On strike: the push to make a difference on climate change?

We had an interesting discussion at work last week around the Extinction Rebellion actions earlier this year and their demands for immediate action on climate change (they want zero carbon by 2025 and not 2050 as the government legislation has called for).

The conversation whirled around whether they achieved anything through their direct actions, and can a business support what they are doing?

With regards the first bit - the fact that the UK government has not only finally declared a climate emergency, but has also enacted legislation to have the UK at zero carbon emissions by 2050, would suggest that their work (and those of other activists) is finally making an impact. People have tried the polite lobbying of politicians and the like outside Westminster for a long time, without much joy, so this more 'in your face' method - while unpalatable to some, seems to be quite effective.

As to whether businesses can join in with this, is a much harder question. When I go to work I have to take off my idealist hat to some degree, and put on my more pragmatic one. Words like 'extinction' and 'rebellion' cause the standard and quite conservative standard business to recoil in horror. They tend to like slow and steady, rather than urgent and reactive. So, from a work perspective we have decided that we can show support for climate action, but we will perhaps have to choose our words more carefully.

What is a climate emergency?
Of course there is no precise definition, but this seems to be a byword for taking immediate action and developing policy to mitigate climate change beyond current government targets (before the new updated climate legislation, the Climate Change Act 2008 called for an 80% reduction in UK emissions by 2050 - from a 1990 base).

The phrase was already common among environmental groups, but seems to have first gained use in political circles with Carla Denyer, a Green Party councillor in Bristol, who used the term in November 2018.

Who has declared one?
Aside from the UK government, there have been a number of local authorities who joined in with these declarations (this list is taken from www.climateemergency.uk and was up to mid-July 2019).

• 3 Cities - Liverpool, Greater London Authority, West Yorkshire
• 16 Counties - from Devon to Leicestershire
• 99 Districts - from Maidstone all the way up to South Lakeland
• 22 London Boroughs
• 24 Metropolitan Boroughs
• 62 Unitary Authorities - including much of Scotland

Climate Strikes:
The rise of student activism and organised groups like Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace culminated in last Friday's Climate Strike, which gained traction across the globe. An estimated 4 million people took part in over 4,600 events organised in at least 139 countries.

• London: at least 100,000 went to the main event, although many smaller ones were organised around the capital
• Edinburgh: estimated 20,000 people
• Brighton: estimated 10,000 people
• Belfast: estimated 3-4,000 people
• Birmingham: estimated 3,000 people
• New York City: school districts were giving pupils permission to attend events, and the main one around Battery Park saw an incredible 250,000 people convene
• Melbourne and Sydney: these cities saw some of the biggest mass protests in Australian history, with as many as 150,000 people at each event
• Certainly over 350,000 in total at the 110 organised rallies
• Berlin: Germany also had some big turn outs, with around 100,000 in the nations capital
• The German coalition government has pledged £48bn for schemes to cut greenhouse gases.

Some of the big tech company employees were also taking this very seriously.

• Amazon: around 1,800 global Amazon staff walked out on Friday.
• Jeff Bezos made a preemptive announcement on Thursday, saying that Amazon will be carbon neutral by 2040, and have 50% reduction in shipping footprint by 2030.
• His staff want more though: they are calling for zero emissions by 2030, more ULEV vehicles in their fleet, and to stop contracts with fossil fuel companies and support for climate change denying think-tanks.
• There were also walk-outs by Google and other big tech company staff

Greta Thunberg spoke at the NYC rally Friday; "We demand a safe future. Is that really too much to ask?" And she had this to say to her critics, "If you belong to that small group of people who feel threatened by us, we have some very bad news for you, because this is only the beginning. Change is coming whether they like it or not."

Jessica Ahmed, 16, attending one rally said, "If politicians were taking the appropriate action we need - and had been taking this action a long time ago when it was recognised the world was changing in a negative way - then I would not have to be skipping school."

The big picture:
There were also protests in Kiribati, that are somewhat poignant, as this is the country that could well be the first one to (literally) disappear, as it is so at risk from sea level rises. In Tuvalu last month, Australia thwarted an effort by the Pacific Island nations for more actions on climate change (one leader broke down with the emotion). Last week Australia and New Zealand, with 16 Pacific Island nations, finally reached some agreements, but these were far short of what was hoped for.

