Summary
More initiatives for the planet in Davos in today’s edition, with the launch of the global campaign against food waste headed by Tesco CEO. Another heavy weight in the retail sector, Wal-Mart’s CEO Doug McMillon, saying America’s largest private employer is “leading by example” and slashing electricity use in stores and excess packaging. His best quote: “Ignore climate skeptics”. Finally, get the answer to this question: Are Uber and Lyft helping or hurting the environment?
Quote of the day
“We are using Kenyan land and Kenyan water, in a country where there are millions of hungry people and where agriculture competes for habitat with elephants and lions … To then waste 50% of what those farmers produce, we can all agree, is obscene.”
UK food waste campaigner Tristram Stuart, in the Guardian’s story Tesco CEO heads up global food waste campaign launched at Davos
Lead stories
Tesco CEO heads up global food waste campaign launched at Davos
By Terry Slavin – The Guardian
A high-profile global campaign to halve the amount of food wasted on the journey between farm and plate has launched today at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
http://bit.ly/20hptmK
Walmart CEO in Davos: Ignore climate skeptics
By Alex Pashley – Climate Home
America’s largest private employer is “leading by example,” Doug McMillon claimed in Davos on Wednesday, slashing electricity use in stores and excess packaging.
http://bit.ly/1nq3nk5
Europe’s most liveable city? The secret of Odense’s post-industrial revolution
By Peter Walker – The Guardian
The huge, wooden scale model of Odense, inside a temporary information centre opposite the town hall, looks initially like a replica of the Danish city.
http://bit.ly/1nq3ix1
Two-thirds of the problems caused by climate change are down to man-made emissions, study says
By Doug Bolton – Climate Home
Almost two-thirds of the problems caused by climate change, some of which could have significant negative economic effects in the UK, are down to human-generated carbon emissions, new research has revealed.
http://bit.ly/1nq3nk5
Are Uber and Lyft helping or hurting the environment?
By Kate Galbraith – The Guardian
Are on-demand ride services like Uber and Lyft good or bad for the environment? It’s an increasingly urgent question as the services proliferate, but the answer is currently unclear.
http://bit.ly/1lzUEKf
Businesses can go green without going under
By Holly Ellyatt and Stephen Sedgwick – CNBC
It’s barely a month since global leaders reached a landmark deal to bring climate change under control but now the hard work has begun over how to actually reduce countries’ and companies’ carbon footprints, business and energy leaders told CNBC.
http://cnb.cx/1JlEnEx
Events
EUEC 2016 Conference & Expo
Feb 3 – Feb 5, 2016
San Diego Convention Center, CA
http://www.euec.com/
Carbon
Will New Analysis Raise US Business Support for Carbon Pricing Policy?
As global companies increasingly rally behind putting a price on carbon, new analysis from the World Resources Institute finds a carbon price — either a carbon tax or cap-and-trade program — would reduce emissions even more than the US Energy Information Administration has predicted.
http://bit.ly/1P8I5S5
Natural gas / coal
Coal Country Plans for Carbon Trading
By Elizabeth Harball and Emily Holden – ClimateWire
Major electricity providers and some government officials in West Virginia, the state leading the charge against federal climate change regulations, want to use carbon trading to meet their greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to public records obtained by ClimateWire.
http://bit.ly/1Pl4lu6
Natural Gas Price Dips Following Inventory Report
By Paul Ausick – 24/7 Wall Street
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that U.S. natural gas stocks decreased by 178 billion cubic feet for the week ending January 15.
http://bit.ly/23hqM7K
Power
Chinese solar capacity outshone Germany’s in 2015
By Jocelyn Timperley – BusinessGreen
China’s mass rollout of solar PV panels has propelled it to first place in the global solar race, with industry data showing total solar capacity installed by the economic giant has overtaken the previous world leader Germany.
http://bit.ly/1SzYwcx
***LB: Also in this story “China installed solar capacity stood at 43GW by the end of 2015, according to China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) figures quoted today by the official state news agency Xinhua, with around 15GW new capacity installed during 2015.”
The U.S. Blows Denmark Away On Wind Power
By Robert Rapier – Forbes
A Huffington Post article recently caught my attention with a headline that claimed, “Denmark Just Broke The World Record For Wind Energy,” followed by the subtitle, “The U.S. could learn a thing or two from the Danes.”
http://onforb.es/1RBUlNc
EDF tidal turbine hits the waves in Brittany
By Jocelyn Timperley – The Guardian
Marine turbine manufacturer OpenHydro yesterday announced the deployment of its first tidal turbine in French waters, in partnership with EDF.
http://bit.ly/1Nnkt6Q
US navy launches first biofuel-powered aircraft carriers
Associated Press
The US navy on Wednesday launched its first carrier strike group powered partly by biofuel a mix made from beef fat, calling it a milestone toward easing the military’s reliance on foreign oil.
http://bit.ly/1S7QCpp
Clean tech
Tesla sues German supplier over failed Model X falcon doors
By Nick Jaynes – Mashable
Tesla Motors has filed a lawsuit against German auto parts supplier Hoebiger Automotive Comfort Systems, alleging the company failed to produce the falcon-wing doors for Tesla’s Model X crossover.
http://on.mash.to/1PHv8uY
Water
Senate fails to override Obama veto on water rule
By Timothy Cama – The Hill
Senate Republicans fell short Thursday in their attempt to override a veto from President Obama and repeal a contentious water regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency.
http://bit.ly/1UewbGt
The Crisis in Flint Goes Deeper Than the Water
By Evan Osnos – The New Yorker
Last July, after more than a year of public complaints about the drinking water in Flint, Michigan—water so pungent and foamy that a local pastor had stopped using it for baptisms—reporters were calling the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.
http://bit.ly/1nq3vQx