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Lidl launches city-wide drinks packaging recycling scheme

Posted on February 13, 2024 by dishanth

Shoppers will be able to deposit any single-use drinks packaging made from either PET plastic or aluminium, between 100ml and three litres in size. Barcodes must be attached and readable.

Collected packaging will be sent for recycling. Lidl is aiming to capture at least 10.5 tonnes of material every month.

The launch of the scheme is intended to go some way to preparing customers for Scotland’s nationwide deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks packaging, which was due to launch last August but was delayed until March 2024.

Further delays could yet be announced due to backlash from some retailers, plus the fact that a UK-wide DRS is not due to launch until early 2025 at the soonest.

DRS initiatives see a levy placed on beverages, which customers can only claim back after returning their used packaging to a certified collection point for recycling.

But Lidl has elected not to add a levy to its beverages at present. Instead, customers will receive a 5p reward for every bottle or can returned, with no limit on the amount that each person can claim. They can receive the rewards as either a voucher for money off their next shop, or as a donation to Lidl’s charity partner in Scotland, STV Children’s appeal. The appeal supports children in poverty with education, mental health care, social activities and necessities like food and clothing.

Lidl GB’s chief commercial officer Richard Bourns described the initiative as “a win-win for all”.

He said: “We’re on a mission to eliminate all unnecessary waste, and with over 95% of our own-brand packaging now recyclable, reusable, or refillable we’ve been making great progress. We know that Lidl shoppers share this passion, and we hope that utilising this infrastructure, which might otherwise have been left dormant, will help to make recycling their cans and bottles even more convenient for them.”

Source edie

Use offshore wind expansions to drive nature restoration, report urges

Posted on September 1, 2022September 1, 2022 by dishanth

The new RSPB report, published on 31 August finds that the UK can continue to generate renewables at sea while also strengthening efforts to protect nature, creating mutual benefits that help tackle the climate and ecological crises.

The report finds that as the UK moves to scale up wind farm expansions from 15GW currently, policymakers and project developers will need to consider the “substantial footprint” this will have around UK coasts.

The report calls for policymakers to introduce “robust” evidence based on ecological grounds to outline the environmental costs of setting new offshore windfarms into the seabed. It also calls for Impact assessments that identify cumulative impacts based on location and for country-level marine plans to be introduced to provide better clarity for project development.

Pictured: The 400MW Rampion Offshore Wind Farm

Recommendations also include introducing adaptive management techniques that would provide project flexibility if new research were to surface and, where necessary, strategic compensation based on ecological impacts.

An overarching theme of the report is the need for a “marine net-gain” system to ensure that renewables development contributes to environmental restoration.

RenewableUK’s Environmental Policy Analyst Juliette Webb said: ”Not only are new offshore wind farms lowering our energy bills, but they also remain critical to tackling climate change, which poses the greatest threat to bird populations and our natural environment. It’s vitally important that we build well-sited clean energy projects to reach net zero as fast as possible.

“We’re working with the RSPB to ensure that we develop offshore wind farms in an environmentally sensitive way that protects birds and support marine ecosystems. This includes adapting the location of our wind farms and providing specially-designed safe places for birds to nest at sea.”

It was recently revealed that more than a fifth of capacity additions to the global offshore wind market came from the UK in 2021, with the industry creating enough green energy to power one-third of UK homes.

The Crown Estate’s tenth annual Offshore Wind Report found that global offshore wind capacity reached more than 48.2GW, of which more than 20% came from the UK. The report adds that, by the end of 2021, the capacity of fully commissioned sites in the UK had reached 11.3GW – an 8% increase compared to 2020.

Offshore wind energy generation in 2021 was enough to cover the needs of 33% of UK homes. In 2011, this figure was just 4%. The UK Government notably has a commitment for the nation to host 40GW of offshore wind by 2030.

While the UK is surging towards its ambitious targets for offshore wind, much more is needed from policymakers to support nature. A preliminary report from the GFI last October highlighted how planned public spending on nature conservation and restoration in the UK for 2022-2032 is up to £97bn short of the levels needed to deliver commitments made by the UK Government and devolved governments.

