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Search resuls for: "Catherine Boudreau"


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☆ The steps that could help address biodiversity loss could also help fix the climate crisis
  + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +6 min
Biodiversity loss doesn't always get as much attention as the climate but the crises are linked. The animal, named Sudan, was the last male northern white rhino. The loss of biodiversity doesn't always get as much attention as the climate crisis but the two challenges are linked. "Anybody who's working with these issues — biodiversity, climate change, and the underlying drivers of it — realize the interconnectedness of it," Chomba said. Nachmany said some parts of the financial world are recognizing that biodiversity loss and the climate crisis are two parts of the same problem.
☆ Companies are selling us more stuff by telling us it's 'sustainable'
  + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +4 min
The federal government is updating guides around how companies can prove their environmental claims. Companies are advertising what they plan to do, such as addressing the climate crisis or using more recycled materials in their products. She pointed to a case BBB National Programs' National Advertising Division brought against the American Beverage Association, which represents companies such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The beverage industry appealed the finding, arguing that the ad was intended to increase awareness that plastic bottles could be recycled. The National Advertising Division's appellate body upheld the original decision.
☆ Affordable housing is the best way to prevent heat-related deaths, Phoenix's chief heat officer says
  + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +7 min
Phoenix's chief heat officer says more affordable housing will prevent heat-associated deaths. "It can be a little shocking," Hondula, director of the city's office of heat response and mitigation, told Insider. All these factors led Phoenix in 2021 to establish the country's first publicly funded heat office, with Hondula at the helm. Gallego told Insider in a statement that she and other city staff are working daily to address this issue. Hondula, for his part, said the heat office needs to be the biggest advocate for investments in affordable housing and homelessness services inside City Hall.
☆ I took ThredUp's Fashion Footprint quiz. My annual shopping habits equaled driving 614 miles in a gas-powered car.
  + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +4 min
ThredUp's Fashion Footprint calculator tallies the climate impact of the clothes we buy. Turns out, the climate impact of my annual shopping habits is still 65% lower than the average customer, at least according to ThredUp's new Fashion Footprint calculator. Resale captured 9% of the US apparel market in 2022, compared with 3% a decade ago, according to ThredUp's latest annual report. Americans spent $1.4 billion on secondhand clothes last year that they normally would have bought new, a 40% jump over 2021. I plugged that into ThredUp's calculator.
☆ Viral fast-food hacks, like the Chipotle 'fajita quesadilla,' prove American appetites haven't caught up to the climate crisis
  + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +12 min
The TikTok creator, known for reviewing fast-food staples, posted last summer about leveling up Chipotle's steak quesadilla with fajita veggies. Nathan Llorin, another popular TikToker, told Insider that it wasn't until he started eating and reviewing fast food that his videos took off. A climate message for menusIn January, research showed that labeling fast-food menus with their climate impacts swayed people away from red meat. But about 10% of customers now choose a meatless option, including Sofritas, the chain's plant-based mainstay made from tofu. Frost, the TikToker, told Insider that of all the things viewers attack her for on the platform, the environmental impact of fast food isn't among them.
☆ The 26 hottest proptech startups of 2023, according to venture capitalists
  + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Alex Nicoll | Aj Latrace | Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +2 min
Last year VCs invested $19.8 billion into these property-technology, or proptech, startups. We surveyed venture capitalists to identify the hottest proptech companies right now. Climatetech and AI-powered tools are major themes of the proptech industry in 2023, just as they are in the wider venture world. Insider asked more than 20 venture investors who focus on real-estate and construction technology to nominate the most exciting proptech startups in 2023. Here are the 26 buzziest proptech companies right now, presented in alphabetical order.
☆ Fossil fuels are the new nukes: Pacific island nations at risk from rising sea levels support a nonproliferation treaty for oil and gas
  + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +5 min
Leaders from Pacific island nations at risk from the climate crisis gathered last week in Vanuatu. The nations of Vanuatu and Tuvalu support a treaty to limit fossil-fuel use. Public and private financing for fossil fuels is also still greater than investment in climate adaptation and mitigation. Developing countries need financing to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, Berman said. "A fossil-fuel treaty could shift the social norm and make expansion unacceptable within foreign policy," Berman said.
☆ This could be Big Oil's last surge
  + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +12 min
The era of Big Oil could end sooner than its massive profits suggest, analysts told Insider. But the worst-case scenario for the environment — that oil and gas companies reinvest all their extra money to keep growing — isn't happening, Logan said. The role of oil and gas companies in the energy transition is an ongoing debate, analysts told Insider. The UK company cited the need for an "orderly" energy transition. And while Big Oil's finances may begin to show some cracks over the next decade, he doesn't expect them to "suffer financially" for another 25 to 35 years.