Research:
This article was researched from a wide range of rolling 'live' news sites, with numerous pages from each used - but for reference they were;
BBC News
The Guardian
CNN
The Standard

Climate Change and fossil fuel industry

I read three different articles this week, that all featured different aspects of the fossil fuel industry, and various relationships with it - so this seemed a good place to bring them together and summarise them.

1. Oil Firms going the wrong way?
A new report by Carbon Tracker has estimated that oil and gas companies have approved around $50bn of investment in new projects that undermine international climate targets since 2018!

This is a simply staggering revelation - that not one of the major oil firms is investing in a way that is compatible with the targets set by the Paris Agreement for keeping global warming at under 2°C. An example of this would be Exxon Mobil's $2.6bn Aspen project in Canada, for exploitation of greenfield oil sands.

"Every major is betting heavily against a 1.5°C world and investing in projects that are contrary to the Paris goals. The best way to preserve shareholder value in the transition and alignment with climate change goals will be to focus on low cost projects that will deliver the highest returns." (Andrew Grant - senior analyst with Carbon Tracker)

Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, Total, Conoco Phillips and Equinox - have all put at least 30% of their investments for 2018 into projects that are not compatible with Paris. Exxon is estimated to have put 90% of its potential spending up to 2030 into projects not in line with the Paris Agreement.

And investors are increasingly becoming concerned with the climate change risks to their portfolios, with initiatives like Climate Action 100+ trying to drive sustainability from the investment side.

2. Islam and oil:
This brings me rather neatly on to the second article. 

Three major Islamic faith-based organisations have written a joint statement calling for divestment from fossil fuels, and into renewable energy. The Bahu Trust, the Islamic Foundation for Environmental & Ecological Sciences (IFEES) and Mosques & Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB) have written this letter pointing out that fossil fuel profiting in its current form is "morally wrong" and recounts a verse of the Quran that centres around human destruction of the natural world.

'Corruption has appeared on land and sea by what people's own hands have wrought; that He may let them taste the consequences of their deeds so that they may turn back.' (Quran 30:41)

The statement also refers to the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change which was authored by IFEES founder Dr Fazlun Khalid. This calls on Muslims to reduce their carbon footprint, and commit to 100% renewable energy.

"Loving the creation of Allah's is part of one's love for Allah. Divesting from fossil fuels and reinvesting in cleaner renewable energy is the only way to provide for a sustainable future for the generations already born and those to come."

This is a fantastic document, and well worth reading - the English language version can be downloaded here.

Elsewhere, the Fiqh Council of North America recently issued a fatwa (authoritative religious ruling), calling for a rapid transition to renewable energy. It also affirmed the divestment commitment made by the Islamic Society of North America in 2016, which called on all Islamic investment houses and funds to immediately develop fossil fuel free portfolios, and increase commitment to renewable and clean energy companies.

3. Investment may be the key to climate change:
Around $1.8trn invested into climate change adaptation measures over the next decade could yield around $7.1trn in net returns! So says a recent cost-benefit analysis by the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA).

This is not some weird fringe-element think-tank; but one being led by former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, World Bank CEO, Kristalina Georgieva and Microsoft founder, Bill Gates.

L-R: Ban Ki-Moon, Bill Gates, Kristaline Georgieva (Wikimedia / Wikicommons)

They warn that no investment in climate change adaptation will lead to ever more conflict and instability, and suggest five key areas for spending;

• Early warning systems
• Climate resilient infrastructure
• Improved dryland agriculture
• Mangrove protection
• Water resource resilience

"Climate change doesn't respect borders. It's an international problem that can only be solved with co-operation and collaboration across borders and worldwide." (Ban Ki-moon)

Climate change adaptation can deliver a 'triple dividend' by avoiding future losses, generating positive economic gains through innovation and delivering social and environmental benefits (such as protection for coastal communities from storms, or protecting mangrove in Thailand to improve habitat for fisheries).

The GCA show that resilience projects can deliver benefit to cost ration of between 2:1 and 10:1 (and occasionally even higher than that). They say that there are three revolutions needed; understanding - planning - finance. Climate change impacts need to be factored into every level of decision making - we'll leave the last word to Bill Gates;

"Adaptation is an urgent issue that needs support from governments and businesses to ensure those most at risk have the opportunities to thrive."