While there are legally binding targets to halting species decline, the report urges that a joined up approach be introduced to help embed this into the wider net-zero target.

RSPB’s Katie-jo Luxton sadi: “We have a clear vision of what we want to achieve; thriving seabird colonies and sustainable energy. However, the current system is not working. Energy companies are being locked into development sites that are problematic for wildlife and the Secretary of State is regularly being asked to make impossible decisions that may achieve our energy targets but only at the expense of our seabirds and marine habitats.

“We need to change this, as the decisions we make today will have long lasting and potentially irreversible effects on seabird colonies that are already struggling. This report clearly states what we need to do at a time when decision-makers are beginning to plan new developments. With the right planning and a cross sector approach, we can achieve world leading ocean recovery and secure renewable energy, but only if we take transformative Nature Positive action, now.”

Source Edie

British energy transition ‘an opportunity to train 200,000 workers this decade’

Posted on August 9, 2022August 8, 2022 by dishanth

PwC’s research paper on jobs in the energy transition concludes that, by 2030, 270,000 skilled workers from the fossil fuel sectors will likely be leaving as the net-zero transition continues. At the same time, 400,000 jobs will be needed in low-carbon energy sectors including nuclear, renewables and hydrogen. With one-fifth of the fossil fuel leavers set to retire, there could be an overall gap of 200,000 skilled workers for the clean energy sectors.

This raises questions about whether the Government, public and private sectors have ambitious and joined-up enough plans to reskill and upskill the existing workforce and to grow the pipeline of fresh talent.

Under Boris Johnson, the Government created a Green Jobs Taskforce featuring representatives from businesses, trade bodies, education and NGOs. The Taskforce’s has published one major briefing with another due this year. However, no fully updated careers and/or skills strategy has been created.

The Government’s overarching ambition is for the UK to host two million green-collar jobs in 2030, up from around 208,000 in 2020. Shortly after the publication of the Net-Zero Strategy last October, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) warned that it only detailed the creation of a further 440,000 green jobs by 2030. The High Court has since ruled that the Strategy is unlawful as it does not properly detail how the UK will achieve its legally binding climate targets.

PwC’s head of regions Carl Sizer said: “The big challenge will be finding additional workers outside the energy sector to build the clean energy labourforce needed for net zero. The opportunity is to create highly skilled jobs in locations that may currently lack these.”

To his latter point, the energy transition may well present opportunities for the Government to deliver on its levelling up rhetoric, as distribution networks will need upgrading across the country and as small-scale nuclear and renewables grow.

Sizer also noted the opportunity to get more women, and others from demographics currently under-represented in the UK’s energy sector, trained up. One 2021 report from PwC found that women hold just 21% of executive positions in the energy sector and that. When positions at all levels are covered, less than 19% are estimated to be held by women. The sector is also lagging on ethnic diversity, with 93% of staff being white compared with 79-82% of the general population.

PwC is proposing the development of new energy apprenticeship programmes and technical training schemes that can be taken mid-career, along with targeted communications. The report states that “a range of interventions” should be considered to encourage under-represented demographics to consider energy jobs.

Allaying job loss fears

The paper emphasises that, while job losses in the coal sector are forthcoming, with the UK’s remaining plants needing to come offline by autumn 2024, job gains in other sectors will more than offset the reduction of jobs in the fossil fuel space.

PwC states that up to 90% of roles in oil, gas and coal are transferable, meaning that job losses this decade are likely to be minimal – particularly if the private sector increases efforts in upskilling as the transition plan mandate is rolled out. Net job gains are driven by the nuclear and offshore wind sector, which the Conservative Government have increased targets for through the recent Energy Security Strategy. The Strategy also increased targets for hydrogen, presenting another major reskilling and upskilling opportunity.

“While the shift to green energy is as significant as the industrial revolution, job loss should be far less this time round,” said PwC’s Sizer. “Rather than face an abrupt cliff edge, workers will see their roles become greener over time, many should be able to stay in the same company, while others will reach retirement age.”

Many firms, the report notes, are already advertising for jobs in functions and sectors that can reduce emissions. It states that 24.6% of job adverts in the electricity and gas sector were in these roles in 2021, up from 21.1% in 2020.

