November News You Can Use
The recent election shows that the United States is narrowly divided, voting for candidates with strikingly different visions of the future. The incoming administration will claim that their 2% victory is a sweeping mandate for the vicious ejection of the families of undocumented immigrants, whether some are citizens or not. Their agenda includes dismantling environmental, labor and other protections, persecution of perceived enemies, and spreading fear and hatred. They are not seeking common ground to solve shared challenges for the well-being of the American people and indeed for all people and for the planet.
Accelerating climate impacts mean we need to build resilience and community strength. We need more science, not less. How can we help people understand the costs of climate disruption to food, to insurance and to other systems? We need to address how corporations have structured work to preclude benefits and to make schedules flex for the benefit of the corporations not for workers. Wages are too low. Automation and AI will continue to replace workers, so new ways of earning a living must be invented.
This is not a time to retreat, or to flee. We must mount vigorous resistance to Trump’s worst moves. But we also need to build community, to listen to one another and to cultivate joy. We can’t let a dangerous administration stop us from making progress through local, state and international action towards a regenerative future. Here is an inspiring example of restoration.
Welcome to this new version of “News You Can Use,” now on Substack. We’ve migrated the publication here with the intention of expanding our audience, as well as offering some new features in the weeks and months to come. For those who’ve been subscribing for some time we hope this migration will be seamless. And, we encourage you to share this with friends, which should be easier to do with the features here.
We’d love to hear from you! Send us new technologies, resources, stories and insights.
Events
Climate Leaders Monthly Meeting
Thursday, November 21, 4:00 - 5:00 PM PT
Join the Climate Leaders Meeting to exchange resources and inspiration with others who are also taking action to create a vibrant and healthy future.
All leaders are welcome.
This is a monthly on-line event hosted by Minerva Ventures.
Wednesday, November 13 · 5 - 10pm PST
A unique experience that intertwines the climate and healing movements.
To fight back escalating climate change, the University of Exeter has identified positive tipping points that must happen in the next 18 months to have the most impact this decade.
Watch Recordings of the Talks From NY Climate Week 2024
Opportunities for Action
Be Cool! is a campaign by the ClimateMusic Project and Music Declares Emergency to bring large numbers of new people to the climate fight. They are inviting young people everywhere to sing on the chorus of “I Wanna Be Cool”, an original song by award-winning recording artists Will Kimbrough and Brant Miller. In addition to bringing their voices to the song, participants will be learning about climate change and mobilizing action among their peers, their families, their communities and the song’s audiences. Check out the song, and a video of the premier of another original work on their website, and get involved!
Tell the World Bank: Honor your mission. Stop funding fossil fuels and fund just clean energy for a livable planet. Sign the Petition.
Domains for Climate Action
Food and Agriculture
Could Fungi + Food Waste Be the Next Sustainable Protein?
“We’ve known for many years that fungi are nature’s degraders,” said Vayu Hill-Maini, chef-turned-bioengineer assistant professor at Stanford, noting that fungi used to reduce streams of food waste could be the “most efficient way to convert waste into human food.” The research examined a process widely used in Indonesia to create oncom, a versatile fermented food traditionally produced from soymilk by-products. Hill-Maini’s research found that the fungus they isolated will grow on diverse by-products such as fruit and vegetable pomace and plant-based milk waste, does not encode mycotoxins, and could create foods that would be positively perceived by consumers outside Indonesia. Their research shows great potential for reducing food waste, and at the same time creating a potentially exciting new class of alternative proteins.
A New Podcast Explores Fossil Fuels in Our Food System
Fuel to Fork is a new podcast series by TABLE, IPES-Food and Global Alliance for the Future of Food. As they say in their introduction: When we bite into a juicy apple, barrels of crude oil and natural gas cylinders might not spring to mind. But fossil fuels are the hidden ingredient behind all of our food. For every calorie that ends up on our plates, around 10 calories of fossil fuels are used. From the diesel powering the tractors to the fertilizer in the field and plastic packaging, fossil fuels are the lifeblood of the food industry. What are the options to phase out fossil fuels in food and what are the powerful forces standing in the way?”
Energy
Electrify Now!
With Trump coming back into office, and major Inflation Reduction Act incentives to support home electrification just coming online, maybe the next two months are a critical time for home electrification. Energy use in homes is responsible for 42% of energy-related emissions in the US, tied for the most part to five things over which you have control: the car you drive, how you heat the air and water in your home, how you cook your food, how you dry your clothes, and how you power those things. For now, if you own your home, and to a lesser extent if you are a renter, the IRA will provide significant financial support to do these things. For a specific plan for your situation I recommend checking out these three organizations: Rewiring America, Quit Carbon, and The Switch is On. Also here is an excellent edition of the Volts Podcast on the topic.
Finance
Rich Countries Could Raise $5 Trillion For Climate Per Year
Using windfall taxes on fossil fuels, ending harmful subsidies and a wealth tax on billionaires, research by Oil Change International has shown the potential to more than sufficiently finance the $1 trillion annually requested by developing nations to help them cut greenhouse gases and cope with the impacts of extreme weather. Laurie van der Burg, the public finance lead at Oil Change International, said: “Last year, countries agreed to phase out fossil fuels. Now it’s time for rich countries to pay up to turn that promise into action.” Finance will be the key issue discussed at the next UN climate summit, Cop29 in Azerbaijan later this month. Read more.
