In today’s edition:

⚡️ EU pens deal for critical raw materials

🚜 More lab-grown meat in the US

🌳 Historic high-seas treaty

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⚡️ Energy (1-minute read)

EU signs Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on critical raw materials with Argentina

What happened? The past few months have seen a flurry of trade deals focussed on critical minerals (EU&USA, EU&Chile, USA&Aus … to name just a few). This week the EU penned another deal with Argentina to develop a ‘secure and sustainable supply chain’ for minerals critical to net-zero ambitions.

Why? In 2032, Europe will make up 25% of lithium demand, but on the supply side, it will contribute only 4% globally, according to Fastmarkets. Argentina is a producer of copper and holds the world's second-largest lithium reserves. Because global lithium supply is concentrated in a few nations, and demand is expected to outstrip supply significantly, companies in the US, China, Japan and South Korea are using supply agreements to secure future supply with lithium producers.

Other sources: We spoke last week about the EU releasing the world’s most stringent standards for sustainable batteries. The Memorandum specifically calls out cooperation on research and innovation along the raw materials value chains - with potential sanctions for bad actors.

🚜 AgriTech (1-minute read)

More lab-grown meat news with US approval for the sale of cultivated meat

The US became the second country in the world to authorise the production and sale of lab-grown meat. This decision could be a pivotal moment in the food industry as concerns grow about the environmental impact of meat production.

Benefits: Producing meat from livestock is inefficient. Chickens (the most efficient form of livestock) consume 9-10 calories for every calorie of edible protein they produce, and ensuring they get enough calories (through grain feed) is a primary driver of deforestation and biodiversity loss. While cultivated meat could achieve a ratio of 3-4 calories in for every edible calorie out, representing a significant efficiency (and environmental) boost.

Formidable future: Lab-grown meat's challenge is scaling production to achieve cost-competitiveness. Although approval in the US presents a massive opportunity, success is not a given — with a study stating the cost of cultivation facilities and resources will always be too high for the economics of cultured meat to make sense.

🌳 Nature (1-minute read)

UN adopts first ‘historic’ treaty to protect high seas

What’s happened: The United Nations has adopted the first-ever international treaty to govern the high seas after 15+ years of discussions. The pact will extend environmental protections to international waters, which cover more than 60% of the earth’s surface.

Details:

• MPA’s: Almost all protected marine areas (MPAs) are within national territorial waters. The treaty, however, allows for these reserves to be created in the open ocean - if voted into existence by 2/3rds of the government's part of the Conference of Parties (COP)

• Sharing the Bounty: On the high seas, countries often collect valuable animal, plant, or microbial matter, e.g. cures for diseases in microbes scooped up in sediment. Benefit-sharing of resources (money and research) with poorer nations has often been poor. The treaty formalises the transfer of research and data to developing nations.

• Environmental Assessments: The treaty requires signatories to assess the environmental impacts of planned activities in the high seas or within their national waters, which may have knock-on effects before being authorised. This could include Fishing, Transport, and Deep Sea Mining. There was some disappointment that COP would not have more control here to make controversial approvals more difficult.

Challenges: The text does not say how conservation measures will be monitored and enforced over remote swathes of the ocean — a task that will fall to the COP… but expect remote monitoring start-ups such as OceanAccess to get a boost from the news.

💭 Little Bytes

Quote: “With global extinction rates higher than they have ever been, and ambitious global targets to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, the stakes have never been higher.” The UK-French Advisory Panel’s co-chair, Dame Amelia Fawcett

Stat: Indonesia, home to a third of the world's rainforests, has seen its annual deforestation drop by 8.4%.

Watch: Mini solar plants lighting up Rural Madagascar

🗞 In other news…

• The World Bank said it had approved on Friday a $700 million operation for Mexico to promote public policies to create economic opportunities and expand social security for women.

• The World Bank said it would insert new clauses in any agreements with developing countries, allowing them to suspend debt payments during extreme weather events, starting with some of the poorest and most vulnerable nations. The UK said it would apply similar arrangements to its loans to 12 African and Caribbean countries.

• Mitsubishi Corp (TYO:8058) and Dutch energy company Eneco has set up a joint venture to develop green hydrogen and renewable energy projects in Europe.

• The UK and France have launched a biodiversity credits roadmap to support companies’ contribution to natural recovery. Biodiversity credits allow individuals and companies to invest in environmental projects contributing to richer biodiversity or restoring nature.

• Senegal struck a deal with wealthier countries last week, securing an initial $2.74bn in finance to develop renewable energy and speed their transition to a low-carbon economy.

• Due to high fuel costs and a labour squeeze, some clean energy companies are turning to flocks of sheep to keep their solar panels out of the shade, with solar grazing providing financial benefits to the renewable energy industry and the mutton sector, more solar sites are expected to swap lawnmowers for lambs.

• Nestle is piloting a scheme to give cash to coffee farmers who grow beans sustainably as a part of its place to have greenhouse gas emissions in its coffee by 2030.

🎣 Gone Phishing

Three of these stories are true, one we've made up. Guess which:

• Russia accused of training dolphins in Ukraine

• Las Vegas names streets after Disney characters

• “Fastest Pig Alive” terrorises a town in the US

• US Navy sea lions love playing video games

🌞 Climate meme of the week

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