Source Edie

Public sector buildings to get £635m energy efficiency upgrade

Posted on August 2, 2022 by dishanth

The Government has announced this morning (2 August), that the latest PSDS funding will be made available to enable organisations to invest in low-carbon solutions for public sector buildings like schools, hospitals and town halls.

Public sector organisations, such as local authorities, will be able to apply for a share of £625m allocation from September. The Government expects funding to be spent on solutions including heat pumps, double glazing and insulation to help lower energy costs through improved efficiency.

Public sector bodies and taxpayers are expected to save an average of £650m per year on energy bills over the next 15 years through the scheme. Already, more than 730 grants have been awarded across Phase 1 of the PSDS, which is helping to support around 30,000 green jobs.

Business and Energy Minister Lord Callanan said: “We are already delivering upgrades to hundreds of public buildings across England, making them cheaper to run and saving taxpayers millions of pounds each year.

“By helping even more public sector bodies ditch costly fossil fuels, we are taking an important step towards a more sustainable future while driving economic growth across the country and continuing to support tens of thousands of jobs.”

The scheme forms part of the Chancellor’s ‘Plan for Jobs 2020’ commitment to support the UK’s economic recovery and will reduce non-traded carbon emissions from the public sector by up to 0.1 MtCO2e/year and up to 0.5 MtCO2e over the next two Carbon Budgets. According to BEIS, this is equivalent to taking nearly 45,000 cars off the road.

The latest funding round is part of the £2.5bn set aside for government spending on upgrading public sector buildings between 2020 and 2025. The PSDS will help meet a goal of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75%, compared to 2017 levels, by 2037.

Those trying to gain access to funding from the PSDS have expressed annoyance at the amount of red tape that they needed to navigate, while also lamenting the lack of clarity on when funding windows will open and close. Some sustainability professionals operating within the sector claimed they didn’t have enough time or relevant information to submit a grant request. Indeed, smaller entities in the public sector may be put off by the time and expertise required to submit for funding.

The Net Zero Estate Playbook, has been published by the Cabinet Office to provide details on how to access the PSDS. It states that a fully developed “Green Book” for compliance should be included in the submission, but written by someone with Better Business Cases Practitioner qualifications.

Earlier this year, the National Audit Office (NAO) criticised the Government’s approach to accounting and reporting on public sector greenhouse gas emissions, citing multiple frameworks and a lack of ownership as reasons that create confusion for professionals in the sector.

The new NAO report finds that while central government departments are reporting decent progress on decarbonisation a “patchy” and “inconsistent” approach to reporting and accounting is creating confusion in the sector.

Beyond net-zero in the public sector

The public sector represents a critical piece of the UK’s net-zero puzzle. From local government to hospitals, schools and social housing providers – a significant amount of investment and work is required to cut emissions and embrace clean technologies. But beyond simply ‘reducing’, public sector organisations also have a key role to play in enhancing the environmental and social sustainability of the communities they serve.

This report aims to highlight the optimism in the sector in not only playing a key role in reaching net-zero, but also contributing to a “net-positive” approach to society, the economy and the planet.

Read the report here.

Source Edie

Amazon launches e-cargo bike delivery hub in London

Posted on July 5, 2022 by dishanth

The e-commerce giant is aiming to deliver 50% of its shipments using net-zero carbon methods by 2030. As international shipping and aviation are more challenging to decarbonise than road transport, Amazon has been investing in electric road transport for short-term emissions reductions while backing longer term R&D on aviation and maritime. Earlier this year, Amazon launched its first five pure electric HGVs in the UK

Within cities like London, electric micromobility is particularly important, given the Capital’s 2030 net-zero target and its clean air targets. Businesses also see electric mobility as a way to minimise costs by avoiding Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) costs. Around 2,000 e-cargo bikes were sold in the UK for commercial use by the Bicycle Association’s figures.

Amazon’s new e-cargo bikes will be kept at a dedicated micromobility hub in Shoreditch. edie inquired as to how many bikes will operate out of this hub but this information is not being made public. Amazon will be using learnings from this hub to launch other locations in other UK cities in the near future.