An Innovative Solution to Fund Reforestation
Tropical Forests Forever Facility is a new fund originally presented by Brazil at the COP28 in Dubai last November that could ultimately pay out $4 billion a year to protect forests. The idea is to pay countries for the ecosystem services performed by forests, rather than generating funds from destroying the forests. The idea is that wealthy nations and big philanthropies would loan the fund $25 billion, to be repaid with interest. That money would then help attract another $100 billion from private investors, who would be paid a fixed rate of return. The funds would be invested in a diversified portfolio to generate returns for investors, and use what’s left over to pay developing countries to maintain their forests. While no money has yet been raised, the T.F.F.F. has received some support from a number of countries and from the World Bank. Read more.
Circular Economy/Materials
Water/Natural Resources/Biodiversity
Built Environment
Zillow Now Shows Climate Risk Data For Homes
The real estate site Zillow, relied upon for home sales and rental listings, is about to include data on climate risk provided by First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that assesses climate risk. Scores on the site will reflect each property’s susceptibility to flood, wildfire, wind, heat and air quality risks. First Street uses models, updated each year, to determine the likelihood and potential severity of a climate disaster in a given area, according to Matthew Eby, the company’s founder and chief executive. More here.
Transportation
Health
Gas Stoves are Far More Deadly Than Previously Thought
A new study from two Spanish researchers found that indoor pollution, “cuts short the lives of millions of Europeans cooking on gas appliances.” In fact their study put the number at roughly 40,000 premature deaths per year from nitrogen dioxide from gas cooking. Notably neither their study, nor a similar report placing the number of premature deaths from gas stove use in the US at 19,000 per year, took into account other harmful gases, such as carbon monoxide, which can cause headaches and dizziness, or benzene, which has been linked to blood cancers. More here.
Climate Interventions:
Regeneration, Methane, Geoengineering, CCUS
Aquarry, the startup that won the Pitch Competition at VERGE 24, uses pit lakes - the lakes that form when open pit mines close, and an approach developed for ocean-based CO2 removal, to remove and permanently store atmospheric CO2. There are tens of thousands of these lakes around the world, and Aquarry’s approach makes these a potent resource for carbon removal affordably and at scale. According to Evergreen Climate Innovations, an investor in Aquarry, “Think of it as ocean-less alkalinity enhancement for safe, measurable, and durable carbon removal. Pit lakes are more of a closed system than the world’s oceans, and as former mines, the addition of alkalinity can actually help to remediate these sites.”
Adaptation and Resilience
Policy
California is Working to “Trump Proof” Its Climate Policies
Concerned about the impact of a second Trump presidency, California has been working for months to protect it’s leading edge policies, which have set the stage for the rest of the nation and the world. California’s climate policies, which have set the pace for the rest of the nation and the world. For example, California has requested permission from the Biden administration to enact one of the most ambitious climate rules of any nation: a ban on the sale of new gas-powered passenger vehicles in the state after 2035. The Democratic-controlled state legislature has also passed a first-in-the-nation law requiring major companies to disclose their greenhouse emissions. California is working on agreements with industrial polluters including electric utilities, oil companies and global corporations to reduce emissions. The idea is that companies would prefer legal agreements to cut emissions or pay for remediation, rather than wind up in court and potential be liable for much higher sums. Read more.
Five Policies to Turbocharge Clean Manufacturing
Jeffrey Rissman, senior director for industry at nonpartisan clean-energy think tank Energy Innovation and author of Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity, has the following recommendations to ensure the deployment of clean manufacturing at scale: a tax credit for the production of clean industrial heat; reform of electricity markets to value highly flexible energy-storage technologies; reauthorize and expand the U.S. Department of Energy’s Industrial Demonstrations Program; extend and expand the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit; and enact a tariff on imported products based on the greenhouse gases emitted when those products were manufactured. Read more.
Not All the Election News Was Bad For the Climate
In at least 5 states, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota and Rhode Island, voters approved initiatives to fund conservation or climate resilience. Justin Balik, senior state program director for the advocacy group Evergreen Action, believes they succeeded because they conveyed the concrete benefits of environmental action: “What does this mean for the air that you’re breathing, how does this make your energy more affordable, how does this make your community safer?” Meaningful direction for a way forward on climate perhaps. Additonally, in Washington State, voters weighed in to keep the state’s landmark climate law that created a cap-and-invest program that has raised billions of dollars for clean energy and electrification projects across the state.
Climate News
2024 Will Have Been the First Year Above 1.5°C
In it’s latest “state of the climate” quarterly update, Carbon Brief finds:
We Are Headed Toward 3.1°C Warming by 2100 as Emissions Continue to Rise
The latest Global Emissions Report from the United Nations finds us failing to limit emissions, and thus failing to limit temperature rise. UN Secretary-General António Guterres made an impassioned plea, stating, “The emissions gap is not an abstract notion. There is a direct link between increasing emissions and increasingly frequent and intense climate disasters. Around the world, people are paying a terrible price.” The report finds that cuts of 42 per cent are needed by 2030 and 57 per cent by 2035 to get on track for 1.5°C. Meanwhile emissions rose by 1.3% last year. Read more in The NYTimes.
