Single-use plastics are being incinerated instead of recycled in the USA

Overnight, Shopify, Stripe, Alphabet (Google), Meta (Facebook) and McKinsey launched Frontier, an Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to accelerate the development of carbon removal technologies.  The founding companies are committing an initial $925M USD (~$1.25B AUD) to purchase permanent carbon removal from companies building promising new solutions over the next nine years, starting in 2022.  This is a global initiative and covers APAC. Essentially, the investment will go towards buying carbon removal solutions from companies developing emerging technology and scaled solutions to address climate change around the world.

Fast fashion has a sustainability problem, and a TCNJ professor is heading to Finland to find out if intellectual property laws, of all things, have anything to do with it. This spring, Susanna Monseau, a professor of interdisciplinary business, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study the effects of trademark laws on sustainable fashion with researchers at Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland. By speaking with fledgling companies about their experiences developing new sustainable technologies, she will investigate whether trademarks and intellectual property laws stifle innovation. “The whole purpose of intellectual property is to promote creativity,” says Monseau, who will travel to Finland in August. “But it doesn’t necessarily work like that.” The global apparel industry is a huge polluter, accounting for about 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, a problem that is expected to worsen in the coming year as demand for cheap garments and accessories grows by 60% by 2030.

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.