With the first e-cargo bike hub, plus its existing fleet of electric delivery vans and on-foot delivery workers, Amazon estimates that it will make more than five million zero-emission last-mile deliveries in central London each year from 2023.

Hackney Council’s cabinet member for the environment and transport, Cllr Mete Coban, said: “Tackling transport emissions is key if we’re to reach net-zero. We’re really pleased to have worked with Amazon to support them to take traditional vans off the streets and replace them with e-cargo bikes. This will help to reduce emissions and improve air quality for people in Hackney and beyond.”

Spotlight on solar

To coincide with the e-cargo bike announcement, Amazon has also confirmed plans to add utility-scale solar panel projects at its facilities in Manchester, Coalville, Haydock, Bristol and Milton Keynes by the end of the year. It has not disclosed the capacity of each project. Amazon is notably aiming to reach 100% renewable electricity for operations by 2025.

This move has been welcomed by Energy Minister Greg Hands who called it a “fantastic vote of confidence in British energy security”, which can be boosted by businesses “taking the lead in moving away from expensive fossil fuels”.

But the UK Government’s Energy Security Strategy notably includes new supporting measures for expanding North Sea fossil fuel production as well as for low-carbon sectors like nuclear and offshore wind. We will find out this month whether the Strategy will also serve as a means for the Government to lift a ban on fracking, which it has said it will do if there is new scientific evidence on preventing tremors.

Source Edie

‘UK’s biggest’ carbon capture facility opens at chemical manufacturing site in Cheshire

Posted on June 27, 2022June 26, 2022 by dishanth

The CCU plant has been added to the firm’s manufacturing plant in Northwich and has a stated capacity of up to 40,000 tonnes of CO2 capture each year. It will be used to capture emissions resulting from the processes of manufacturing salt, sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. 40,000 tonnes is equivalent to 10% of the emissions generated by TCE in the UK every year.

For the past ten months, TCE has been testing the CCU plant at a limited capacity and has been measuring the purity of the captured CO2. It is hoped that the captured CO2 can be supplied to the food industry, which has faced shortages in recent months, and to manufacture lower-carbon sodium bicarbonate at the plant itself. Sodium bicarbonate is a key ingredient in products ranging from glass, to detergent, to pharmaceuticals. A key use in healthcare is haemodialysis.

edie reached out to TCE for more information on how the carbon capture process at the plant works. A spokesperson confirmed that the facility uses Advanced Amine Technology provided by US-based industrial solutions provider Pentair. This process involves taking exhaust gasses and using a flue gas scrubber to remove impurities. The gases are then transferred into an absorber column where they are mixed with an amine-based fluid that captures CO2. When heated in a stripper column, that liquid releases the CO2, leaving the amine solution free for reuse.

TCE has recorded a 50% reduction in the emissions intensity of its products since 2000 and is aiming to reach an 80% reduction by 2030. It sees CCU playing a significant role in delivering this 2030 goal, after improvements in energy and material efficiency and the use of combined heat and power (CHP) units helped to deliver the progress to date.

Government involvement

The UK Government provided £4.2m in grant funding to the TCE project, with the private sector – mainly TCE’s parent firm Tata Group – footing the remainder of the £20m costs. The Government funding was provided through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) £505m Energy Innovation Programme, which launched in 2015 and closed to applications in 2021. Around £100m of the Programme’s budget was allocated to CCU and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The Government’s overarching commitment on CCS is for four industrial clusters utilising CCS to be brought online using a mix of private and public finance – the first of which should come online this decade. Specifically, BEIS is targeting a total national CCS and CCU capacity of 20 million tonnes by 2030.

TCE’s plant is the largest in the UK at present, but will be the forebear to these larger projects. BEIS has selected the East Coast Cluster around Humber and Teesside and HyNet North West in Liverpool Bay as the first two large industrial cluster schemes which will receive public funding at scale, provided that they can prove their business case and evidence the environmental benefits of their innovative technologies.

BEIS Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said TCE’s plant is “cutting-edge” and “demonstrates how carbon capture is attracting new private capital into the UK and is boosting new innovation in green technologies”. He added: “We are determined to make the UK a world-leader in carbon capture, which will help us reduce emissions and be a key part of the future of British industry.”

