🌱 Roll up, Roll up

Happy Tuesday. Jaguar conservation credits are a roaring success in the Ecuadorian rainforest, blending biodiversity preservation with community empowerment.

In today’s edition:
⚡️ SEC climate disclosure rules challenged in court within 1-week
🚜 Investors ask Nestlé to change stance on unhealthy food
🌳 Two-thirds of biodiversity credits sold from a jaguar conservation pilot

🔋 Energy (1-Min Read)
 US appeals court temporarily pauses SEC climate disclosure rules

Last week: We spoke about new rules issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requiring larger companies to report their emissions and climate-related risks to their businesses. We also highlighted the potential challenges that rules might face in the courts. Well … it took less than a week.

What happened: The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from Liberty Energy Inc. and Nomad Proppant Services LLC to put the rules on hold while considering the oilfield companies' lawsuit challenging them. At least 25 Republican-led states, including West Virginia, Texas and Ohio and major business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have also challenged the rules in court.

Reasoning: The companies said in court filings that the rules would collectively force companies to spend over $4 billion in compliance costs and could open companies up to increased litigation. They argued the rules go beyond the SEC's authority under U.S. securities law. 

Why it matters: Uncertainty around the fate of the SEC’s climate rule, particularly given the presidential election in the U.S., combined with extended compliance deadlines, could cause some companies to take a wait-and-see approach to the ruling. (Full story here).

 🚜 AgriTech (1-Min Read)
Shaking up the snack scene

What happened: A group of Nestlé shareholders filed a resolution before an upcoming annual meeting demanding that the world’s biggest food company reduce its reliance on unhealthy products and improve its health targets.

Details: Institutional investors with $1.68tn in assets under management are asking Nestlé to set an internationally recognised target to reduce the proportion of sales it makes from unhealthy goods due to regulatory and reputational risks, alongside growing public health concerns. 

Healthy snacks: Last year, Nestlé announced a new health target, pledging to increase sales of “more nutritious” products by 50% by 2030. However, this new target included products with no nutritional value, meaning Nestlé could reach it without supplying healthier products. 

Shareholder activism: We’ve spoken before about shareholder activism in the fossil fuel industry. But there's a rising tide of investors calling on the food industry to improve the health of their portfolios, sighting links between bad diets, chronic health conditions, healthcare costs, and negative asset performance. (Full story here).

🐘 Nature (1-Min Read)
 Roll up, Roll up get your Jaguar protection credits

What happened: Environmental trading platform Regen Network has sold two-thirds of the biodiversity credits available from a jaguar conservation pilot over a 10,000-hectare area in the Ecuadorian jungle.

Details: The Regen Network Registry sells the units for $0.88 each, with a projected issuance of 75,300 credits for the 2024 project activities. The funds raised will support Indigenous Peoples from the local Sharamentsa community in conserving jaguar populations. The locals will be trained to support conservation using technologies such as drones, GPS, and camera traps. The funds will also support broader community development.

Why it matters: Jaguars are an endangered and an “umbrella species”. The protection of umbrella species indirectly encompasses the preservation of other species in their habitats. According to recent studies, this could lead to more efficient and cost-saving conservation programmes. A lovely model that integrates ecological conservation with economic development. (Full story here).

💭 Little Bytes (1-Min Read)

💬 Quote: “It’s finance, finance, finance. Every COP from now on is a finance COP… We’ve really focused on[nationally defined contributions] and NDCs are nice, but you can’t invest in an NDC.” Nigel Topping, the former UN COP26 high-level champion who represented the UK at the Glasgow summit.

📊 Stat: Oceans marked 365 straight days of record-breaking global sea surface temperatures this week, reaching a peak of 21.2C for the past 12 months.

📺️ Watch: The tech tool saving mothers’ lives in Tanzania

🛗 Snippets for your lift conversations (1-Min Read)

• A report has found that billion-dollar financing is driving unsustainable increases in global meat and dairy production. Global meat production rose 9% between 2015 and 2021, while dairy production increased 13%.

• The European Union's environment policy chief will tour South America this week in an attempt to alleviate fierce regional criticism of a landmark EU law banning imports of goods linked to forest destruction.

• World Bank lender to poorest nations seeks record funding haul as debt and climate-change-related crises increase need for International Development Association’s assistance.

• An Argentine court in the northwestern province of Catamarca has suspended the issuance of new mining permits, demanding fresh environmental impact studies be carried out looking at local lithium projects.

• The U.S. Department of Energy is granting $750 million to projects across 24 states that are building capacity to produce and use clean hydrogen.

• Cocoa prices have skyrocketed to record highs amid disruptive weather amplified by climate change and rising freight costs. The benchmark cocoa contract has jumped 215 per cent from last year when prices were just $2,578.

 🎣 Gone Phishing (1-Minute Read)

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

• Hairless raccoon puzzles wildlife rescuers

• Toyota engineers develop vehicle inspired by 'Pokemon' character

• Bee invasion disrupts pro tennis tournament 

• Glowing fish baffles marine biologists