☆ A climate tech CEO took calls from an airplane bathroom to try and save his company when his bank collapsed
  + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +4 min
Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on the culture & business of sustainability — delivered weekly to your inbox. Baird, the founder and CEO of BlocPower, a climate-tech company electrifying buildings in underserved communities, had more than $1 million in deposits at SVB. SVB worked with more than 1,550 clients in the climate-tech and sustainability sectors, particularly community solar. Baird said SVB was a great partner for early-stage startups because, unlike many traditional banks, it would provide loans, credit cards, and bank accounts. "People who aren't in Silicon Valley are thinking, 'Look at these rich, immature tech bros who cannibalized their own bank.
☆ SVB's collapse could make it harder for climate startups to get the funding they need
  + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +3 min
SVB's was a leading provider of venture capital to climate startups. And according to ImpactAlpha, SVB was a leading provider of venture debt to climate startups. The move has stoked fears that climate startups will face a tougher road than many of them already do. The fallout has led to a network of climate startups, venture-capital firms, and other lenders to mobilize their resources and help blunt the impact, Impact Alpha reported. Climate tech has been a bright spot in the broader tech downturn, with venture-capital and private-equity funds raising $64 billion in the fiscal year that ended in November — more than double the previous year's total, according to an analysis by Climate Tech VC.
☆ Companies that mine copper are making plans to go green so they can help the rest of the world do the same
  + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +4 min
The plans call for using renewable electricity sources to reduce the industry's carbon footprint. Broader use of these technologies could also help shrink the copper industry's carbon footprint. "A lot of these technologies do exist," Anthony Lea, the president of the International Copper Association, told Insider. "There are prototype vehicles out there, so it's going to take a dialogue between mining companies and equipment manufacturers. Lea said the climate strategy can help show the public, policymakers, and investors that copper mining can expand in a responsible way, which can help attract investment.
☆ Reporters hid tracking devices in shoes that were supposed to be recycled, and they ended up at a market in Indonesia instead
  + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +4 min
Reuters tracked 11 pairs of donated shoes to test a recycling program launched by Dow and Singapore. Dow launched its own investigation and removed an exporter from the recycling program. That's not what happened to 11 pairs of sneakers in which a team of Reuters reporters hid tracking devices. After dropping the shoes in the program's recycling bins across Singapore, Reuters traced most of the shoes to secondhand markets or remote locations in Indonesia. A 2021 media release said the program aimed to divert 170,000 pairs of shoes annually from landfills.
☆ Oil and gas companies are investing billions to make energy from waste but some climate groups call it greenwashing
  + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +6 min
Canadian gas company Enbridge pledged up to $1 billion to a US firm turning food waste into energy. Oil and gas companies see a green opportunity from food waste like rotting spinach but some climate advocates say it's more like greenwashing. The company's software tracks retailers' food waste and Divert then recovers what can be donated to food banks. The plan is to build 30 plants, enough to manage 5% of US food waste; Divert now handles about a half percent. Making gas from waste can avoid greenhouse gas emissions that seep out of landfills.
☆ Carbon emissions hit a record last year, but rapid growth in renewable energy kept the increase from being far bigger
  + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +3 min
Global carbon emissions rose in 2022 from an increase in air travel and coal power, a report found. A spike in clean power like solar and wind kept the growth in emissions from being worse. Still, the growth of solar, wind, electric vehicles, and heat pumps helped prevent a massive spike in emissions. Without the increase in clean technologies, the year-over-year increase in energy-related emissions would have been almost triple, the report found. Meanwhile, China's emissions stayed flat in 2022 compared with previous years because industrial production slowed amid strict COVID-19 policies.
☆ I'm an EPA worker who's responded to more than 100 toxic spills and chemical fires, and I'll never forget one that got my adrenaline going
  + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +5 min
Kelly worked on disasters like the BP oil spill and lead drinking-water crisis in Flint, Michigan. I'm one of the 220 emergency responders that the EPA has across the country who's on call when there's a major oil spill or chemical fire, like after the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. There are also smaller events, like fires at oil refineries and paper mills and hazardous waste left behind by mines. EPA on-scene coordinators sample air, water, and buildings for toxic chemicals to determine public-health risks. Brian KellyThe EPA issues an enforcement order to the companies responsible for a spill or fire to take over the cleanup.
☆ BNP Paribas is the first commercial bank to be sued over its fossil-fuel financing
  + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +5 min
Climate activists say BNP Paribas is violating a French law meant to reduce environmental risks. BNP Paribas defended its plan to exit the fossil-fuel sector and have a net-zero portfolio by 2050. BNP Paribas has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions across its portfolio by 2050. Ripoll said BNP Paribas should adopt a policy requiring fossil-fuel companies to stop developing new projects. If they fail to do so in a certain time frame, BNP Paribas should divest from these companies, she said.
☆ A guide to climate buzzwords and what they say about corporate promises
  + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +6 min
Thousands of companies with climate goals use confusing jargon like "carbon neutral" and "net zero." Corporate climate pledges are rife with terms like "carbon neutral," "net zero," and "carbon negative," leading to confusion among consumers and investors, among others, about what it all means. Some companies, including ExxonMobil, also have net-zero goals that only cover direct operations. Why 'carbon neutral' can be misleadingThe UN's concerns about carbon offsets are why claims of an organization or product being "carbon neutral" can also be worrisome. "I think there is rightfully some skepticism around climate neutral," Fischweicher said.