Representing the Government at the opening of the TCE plant was Mike Amesbury MP, the Labour representative for Weaver Vale. He said: “Manufacturing has been key to this area for over 150 years so it’s great to be part of such an historic moment. Even though, today, there are many competing agendas, sustainability is still crucial and we must continue working towards net-zero.

“The investment made by TCE in this leading-edge carbon capture plant will not only support the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions here, but it will also pave the way for others to use this technology.”

The opening of the plant comes shortly after the UK Government opened its first licencing round for projects that will enable the large-scale storage of captured carbon under the North Sea. While TCE will use and sell its captured emissions, some other firms intend to store them in this manner.

Source Edie

UK Government launches first licensing round for carbon storage projects

Posted on June 15, 2022 by dishanth

Operated by the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the licensing round is inviting bids for projects in 13 areas within the North Sea and will be open rob ifs until 13 September. Plots of land are being offered off the coast in Aberdeen, Teesside, Liverpool and Lincolnshire.

The chosen 13 areas are “a mixture of saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas field storage opportunities”, the NSTA said in a statement, adding that it has “fully considered issues including co-location with offshore wind… environmental issues and potential overlaps with existing or future [oil and gas] licences”.

It is expected that the new licences will be awarded in early 2023. Applicants will also need to secure a lease from The Crown Estate or Crown Estate Scotland, as they would if they were applying to host offshore wind. The timelines for commencing the injection of carbon dioxide will depend on the project sizes and the approaches of the bidding companies, but the NSTA expects some projects to come online within six years of being granted a license and lease.

To date, the UK Government has only issued six licences to carbon storage projects in the North Sea. It first began issuing licenses in 2010, under the Energy Act of 2008.

The launch of the new licencing round, which is set to be the first of many through to 2030 and beyond, has been taken “in response to unprecedented levels of interest from companies eager to enter the market”, the NSTA has stated. These companies include existing oil and gas firms and new firms created to develop CCS technologies, often working in partnership.

NSTA boss Andy Samuel said: “This is an important day on the path to net-zero emissions. In addition to the huge environmental benefits of significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, the facilities will provide opportunities for many thousands of highly-skilled jobs.

“Carbon storage is going to be needed across the world. There is growing investor appetite and we are keen to accelerate the development of the carbon storage sector so that the UK is well-positioned to be a global leader.”

The NSTA was known as the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) prior to this March. Oil and gas activities are still its primary remit.

Policy vision, market stimulation

The UK’s decision to legislate for net-zero by 2050, made under Theresa May’s Government in 2019, provided the foundation for a new groundswell of interest in carbon capture and storage (CCS). Efforts to scale the sector had been made in the 2010s, but the Government’s decision to axe a £1bn fund to commercialise CCS technologies in 2015 was a major spanner in the works.

On the policy piece, the UK Government’s Ten-Point Plan, published in November 2020, envisions the creation of four industrial clusters utilizing CCS – the first of which should come online fully this decade. Policymakers have emphasised the importance of public-private collaboration in commercialising CCS technologies and scaling them up rapidly. The Ten-Point Plan’s specific target is for the UK to capture at least 20 million tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030, but some believe that a capacity of just 10 million tonnes will be likely within this timeframe.

The Carbon Capture and Storage Association has pointed out that the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has recommended that the UK aims to bring 22-30 million tonnes of annual CCS capacity online by 2030. Achieving this aim will require at least £1.2bn of funding by the Association’s estimates.

CCS has been described by the CCC as a “non-optional” component of the UK’s net-zero transition.

However, significant concerns remain around whether it will truly be used to address emissions from hard-to-abate sectors. MPs and researchers have questioned whether sectors that are easier to abate could simply purchase up credits, leaving none for heavy emitting sectors like steel. There are also concerns that the use of CCS could be used as an excuse to de-prioritise emissions reductions, which could be risky in terms of climate impact, as CCS technologies are in their relative infancy at a commercial scale.

Source edie

Sustainability recruitment firm Acre launches in Asia

Posted on June 6, 2022 by dishanth

One of Asia’s first specialist sustainability recruitment firms has opened for business in Singapore as demand for jobs in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space grows in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Acre, which was founded in London by British zoology graduate Andy Cartland in 2003, will use Singapore as its Asia Pacific base as it looks to service clients around the region.