The EU Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions 8% In A Year
“As we head off soon to COP29, we once again demonstrate to our international partners that it is possible to take climate action and invest in growing our economy at the same time,” the EU’s climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said as the European Commission published the 2024 edition of its annual EU Climate Action Progress Report. This brings the drop in emissions since the 1990 baseline to 37%, still well below the 2030 target of at least 55%, but at least trending in the right direction. Read more.
1.5°C May Be Over, But There is Still Much To Work Toward
Heated (a fabulous climate newsletter) checked in with multiple climate scientists post-election, and all agreed that even under a President Harris the 1.5°C target was probably out of reach, and under Trump it definitely is. However, that is not a reason to give up. "Every fraction of a degree matters,” Rachel Cleetus, a policy director and economist at the Union for Concerned Scientists, told Heated. “Globally, we have to do everything we can.” Simon Evans, deputy editor of Carbon Brief and co-author of a study on how much Trump’s presidency could impact emissions, estimated that a Trump administration could add 4 billion tons of carbon emissions to the atmosphere by the end of the decade, the equivalent of $900 billion in global climate damages. But the experts also pointed to reasons to hope that 2°C is still within reach, including efforts by other countries, the popularity of the IRA making it hard to completely unwind, and the economics that favor phasing out fossil fuels. But we have a lot of work ahead of us, that’s for sure.
And more expert opinions from Carbon Brief, which interviewed global experts including Katharine Hayhoe, who said: “It’s essential to remember that forward momentum doesn’t rely solely on federal action…. This election, for example, climate- and nature-positive ballot initiatives were passed in more than a dozen states. Groups such as the US Climate Alliance, Climate Mayors and America Is All In represent nearly two-thirds of the US. And organisations like the Nature Conservancy remain dedicated to implementing effective solutions for a safer, healthier and more just future. Science is clear that “every action matters”. That’s why, despite the coming headwind, it’s more vital than ever to continue striving for a resilient future for people and nature. It’s not about saving the planet: it’s about saving us.”
Corporations Can Still Work for Climate Under A Trump Presidency
Heather Clancy of Trellis, formerly GreenBiz, reminds us, “Many sweeping emissions reduction strategies, including those of Microsoft and Walmart, were launched during the first Trump administration.” Calling on corporations to step up, she points out that sustainability makes economic sense for many reasons, not the least of which is the projected impact on GDP if we don’t make every effort to contain rising temperatures. And perhaps the part that most resonates with the writers of this newsletter, “The public is sick of doom and gloom. It’s exhausted with negativity. Sustainability professionals need to demonstrate, unequivocally, that emissions reductions and the clean energy transition are good for people and for the economy.”
And News from Canada: a Proposal to Cut Emissions from Oil and Gas
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the sector's profits hit C$66.6 billion ($47.95 billion) in 2022 and the government wants to motivate producers to invest those profits in decarbonization by capping emissions. The regulations will create a cap-and-trade system designed to recognize better-performing companies and incentivize higher-polluting firms to make their production processes cleaner. Read more.
Book Recommendations
Well, Not a BOOK exactly…
This new board game, by Matt Leacock, creator of the very popular game Pandemic, promises to combined engaged learning and excellent game play features. “Daybreak is a cooperative board game about stopping climate change. It presents an optimistic vision of the near future, where you and your friends get to build the mind-blowing technologies and resilient societies we need to decarbonize the world.” Daybreak has been featured in multiple publications, including the NY Times and Forbes, and showcased at the VERGE24 conference in San Jose last week. I can validate that the game is fun and compelling. Give it a try!
This book describes ten catastrophic risks that menace civilization and our planet, and what we can do to overcome or mitigate them. You’ll find a succinct summary here.
About Minerva Ventures:
Are you concerned about climate change and seeking ways to take action? Business survival depends on addressing competitive challenges every day. Leaders attend to urgent business matters while counting on tomorrow’s weather and operating conditions to be similar to yesterday’s. What happens when underlying conditions change as climate consequences become more severe? It is hard to adjust to a disruptive future while you are focused on competing today.
Minerva advises clean tech companies on strategic and business development. We help you find customers, new markets, and new investors to build your momentum and success. Minerva helps established companies create strategies to identify and contend with climate risks to your business. Discover how you can protect your operations, assets, products, and services. Understand how climate risk will affect your suppliers, customers, and partners. Determine how you can strengthen your company to navigate change and seize opportunities as markets reconfigure in the face of the coming changes. Find innovative ways to change your operations, products, and services to help address climate change. Consider policy measures that your industry can pursue that will help address shared risks.
Minerva can help you find new solutions that will make your business more resilient and adaptable to change. Your company will be advancing climate solutions rather than just reacting to disruptions to your industry and markets.
Visit Minerva Ventures’ website at MinervaVentures.com!
Newsletter Editor: Dinyah Rein, Consultant, Minerva Ventures, LLC
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