The need for reliable renewable energy is growing fast, as countries around the world—including Switzerland—step up their efforts to fight climate change, find alternatives to fossil fuels and reach the energy-transition targets set by their governments. But renewable energy can’t be incorporated into power grids efficiently until there is a way to store it on a large scale. “Most forms of renewable energy are dependent on weather conditions, which results in large fluctuations in the power they supply,” says Danick Reynard, a Ph.D. student at EPFL’s Laboratory of Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry (LEPA). “But power grids aren’t designed to manage these kinds of fluctuations.” Hydrogen, because it can supply energy consistently regardless of the weather, is now attracting growing attention.

Using a novel modelling approach, new research published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution reveals the location and intensity of key threats to biodiversity on land and identifies priority areas across the world to help inform conservation decision making at national and local levels. A team of leading researchers have produced global maps for the six main threats affecting terrestrial amphibians, birds and mammals: agriculture, hunting and trapping, logging, pollution, invasive species, and climate change. Results show that agriculture and logging are pervasive in the tropics and that hunting and trapping is the most geographically widespread threat to mammals and birds. There are sizeable continental areas in which there is more than a 50% chance that any particular amphibian, mammal or bird species is threatened by logging, hunting and trapping, agriculture, invasive species or climate change.

European football fans want to get involved in making sure their sport is ecologically sustainable but lack a proper framework, the European football fan association SD Europe said in its sustainability report. Meanwhile, Germany seems to be ahead of the pack when it comes to tackling football’s ecological footprint. The SD Europe report, seen by EURACTIV, was developed together with the association’s national members. SD Europe also works with the EU and UEFA to make football more sustainable. “It’s clear many organised supporters are aware of the peril we all face from the climate crisis and are prepared to help,” said the chief executive of SD Europe, Antonia Hagemann.

Trinity College Dublin has announced the launch of its STEAM+ICE (science, technology, engineering, art, maths, innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship) Incubator for young people. The project is a collaboration between the Trinity Walton Club, a STEM club for secondary school students, and Tangent, the college’s start-up workspace. The incubator is free, open to all secondary students in Ireland, and accepting applications from today (30 August). STEAM+ICE usually operates as a week long in-person programme at Trinity, but will be online this year. Participants will take part in three weeks of workshops and challenges, culminating in a final event in mid-October where they can pitch their ideas to a panel of judges.

Queen Elizabeth II will attend the United Nations climate change conference in Scotland in November, organizers said on Friday. British official Alok Sharma, president of the COP26 conference, said he is “absolutely delighted” the queen will be at the event, which is due to be held in Glasgow on November 1-12. Details of the monarch’s schedule have not been released. World leaders, climate campaigners and activists from around the world are due to attend the UN conference, which was postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Registration for the NHSScotland Sustainability Conference 2021 is open. This year’s conference has been scheduled to take place on 10 November 2021 to coincide with the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which will bring parties together in Glasgow to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Innovation Cafés will feature sustainability and climate change initiatives in policy and practice across NHSScotland including public health, primary care, clinical, property and estates and facilities. Confirmed speakers include Dr Gregor Smith, Chief Medical Officer for Scotland; Chris Stark, CEO at Committee on Climate Change; Jonathon Porritt, Sustainability Campaigner and Writer; Sonia Roschnik, International Climate Policy Director Healthcare Without Harm; and, Dame Jackie Daniel, Chief Executive Officer The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Conference is free to attend and open to all, though priority will be given to NHS staff.

Five million scrap tyres pass through the hands of Gary, Corey, Alec and Chase Champlin each year. Based in Concordia, a small town west of Kansas City, Champlin Tire Recycling services six US states. It also manufactures park benches and picnic tables. Managing director Gary Champlin has been in the recycling business since 1992. ‘We continue to grow and expand our end market product lines. We have been very resilient as we all are in this industry long term,’ he says. Recycling is a people’s business. Or, as many in the industry often say, it is a business of relationships and recyclers could not see themselves working in any other sphere. Gary: ‘I feel exactly the same way about our family’s recycling business. The sense of accomplishment is shared by the entire family and not just as an individual performing at work. The success of a family business will be enjoyed beyond the business itself.’

China’s State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) said on Monday it would further regulate the sharing economy sector. SAMR said on its website that price hikes in the system built around the sharing of resources were effectively contained due to its oversight. The regulator also said it is investigating food delivery giant Meituan’s acquisition of bike sharing company Mobike in 2018. Separately, Meituan on Monday warned in a filing that it may be required to pay “a significant amount” of antitrust fines and posted a third consecutive quarterly loss as it continued to invest in expanding its various businesses.

The high freight costs due to global shipping problems coupled by the lower supply from exporting countries may derail the country’s 60,000-metric ton (MT) small pelagic fish importation, industry players said. Industry players warned that the approved import volume may not be maximized since prevailing landed cost for small pelagic fish like galunggong is now ranging from P90 per kilogram to P100 per kilogram, higher than the government’s required wholesale price of P88 per kilogram.

With more and more companies making the shift towards becoming more environmentally conscious, “sustainability” has become a buzzword that they use to promote these ideals. Though it is all over the place, sadly some parts of the population are still unaware of what being sustainable truly means. As such, this means they are unable to take concrete steps towards it themselves or make decisions that would benefit the environment.
Read the full article at: businessmirror.com.ph

Dealz has today confirmed it has an Irish investment fund of €20 million earmarked for store expansion in the Republic of Ireland over the next three years. The group said it is actively exploring opportunities across Ireland, particularly within smaller, regional areas including Galway, Donegal, Mayo, Tipperary, Wicklow, Leitrim, Meath, Kildare, Kerry, Clare, Louth, Sligo, Limerick and Waterford, as well as suburbs of Dublin. Opening stores over the next three years in those locations could create 500-750 new roles. From opening its first store in 2011, Dealz has built a network of 78 stores across Ireland offering customers a wide selection of over 1,000 well-known top brands and established own label products.

