Articles

Metal packaging should take precedence over plastic as it is easier to recycle and already has a strong recycling infrastructure. That’s the view of Michael Mapes, CEO of Trivium Packaging, who believes metal packaging can go a long way to reducing carbon emissions and plastic waste pollution. “As a material, metal can be recycled endlessly and processes have already been innovated to reduce the industry’s environmental impact,” Mapes said. “In the last 30 years the quantity of metal in a typical can have been reduced by 46 per cent while continuing...

Australia must act now to mitigate rising land, sea and air temperatures and avoid more extreme weather events in coming decades. That’s according to the latest State of the Climate report by Australia’s National Science Agency (CSIRO) that found Australia’s climate has warmed by an average of 1.47 ± 0.24 °C since national records began in 1910. Sea surface temperatures have increased by an average of 1.05 °C since 1900. This has led to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events over land and sea. The seventh biennial...

Research shows a third of consumers don’t know what e-waste means, and 18 per cent are unaware of the term altogether. The demand for digital devices and appliances has been growing exponentially as technology advances, leading to an ever-growing influx of returns and repairable items but it is estimated that only 17 per cent of e-waste is recycled. “The environmental benefits of re-selling refurbished electronics are clear and undisputed,” said James Rigg, CEO of Trojan Electronics. “Electronics contain a wide range of materials, from metals to plastics, which take hundreds of years to...

With the UK’s regulatory requirements tightening, the built environment must prove its commitment to decarbonisation. Digitising environmental performance data is a necessary step towards business success. In 2023 you can’t build a long-term strategy without incorporating ESG factors. Information must be collected and reported on a range of environmental performance metrics, including carbon output and electricity consumption, water use, and waste diversion. By embracing technology, corporations can calculate their carbon footprint, ensure compliance with sustainability requirements, and compare their performance with competitors, as well as against their own mandated and voluntary...

Sustainability remains a priority for companies with the majority embracing technology solutions alongside process changes. Sustainability is a key focus of companies worldwide, according to the latest Honeywell 2023 Environmental Sustainability Index that shows an increase in corporate confidence, quarter over quarter, in meeting near and long-term environmental goals with organisations taking a balanced approach to sustainability initiatives. Honeywell 1Q 2023 Environmental Sustainability Index is a quarterly indicator of key trends pertaining to global efforts in climate change mitigation and other sustainability initiatives. The index provides a comparison of corporate...

Metal recycler EMR has gained the world’s first environmental product declaration (EPD) for its reusable low carbon steel product. An environmental product declaration (EPD) provides an independently-verified summary of the environmental impact of a product through its life-cycle, calculated via a life-cycle assessment (LCA). Without the need for re-melting, long-distance transportation and the addition of nature-depleting iron ore, reusing steel beams and columns recovered by EMR within end-of-life buildings creates 97.5 percent less carbon emissions than conventional steel products (47kgCO2e per tonne compared with the World Steel Association’s global average...

IoT represents a transformational point in understanding the full potential of a digital-first approach to sustainability. Over the last five years, there has been a significant increase in the number of public and private sector organisations exploring and benefiting from Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Its capabilities to capture and share data are helping to create a force for good within communities across the globe. Last year, City of Edinburgh Council invested in a state-of-the-art ‘smart waste’ system that is changing how the local authority manages waste collections.  Eleven thousand...

Net zero targets are now expected from companies in every sector. Here is an official 7-step guide developed by the University of Oxford. The following are clear steps to follow in setting net zero commitments developed by the University of Oxford based on minimum criteria for the UNFCCC-backed Race to Zero Campaign and an extensive series of stakeholder workshops. By taking these steps organisations can join the global effort to meet the Paris Agreement goals. The criteria were created by the networks and initiatives that form the Race to Zero’s international climate action community. ...

ESG investment is threatened by political pressure in America that could derail efforts to tackle climate change, warns the ceo of one of the world’s largest financial organisations. The warning from deVere Group’s Nigel Green comes as it is revealed that the world’s second-largest global asset manager is resigning from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, whose members are committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. “Republicans in the U.S. appear to be stepping up their attacks on financial institutions that they say are hostile to fossil fuels,”...

COP15 leaders have called for urgent agreement on the Global Biodiversity Framework in order to save and protect the natural world. The UN Biodiversity Conference COP15 being staged in Montreal, Canada is calling for full and urgent implementation of its Global Biodiversity Framework that aims to conserve, sustainably use and rebuild the web of life. “The Global Biodiversity Framework will need to be delivered in full, urgently and across all of society,” said Inger Andersen, under-secretary-general of the UN and executive director of the UN Environment Programme, at the opening...