☆ About 1 in 5 Americans live in areas where policies encourage a switch to electric heating, cooling, and cooking
  + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +4 min
About 1 in 5 Americans live in areas with policies for decarbonizing buildings, an analysis found. As of this year, one in five Americans — some 72.5 million people — live in areas covered by those policies. But last year, for the first time, US shipments of electric heat pumps consistently outpaced gas furnaces, the coalition's analysis found. Heat pumps both warm and cool a home or building by circulating heat from indoors to outdoors and back again. The state has already surpassed a goal set in 2019 to install 100,000 heat pumps in homes and businesses.
☆ The workers who are supposed to lead the US response to the climate crisis are feeling 'burned out'
  + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +5 min
There's a staffing crisis at the nation's top environmental agency, union officials say. The number of Environmental Protection Agency employees today is similar to the Ronald Reagan era. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on the culture & business of sustainability — delivered weekly to your inbox. "People are burned out," Marie Owens Powell, an EPA employee and the president of its union chapter known as AFGE Council 238, told Insider. "Communities need to implement these programs, whether it's replacing lead service lines for drinking water or cleaning up environmental pollution."
☆ I asked ChatGPT about its carbon footprint, and for now, it's a mystery
  + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +5 min
ChatGPT said its carbon footprint depended on the energy use of its computers and servers. Concerns about ChatGPT's carbon footprint, which is likely small at the moment, could rise as more people turn to it for day-to-day search. For now, a lot of mystery surrounds the carbon footprint of AI, including ChatGPT. I asked the chatbot what its carbon footprint was, and its answer felt, well, human: It depends. "As an AI language model developed by OpenAI, I do not have a physical body or personal actions that generate carbon emissions," ChatGPT wrote.
☆ UK scientists found a way to slash nearly 90% of carbon emissions from the country's steel industry
  + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +4 min
Now, researchers at the University of Birmingham have developed a process to clean up the most carbon-intensive part of the steelmaking process: blast furnaces. Currently, coking coal and iron ore are fed into furnaces and heated to sky-high temperatures to create liquid iron, which is then refined into steel. About 70% of steel used around the world for buildings, cars, and household appliances is made this way. For every metric ton of steel produced, nearly two metric tons of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, according to the World Steel Organization. Kildahl described it as a "closed-loop" system that captures and recycles carbon dioxide to trigger the chemical reactions that convert iron ore into steel.
☆ Bayer says chemicals farmers use to fight insects are safe, but it's more complicated than that, says its ESG head
  + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +7 min
The European Union, also in 2018, banned some pesticides that Bayer makes because scientists and regulators linked them to deaths of bees. "It felt like we were on the grill at a barbecue," Kunz, Bayer's head of environmental, social, and governance strategy, told Insider. Beyond neonicotinoids, Kunz said Bayer's strategy to meet its environmental targets involved what he called a more systems-based approach. Bayer also makes digital tools that help farmers apply fertilizer and pesticides more precisely, which can dramatically reduce how much they're needed, Kunz said. Bayer's sustainability efforts are attracting at least some ESG investors and ratings firms.
☆ It took 50 years and $11 billion to complete a train station beneath NYC's Grand Central Terminal. It shows how hard it is to build things in the US.
  + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +7 min
New commuter rail service to New York City's Grand Central Terminal began last week. The new station cost more than three times its initial budget and faced significant delays. The new rail service, which began limited operations last week, delivers riders to a gleaming new station some 15 stories beneath the soaring limestone facade of Grand Central Terminal. Train platforms at Grand Central Madison are well over 100 feet underground. Mary Altaffer/APPeople walk past a mural in the new Grand Central Madison last week.
☆ Companies like Amazon, Walmart, and BlackRock that have pushed back against some parts of climate-disclosure rules might see one aspect eased
  + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +3 min
Companies and others are pushing back on aspects of the plan, The Wall Street Journal reports. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on the culture & business of sustainability — delivered weekly to your inbox. The agency proposed its climate disclosure rules in March 2022 and is aiming to finalize them this year. Some investors have pushed the SEC to issue the rules so they could better assess what climate risks companies face, from extreme weather events and supply-chain disruptions to stricter regulations. Companies that set goals to reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chains would have to disclose those emissions as well.
☆ The US is bad at recycling. Making businesses pay could boost the rate to 75% in some states, a study found.
  + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com   time to read: +4 min
Recycling rates in US states could hit 75% if companies bear the costs, a study found. Recycling rates are high there, and taxpayers don't cover the bill, unlike in the US. The Recycling Partnership said it examined these states because they had the best available data. In most cases, recycling rates could get as high as 75%, de Thomas said. At least 11 others have either introduced legislation or plan to, according to a tally by The Recycling Partnership.
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