From firestorms and fatal heat waves to flooding and droughts, climate events are accelerating. Each one is forcing more focused attention on finding strategic solutions to a global concern—and quickly. Businesses are stepping up to meet this daunting challenge. By closely examining their environmental footprints, setting ambitious carbon-emission reduction targets and better empowering stakeholders through transparent communication, many for-profit organizations are embracing sustainability as a core philosophy. The result is more widespread ambition than ever before to make real and meaningful shifts to how—and why—they do business. Experts say there is no time to lose.

The linear way of producing and consuming products is ruining fragile ecosystems and causing the loss of valuable natural resources. The circular economy brings more sustainable solutions where products are in use longer and materials are reused to manufacture new products. To keep products and their materials in a closed loop and enable a circular economy, we need to understand what materials that are included in the product. Traceability of products and materials is complex, and to succeed in implementing product passports stakeholders need to come together to find a pathway forward. GS1, TCO Development and ECESP invite you to the #EUCircularTalks on green digital passport. Using the case of a smartphone, our speakers will explain the basics for traceability of materials in products as well as the material flow and information loops that are connected to it.

Four days, 1,550 nautical miles, 500 workers and the world’s largest cruise ship – Royal Caribbean’s new ship Wonder of the Seas is one step closer to completion. Here’s an exclusive look at the fifth ship in the cruise line’s iconic Oasis Class successfully carrying out its first set of sea trials to ensure it’s in ship shape. A key milestone in the construction process for new ships, the trials entail pushing the ship to its limits during a series of performance tests across the propulsion, navigation, engine performance systems and much more. Debuting in March 2022, Wonder is set to build on the signature features and experiences the game-changing class of ships have touted since first revolutionizing the cruise industry more than a decade ago.

Small businesses in both Houston’s Second Ward and Third Ward will be the focus of a community-engaged research project underwritten by a grant just awarded to Rice University. The success of businesses in those two historic Houston neighborhoods during the last two decades will be studied under a $300,000 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Community-Engaged Research grant awarded to the McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. After World War II, Third Ward blossomed into a predominantly African American community while Second Ward developed into a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. Over the last two decades, both wards have undergone economic revitalization and demographic transformation.

The Aluminium Association of India (AAI) on Monday sought intervention of state-owned CIL to normalise the precarious situation arisen due to stoppage of coal supplies and rakes for captive power plants, resulting in situation of crunch of dry-fuel for the aluminium sector. This ”ad hoc decision” without any advance notice has brought down the industry to a standstill and the industry has been left out with no time to devise any mitigation plan to continue sustainable operations, the AAI said in a letter to Coal India (CIL) Chairman and Managing Director. ”This has reference to the crisis situation developed for the entire aluminium sector due to the recent ad hoc decision for stopping/drastically curtailing the coal supplies and rakes for captive power plants (CPPs) resulting in coal crunch situation for aluminium sector,” the letter said.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is developing an innovative model to tackle electronic waste (e-waste) by linking stakeholders in the formal and informal economy. Called e-Source, it will be an exchange platform that will serve as an online marketplace for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and facilitate a formal supply chain between various stakeholders (buyers and sellers). This initiative is being spearheaded by Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS). The IGCS team believes that the problem of e-waste could be resolved by connecting different buyers and sellers of used and waste electronic equipment and components without compromising their interests. The e-Source initiative aims to make WEEE as a key resource in the evolution of a circular economy by establishing traceability and recovery of post-consumer e-waste in the market.

The IT & electronics industry is the world’s largest and fastest-growing industry. Being increasingly inclined towards technology has resulted in the generation of large quantities of electronic waste (e-waste), and there is a crucial need for an effective management solution for handling this kind of waste. Every day, new and better electronic devices are launched and released, thus leaving the old devices outdated, outmoded, and obsolete. In search of getting the most updated versions of devices, individuals dispose of the old equipment with no hesitation. If the problem of ocean plastic pollution finally grabbed the world’s attention in 2018, the ebb and flow of public opinion could and should turn to the heightening issue of electronic waste — which is becoming a global crisis.

The UK Government has planned to launch a public consultation on the proposed ban on a range of single-use plastic items this autumn. The proposal is part of the government’s broader commitment to stop plastic waste by the end of 2042. The ban could be applicable on the supply of single-use plastic plates and cutlery, and polystyrene cups in England. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has estimated that each person in England uses 18 single-use plastic plates and 37 single-use plastic items of cutlery annually. In addition to the ban, the government will impose a plastic packaging tax from April 2022.

The UK has made a legal commitment to reach net zero for greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050. Some notable progress has been made, most obviously with power generation, but a greater push is needed soon in other spheres, such as home heating and transport. Indeed, pressure for more action is building ahead of this November’s UN climate change conference – or COP26 summit – which the UK Government will be hosting. If net zero policies are to achieve their goals, they must work effectively in rural, as well as urban, locations. All too often Government policies are designed around urban living, without proper thought given to the one in six of us living in rural settlements. Yet policy makers cannot take for granted that what works in an urban centre will also work in a rural location.