SUSTAINABILITY  

International carbon market

After years of tense debate, world leaders have committed to rules for a new international carbon market. Now, countries will be allowed to fund projects that reduce emissions in other countries, like solar farms or reforestation, and count the climate benefits toward their own national greenhouse gas goals. Proponents of this new U.N.-regulated carbon offset market see it as a way to goad wealthier countries into doing more to cut emissions by making it cheaper to do so. However, the scheme has quite a few risks with 'double counting' being the key issue that could result in the appearance that the world was making more progress than it actually was. Fortunately, this debate was settled at COP26 and the rules say that if a country hosts an emissions-reduction project and transfers the emissions savings to another country, it must report the transfer to a U.N. supervisory board and adjust its own greenhouse gas accounting accordingly.

Past investigations into carbon offset projects have found that many of them overestimate how much they reduce emissions, or worse, have no climate benefit at all. It will be up to the overseers of the new carbon trading scheme at the U.N. to develop stronger standards that ensure that the system truly does reduce emissions. Despite the weak language on Indigenous and human rights, the Glasgow agreement contained some details that pleased even carbon market critics. For example, the rules require that a share of the proceeds from carbon trading go into the United Nations Adaptation Fund, which is disbursed to help poorer nations shore up their infrastructure against rising seas or create early warning systems for storms. You can read more about the international carbon market here. 

INNOVATION

Mathematical conservation

A Nobel prize-winning economic theory used by investors is showing early signs of helping save threatened coral reefs. Researchers at Australia’s University of Queensland used modern portfolio theory (MPT), a mathematical framework to help risk-averse investors maximize returns, to identify the 50 reefs or coral sanctuaries around the world that are most likely to survive the climate crisis and be able to repopulate other reefs, if other threats are absent. The study recommends targeting investment in conservation projects that have the “strongest potential to succeed” in protecting priority reefs. Coral reefs face a dire future - 70% to 90% of today’s corals are expected to vanish even if we meet the Paris agreement heating goals. Nearly £70m has been invested in the project, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Vibrant Oceans initiative and others. 

THE LOW DOWN

• Shell pulls out of Cambo oilfield project
• Pacific Ocean garbage patch is immense plastic habitat
• World’s vast networks of underground fungi to be mapped for first time
• Patagonia to power key UK stores with community-owned renewable energy
• P&G faces shortage of recycled plastic in race to meet sustainability goals
• New Zealand city becomes one of first to introduce a ‘climate tax’ for residents

#ShowerThoughts

• Millions of people wake up at the exact same second from using their cell phone as an alarm clock.
• Somebody’s mom has probably used you as a bad example to their kid.
• Hermione never got in trouble for repairing Harry's glasses with magic outside of school.
• Even the most literate beings can't describe a colour.
• Since the next generation after Gen Z is going to be Alpha, every boy in that generation will be able to claim that they are an Alpha Male.
  
  r/Showerthoughts

#RiddleMeThis

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