Sustainability Science

The European Commission, in a strategy due next week, will lay out measures to tackle EU greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. Reports speak of 30 million electric vehicles by 2030 and related infrastructure.

According to a draft document seen by Reuters, “The EU’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050 cannot be reached without introducing very ambitious measures to reduce transport’s reliance on fossil fuels.” The news agency further quotes the EU Commission estimating that the targets would require “at least 30 million zero-emission vehicles by 2030”.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is teaming up with a company to develop a carbon exchange platform where airlines, and passengers, can purchase offsets aimed at reducing the impact of air travel on the environment.

New report reveals that by meeting their science-based targets, these companies — with more GHGs than France and Spain, combined — will eliminate 265 million metric tons of emissions from their operations, equivalent to closing 68 coal-fired power plants.

The Marshall Islands, an atoll-nation vulnerable to sea level rise from climate change, announced steps on Monday towards an ambitious plan to cut its greenhouse emissions to zero by 2050.
The Pacific country became the first small island nation to present such a strategy to the United Nations amid increasing interest from governments worldwide towards eliminating planet-warming emissions in a bid to curb man-made climate change. Heine upped the pressure on world leaders to go beyond current pledges to reduce their heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions as agreed in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Worldwide, nine other countries have so far unveiled long-term plans to completely eradicate carbon emissions at home, from Britain to France and the United States under the administration of former U.S. president Barack Obama.

ENGIE Resources announced that it has now supplied enough Green-e® certified renewable energy certificates (RECs) to displace the estimated greenhouse gas emissions of more than 1 million passenger vehicles driven for a year. A REC is created when one megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity is generated and delivered to the electricity grid from a renewable energy resource.

With the temporary decrease in global carbon emission this year, more giant companies such as Unilever are switching to a sustainable business model.

Multinational company Unilever joins WWF in calling on Australian leaders to set the economy on course to a zero-carbon future, targeting net-zero emission from all products by 2039. This target will be eleven years ahead of the 2050 Paris Agreement deadline. 

The multinational company aims to have the greenhouse (GHG) footprints across its operation. To accelerate the action, Unilever will collectively invest €1 billion (AUD$1.89 billion) in a new dedicated Climate and Nature Fund.

Indonesia, a major coal exporter, uses coal to power around 60% of its electricity needs but the government is aiming to double the contribution of renewables

Online freight pricing platform Freightos is introducing new features to introduce transparency to the freight sector, including adding an estimate of the carbon footprint to every shipping service on Freightos and adding several free carbon dioxide (CO2) calculation tools that allow customers or third-parties to determine the carbon footprint along various routes and modes.