Hong Kong’s first blog for SDG education news and announcements
SCL has just published a report called State of Climate Action 22 which assess the progress on climate action across the sectors which collectively make up about 85% of all GHG emissions – agriculture, transport, industry, buildings, power and forestry. They used 40 indicators to measure progress and found NONE on course for 2030 targets. 27 were going in the right direction and the rest were getting worse. Published under Systems Change Lab on 26 October 2022, the report is a joint effort between Bezos Earth Fund, Climate Action Tracker, Climate Analytics, ClimateWorks Foundation, NewClimate Institute, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, and WRI. Read: https://www.wri.org/research/state-climate-action-2022#:~:text=limit%20within%20reach.-,The%20State%20of%20Climate%20Action%202022%20provides%20a%20comprehensive%20assessment,technological%20carbon%20removal%2C%20and%20finance. . . .
Climate and Health Linkages Come to the Fore Ahead of COP 27 (IISD) What long-term economic stagnation means for climate change (The Conversation) COP27: Calls for financial help come amid weak climate action (Eco-business) 'Green hush': Are fears of getting called out for greenwashing hurting firms' climate ambitions? (Eco-business) Four in 10 people don't want to have children as climate anxiety reaches record levels (Eco-business) Despite years of exposure to the climate science, I don’t believe we are headed for total societal collapse (The Guardian) 10 Traditional Chinese Food Dishes That Are Naturally Vegan (green queen) Meet 4 Startups Behind The Refillable Grocery Revolution (green queen) 3 Strategies to help you spend less at the supermarket (PCN) . . .
OK, so there are many dirty secrets in the murky world of banking. Money does that. But I came across a great substack by Bill McKibben highlighting the carbon footprint of the banking sector. He points out that while there has been plenty of media focus on the impact of crypto, actually this very explicit and obvious direct creating of atmospheric carbon pales into insignificance when you put it alongside all the carbon producing activities facilitated by the baking sector. Interesting read: If you think Bitcoin Spews Carbon, Wait Till You Hear About...Banking . . .
Jane is an award-winning social entrepreneur with a passion for design, sustainability, and innovation. As one of the 16 UNITAR Youth Ambassadors representing the Asia Pacific region, she works closely with skilled youth advocates in furthering the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In 2021, Jane founded the student-led initiative ProjectProvision to mitigate toxic consumerism in Hong Kong, which has since been featured at Cyberport, Stanford University, RTHK, and the Hong SDG Summit 2022. To further aid environmental wellbeing worldwide, she has embarked on a series of projects, such as running an accessory upcycling business and developing a bioplastic material made from food waste. Last but not least, she is passionate in public speaking, and has spoken at events held by TEDx, the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute, and the Social Enterprise World Forum among others. As a member of the ITS Youth Advisory Committee, Jane has been involved in planning exciting events fo . . .
UNFCCC Reports Warn About 2.5°C Warming Amid “Glimmers of Hope” (IISD) Just Stop Oil: do radical protests turn the public away from a cause? Here’s the evidence (The Conversation) Elephant conservation may be undermined by Twitter users who overlook main threats (The Conversation) There are no ‘natural disasters’ (Eco-business) Is green-hushing the new greenwashing? (Eco-business) State of Climate Action 2022 – Report (WRI) Universities in US and Canada beat UK in sustainability league (The Guardian) What Is Your Digital Footprint & How Can You Minimise It? (green queen) Seen from space: Extreme drought dries up rivers across the globe (CHN) Designing A Permaculture Backyard: How To Deal With Waste (PRI) . . .
With rising interest rates, the news in the mainstream media tends towards the cost of living crises for people in the world’s major economies, particularly mortgage holders. And while their difficulties are very real and many will enter relative poverty, we see yet again how the world’s marginalized are pushed from view despite the fact that they will be hit even harder and face very real questions of life and death. The UNDP has just released a report called Avoiding Too Little Too Late on International Debt Relief and it opens like this: “An already bad debt outlook has deteriorated rapidly across developing economies since the start of the year with fast rising interest rates pushing up borrowing costs, decreasing fiscal space and driving countries into or closer to debt distress.2 A least 54 developing economies are suffering from severe debt problems. Together they represent little more than 3 percent of global GDP but 18 percent of the global population, mo . . .
The UN charter was activated on 24th October 1945. UN Day is observed every year to mark the anniversary of the founding of this unique forum of most nations and peoples on earth. As with all observances, it calls a particular idea to mind and helps us reaffirm our commitments. In this case, to realizing the common agenda of humanity. So much more connects us than divides us and we would do well to remind ourselves of that amidst the doom and gloom of the media which is inherent to their function. . . .
CEOs Explore Solutions to Bridge Annual USD 4.3 Trillion SDG Financing Gap (IISD) Glaciers in the Alps are melting faster than ever – and 2022 was their worst summer yet (The Conversation) Facing the dual threat of climate change and human disturbance, Mumbai – and the world – should listen to its fishing communities (The Conversation) The implementation COP (Eco-business) School dropouts at ‘all-time high’ in climate change-hit Ganga delta (Eco-business) Pesticide use around world almost doubles since 1990, report finds (The Guardian) Watchdog bans HSBC climate ads in fresh blow to bank’s green credentials (The Guardian) Food Footprint: Which Diet Creates The Least Amount Of Food Waste? (green queen) Glass Or Plastic: Which Is Better For The Planet? (green queen) Thanks to fossil fuel crisis, wind and solar payback time drops to one year (CHN) . . .