Research:
https://transform.iema.net/article/oil-giants-spend-50bn-new-projects-undermine-climate-targets?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=
https://transform.iema.net/article/global-leaders-call-18trn-climate-adaption-investment?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=
https://transform.iema.net/article/islamic-community-calls-fossil-fuel-divestment?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=
https://twitter.com/bahutrustuk/status/1171357355109429248/photo/1

Dead and Bury-ed

Our communities are a huge part of the ethos of sustainability. The ones we live in, work in, play in - they are all important. They give us a sense of belonging, of identity, of family - a thing that can bind people of myriad backgrounds, races, religions together with a communal sense of pride. Even when they don't function quite right, they offer a great deal of value to us all.

Communities get involved and do things together; I was on my local village Carnival committee for 5 or 6 years, helping to fundraise, organise and run a major local event, that despite being very hard work, for one day each year brings everyone from several miles distant together to have a bit of fun. 

And this all brings me towards my thoughts tonight.

Football has always been a huge part of my life. To watch your local football team is to be a part of a slightly different kind of community - spending hours watching the highs and lows (many lows for me) of your team with like-minded people; revelling in the joy of that last minute winner, the despair of losing to your fiercest rivals, and the sheer jubilation of winning a cup or a league! 

But football clubs in the UK (and probably the world over) are much more than that. They are also generally a part of the wider community they sit in. Clubs make great efforts to get involved with those communities, to ensure that they are an integral part of them - apart from anything else, it makes sound business sense. Be nice to your neighbours and maybe one day they will come back and give you some support.

My local team - Aldershot - were early evidence that sustainable business is just as important in football as it should be in any other line of work, although it is often hidden, as people will like to remark that football 'isn't like normal business' so different rules somehow apply. In 1992, after years of mis-management and bad business decisions, that notion went out of the window as they went out of business mid-season - the first team to do that in 30 years (after Accrington Stanley in 1962). The pain was unbearable, despite the inevitability of it all in those last few desperate weeks. I was away at college at the time. Football is a big community, and I got a lot of sympathy from all my football loving mates - they know what supporting your team is about - and they knew how they would feel if it happened to their team.

Vicky Rogers, current programme editor for Aldershot Town, said in an article in Metro today (https://metro.co.uk/2019/08/28/we-rebuilt-our-football-club-heres-what-bury-fc-must-do-10644937/),

"If you can [empathise with Bury fans], it means that you too have stared down the barrel of empty Saturdays, with nothing to define yourself as, and felt the numbness that accompanies losing not only your football club, but all of the friends, experiences and emotions that accompany supporting a lower league team."

Aldershot bounced back (as Aldershot Town), and have spent the last 27 years moving up and down the semi-pro and pro football leagues - and just like before, there have been some truly great highs, and some simply awful ones where we thought the worst might happen again. 

And now it has happened to Bury. One of the oldest clubs in the football league, playing in the second tier of English football as recently as twenty years ago, and two times winners of the FA Cup. Gone. Hundreds of heartbroken fans have had their football community ripped away from them - and the wider of community of Bury, a proud Lancashire mill town, has had its football club ripped from its heart.

I don't want to get too much into the politics of it all; extremely poor ownership and management, lack of oversight from the league, ambivalence from the FA - all seem to have played parts to varying degrees. Whatever the reason, or combination of reasons for it - the tragedy lies with those who lost their jobs, and those who lost that part of their identity that is entwined with the club, and the community who lost a key local asset that put them on the map (although many won't admit it - in every town in this country, even those who don't actively support their local team, will always keep an eye open for their results each week).

There is hope though, as Rogers remembers, "Because in the end, it was the unity that set Aldershot Town back onto the road to recovery, the working together of supporters, led by two determined men who had the very best for the Shots and its supporters at the heart of everything they did."

Hopefully they will bounce back, and hopefully they will eventually regain their status. But communities are important, even football ones - and this is a stark reminder that even in the emotive world of football, sustainability is essential for survival. In this world of high-profile, big money Premier League teams, it is easy to forget this as clubs strive to reach for the next level up and sometimes throw huge quantities of cash in pursuit of that dream. But for every Bury there is a Bolton sitting on the brink (though hopefully they have been saved) and a dozen or more other ones teetering close to the brink...

This is an excellent and thought-provoking article by the BBC's Tom Fordyce on the subject.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49493499