Cartland said the time was right to launch in Asia, as the region is experiencing rapid growth in demand for sustainability talent and skills.

Acre posts candidates working in sustainability, impact investing, health and safety, and energy and clean technology, and will be compete with other firms that offer ESG recruitment services, such as NextWave, Formative Search, and Odgers Berndtson.

“Asia is arguably behind Europe and the United States when it comes to sustainability. But the region is moving at light speed to catch up. We want to be part of this transition,” Cartland told Eco-Business.

He noted that the business took a 20 percent revenue hit in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, but 2021 saw the business rebound and revenue and headcount grow by 100 percent, which has enabled the company to expand to Asia.

“We are on track for similar growth this year as well,” he said.

Singapore will be Acre’s third overseas launch, with it having established a European operation in Amsterdam and a North American hub in New York in recent years.

Acre’s Singapore launch will enable the company to service existing multinational clients with operations in the region, and also local companies in the global supply chain.

The company’s past work in Asia includes recruiting a leadership team for the Bangladesh Accord, a coalition of global brands, retailers and trade unions set up in 2013 to improve health and safety in Bangladesh’s garment industry.

Among the candidates Acre has placed recently include the global environment, health and safety director at Amazon, and the executive director of the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), a Swiss non-profit working to tackle child labour in the cocoa sector.

Cartland, who will move from London to Singapore in August to oversee the launch, has appointed an executive director for the Singapore office, who has yet to resign from his current job and will relocate from Hong Kong.

Acre’s Asia launch comes a month after a report by business social network LinkedIn showed 30 percent growth in hiring for green jobs between 2016 and 2021, with a spike in sustainability recruitment between 2020 and 2021.

The report also highlighted a shortage of talent for ESG roles in the region.

Cartland said that while there is a large talent pool of sustainability professionals in London, candidates in Asia, where the sustainability sector is less developed, are harder to find.

“Asia faces a different candidate sourcing challenge, and we will need to help clients navigate the [ESG] skills gap,” he said. “Our role is to find people where they’re tough to find.”

This will may involve thinking creatively about transitioning people out of non-sustainability roles, he said.

Acre is aiming to double its Asia operation by its second year, following the growth trajectories of its European and American businesses, Cartland said.

Source Eco Business

UK Government promises first ‘net-zero’ transatlantic flight in 2023

Posted on May 18, 2022May 17, 2022 by dishanth

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps unveiled the ambition today (14 May) after a meeting with executive decision-makers at airlines, fuel producers and aircraft manufacturers in the US this week. He said that the flight will “demonstrate the vital role that sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) can play in decarbonising aviation”.

The flight will be powered using 100% SAF, with no conventional jet fuel in the mix. The Department for Transport (DfT) has asked the industry to prioritise the use of SAFs made using waste cooking oil and from household waste, as SAFs made using virgin biofuels can be detrimental in terms of land-use.

Currently, international regulations limit the level of SAF in blends to 50%. Flights can only be powered by blends exceeding 50% if the Civil Aviation Authority deems the aircraft suitable for a higher proportion. The DfT and industry will work to obtain this certification; Rolls-Royce has stated that it has already tested large, commercial aero engines using 100% SAF successfully.

SAFs purport to generate lifecycle emissions at levels significantly lower than conventional jet fuel. The DfT is forecasting a reduction of 70-80% in this case. To ensure that the transatlantic flight is net-zero, the DfT will work with the aviation industry to offset residual emissions.

A Department spokesperson told edie: “The Government will not prescribe the greenhouse gas removal approach to be utilised. Rather, it is anticipated that industry will make the decision based on a variety of factors such as innovation, availability, cost and time.”

Common offsetting approaches include financing nature restoration, financing the transition to renewable electricity, accelerating the uptake of cleaner cooking fuels in developing regions and financing nature protection. Offsetting using man-made carbon capture technologies is in its relative infancy, as there are not an abundance of large-scale projects in operation yet.

An approach to be expected

The UK Government’s approach to decarbonising aviation is broadly in line with that of industry body the UK Sustainable Aviation coalition, which is prioritising efficient planes with SAF use. Residual emissions can then be addressed using offsetting.

