In today’s edition:

💰 Climate finance for vulnerable nations

🥩 3D-printed meat boost

🛴 Promoting green mobility

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💼 Big Business (1-minute read)

Climate finance for vulnerable nations gets a boost

• The International Monetary Fund announced the start of a new $20bn financing mechanism called the Resilience and Sustainability Trust, to support low-income and vulnerable countries build economic resilience and ensure green economic growth.

• US officials are working to broker multibillion-dollar plans to steer some of the world’s most populous countries to cleaner forms of energy to drive green energy and climate progress and buttress multilateral efforts.

Importance: According to the IEA, annual clean energy investment alone in developing countries needs to increase more than 7 times, from less than $150 billion in 2020 to $1 trillion by 2030 - Investments like this de-risk green growth projects and catalyse further public and private funding.

Nature loss reaching catastrophic level

A major new report conducted by the WWF states there has been an acceleration of nature degradation and destruction; the average population size decline for wildlife globally is at 69% since 1970. In 2010, nations agreed to 20 biodiversity targets under the Aichi framework - none of which have been delivered within the 10-year timeframe. The report calls on all governments to agree on an ambitious, science-based framework when they meet later this year, which will act as a Paris-Agreement-style deal for nature and halt steep falls in animal populations.

Tesco is linking executive bonuses to slashing food waste

The UK grocer’s new target to halve its food waste by 2025 puts it five years ahead of a deadline originally set by the United Nations as part of its Sustainable Development Goals. The UK’s largest supermarket is also the first to say that its executive directors must now meet these new food targets or miss out on performance-related bonuses. Some 25% of the Performance Share Plan awards will depend on Tesco’s progress across key sustainability measures, including food waste reduction, carbon reduction and gender and ethnicity representation.

🤖 Future of Tech (1-minute read)

US green steel innovator Electra scores $85m backing

Challenges:

• Strained supply: Commercial iron ores with iron content of 62% or higher are projected to be in short supply by the early 2030s. Current commercial iron processes using hydrogen or natural gas steelmaking require 67%

• Emissions: The conversion of iron ore into iron for steel-making accounts for 9% of global emissions due to the high temperatures required (1,600 Celsius) created using coal

Electra’s solution: Of electrochemical refining can use lower-grade ores as low as 35%. The process also can occur at temperatures of 60 degrees Celsius using clean electricity from renewable energy sources. The process also carries zero green premium, meaning it will cost the same or less than existing production methods

What’s next: Electra will complete the build-out of a green-iron refining pilot plant in 2023 and plans to have a commercial-scale demonstration plant qualified by the second half of this decade

A new deal got 3D-printed meat in Europe

Redefine Meat (who 3D print cuts of meat from ingredients such as soy, pea proteins, chickpeas and beetroot) has struck a deal with European meat importer, Giraudi Meat, to drive European distribution. Redefine Meat will launch its products in France, Italy, Greece and Sweden this year. If the deal with Giraudi succeeds and Redefine Meat continues to scale, their products will become ever more cost-competitive = offering consumers an affordable substitute for meat.

A meat takeover: This partnership is one of many investments by big meat companies in the plant-based meat market. With the meat substitute market predicted to grow rapidly (from $4.2bn in sales in 2020 to $28bn in 2025) and pressure growing from climate experts on the need to reduce meat consumption - big meat companies are looking to expand their revenue streams.

💡 Deep Dive (1-minute read)

Cities can promote newer, greener mobility services - here's how:

The situ: New mobility services - from bike and e-scooter rentals to car-sharing and smart parking systems - are growing rapidly, resulting in less congestion, pollution and dependence on fossil-fuel vehicles in urban areas. Global annual revenue of the 13 most popular new mobility services is expected to hit $660bn in 2030, from $260bn in 2020.

A challenge: The long-term adoption of green solutions is coming under pressure as they face competition from old mobility options with greater capacities - as the volume of passengers grows as companies speed up efforts to get workers back to the office.

A World Economic Forum report highlights 3 ways cities can keep encouraging new mobility options over the long term:

1. Double-down on Micro-Mobility: These services include renting e-scooters and bikes for single trips. Data shows that the average journey in the US is 5 miles or less - distances that can be easily covered by an e-scooter/bike. Boosting synergy between Micro Mobility and mass transit is a potential solution.

• Example: As part of its Mobility Strategy, Munich plans to install up to 200 mobility hubs where travellers can find e-bikes/cars/scooters next to their subway stations.

2. Efficient car use: The typical privately owned car is parked 95% of the time. Better use of parking spaces through smart parking systems can reduce traffic caused by cars searching for somewhere to park.

• Example: New parking technology is being developed, based on satellites and sensors, that identifies free parking spaces and autonomously sends this info to the driver.

3. Better long-term plans: Measures to promote new modes of sustainable transport must be central to wider plans for cities. It’s a tricky political balance, so it's key that these policies are framed in positive terms.

• Example: Amsterdam is removing 1k parking spaces by 2025 and introducing other strategies, such as getting people to exchange cars for a shared-mobility budget.

Our take: Governments face a delicate balance between rolling out new transport services while preserving the existing critical mass-transit network. There are only so many resources available to support transport systems. So making the right decisions for effective investment will be key if green mobility services succeed.

💭 Little Bytes

Quote:  “Every day, the world over, we hear routine phrases like ‘unprecedented’, ‘worst ever’ or ‘first time in history’ that do little to convey the staggering impact the globe’s rising temperature has on the planet and its people.” CDP’s interim global director for cities, states and regions, Maia Kutner

Stat: Wildlife populations have dropped 69% since 1970 - WWF 

Watch: A Colombian town is cleaning up contaminated swamps with microalgae

🗞 In other news…

• Private sector ‘faces $100bn risk from plastic pollution this decade’ according to a new report

• Cost of living crisis holding back green consumers from going green, surveys show

• Bolsonaro election loss could cut Brazilian Amazon deforestation by 89%

• Analysis shows that the adoption of zero emissions electric-powered commercial vehicles is accelerating in China

Written by Colin and Ollie - Drop us a message!