030” report, we evaluate the variations in energy consumption for 86 sectors of economic activity. Results show an annual final energy consumption per capita in 2030 of 44.6 GJ and 36.8 GJ for each scenario. We conclude by analyzing the hypothetical main drivers of this sharp decline in energy consumption.

The federal government is putting nearly $5 million in Guelph’s pocket to support its circular economy-focused companies — where businesses maximize resources by reusing or repurposing materials as well as eliminate waste and greenhouse gas emissions in all stages of production.
On Friday, MP Lloyd Longfield announced the non-repayable FedDev Ontario investment which will be used to develop Canada’s first circular economy test platform and accelerator, the Circular Opportunity Innovation Launchpad (COIL). The funding supports Guelph’s goal of being a leader in sustainable development and the Government of Canada’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.