In terms of SAF supply, the DfT has asked the industry to collaborate to bring at least three commercial SAF production plants online in the UK by 2025. It has partnered with LanzaTech, Velocys and Philipps 66 to help deliver this ambition, through its Jet Zero Council.

The DfT is also mulling a SAF mandate. Its proposals involve requirements for jet fuel producers to ensure that at least 10% of their production annually is SAF by 2030, rising to 75% by 2050.

Many green groups have urged the Government to take a more diversified approach to achieving its net-zero targets for aviation, which are set at 2040 for airport operations and domestic flights, and 2050 for international flights. Concerns have been expressed that the industry and the Government are not giving enough focus to electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft which, while they will take longer to commercialise, may well result in far lower lifecycle emissions.

The Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) most optimistic forecast for the use of SAF in the UK’s aviation industry is for it to cover 7% of fuel supply in 2030. With this in mind, and with electric and hydrogen technologies for large planes still years from maturity, the CCC has recommended that the Government caps airport expansion and limits the growth in passenger numbers. The Conservative Party has, to date, been staunchly against this approach – as have most large businesses in the sector. Shapps has stated that SAF offers a pathway to “guilt-free” flights.

Source edie

John Lewis Partnership funnels £1m raised through plastic bag charge into circular economy innovations

Posted on May 18, 2022May 17, 2022 by dishanth

Launched last November as part of the retail giant’s partnership with environmental charity Hubbub, the funding was set aside using money raised through sales of plastic bags for life. It forms part of John Lewis Partnership’s work to develop and scale permanent buy-back or take-back schemes for all product categories by 2025.

The John Lewis Partnership and Hubbub have today (16 May) announced which four projects will receive a share of the funding and revealed that 245 applications were made to the fund.

The first successful applicant was Pip and Henry, which is developing solutions to minimize wasted children’s shoes. Pip and Henry research has revealed that children under the age of seven replace their shoes, on average, every four months. As most shoes are not designed for easy recycling, 85% of children’s shoes thrown away in the UK are sent to landfill or incineration.

Pip and Henry’s solutions are to design shoes that can be expanded as children grow, and to design shoes that are easier to recycle. The brand has already had success designing shoes made from organic and recycled materials.

Also in the fashion space, funding will be allocated to the University of Leeds’ ‘Polyester Infinity’ programme. Researchers are investigating low-water, low-emission methods of recycling waste polyester. Recycled polyester used by big-name fashion brands is typically made using plastic bottles, as it is challenging to remove dyes from polyester fabrics.

According to the Changing Markets Foundation, global polyester production has doubled globally since 2020. Most garments sold on the high street now include polyester blend or pure polyester components. This poses challenges regarding lifecycle emissions, garment durability, garment recyclability and microfibre shedding.

The other two projects receiving a share of funding are from period product brand DAME and the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC).

DAME will use the funds to develop and launch a new digital platform which educates and supports people as they make the switch from disposable menstrual products – tampons and sanitary pads – to reusable menstrual cups. Duquense University School of Nursing estimates that, without reusable solutions, the average woman will use at least 9,120 tampons or sanitary towels in her lifetime. Most of these products contain plastics.

Finally, the SLIC is working to launch up to ten ‘lend and mend’ spaces at libraries across Scotland. The spaces will be staffed by volunteers and people will be able to come along to lend out household items they use rarely, and access advice on repair. This is similar to the ‘Library of Things’ movement in England and the ‘People’s Workshops’ in Norway.

“Our throw-away culture and the waste it generates are unquestionably among the biggest challenges we will face in our lifetime and tackling them will require a different kind of thinking,” said the John Lewis Partnership’s director of ethics and sustainability Marija Rompani.

“All these inspirational projects have the potential to create real impact and will provide valuable learnings in promoting the urgent need to adopt a more circular way of living.   With the funding awarded for the year ahead we want to help these amazing ideas to thrive for the long-term benefit of us all.”

John Lewis Partnership, through Waitrose & Partners, has previously worked with Hubbub to allocate £1m to innovators working to solve the plastic pollution crisis.

Source edie