- Details
- Written by: Glenn and Rick
- Category: Economic & Corporate
- Hits: 163
Selling a Mirage Pro Publica Lisa Song, Illustrations by Max Guther, June 20 2024 Plastic doesn’t break down in nature. If you turned all of what’s been made into cling wrap, it would cover every inch of the globe. It’s piling up, leaching into our water and poisoning our bodies. Scientists say the key to fixing this is to make less of it; the world churns out 430 million metric tons each year. But businesses that rely on plastic production, like fossil fuel and chemical companies, have worked since the 1980s to spin the pollution as a failure of waste management — one that can be with recycling. Industryad leaders knew then what we know now: Traditional recycling would barely put a dent in the trash heap. It’s hard to transform flimsy candy wrappers into sandwich bags, or to make containers that once held motor oil clean enough for milk. Now, the industry is heralding nothing short of a miracle: an “advanced”type of recycling known as pyrolysis — “pyro” means fire and “lysis” means separation. It uses heat to break plastic all the way down to its molecular building blocks. While old-school, “mechanical” recycling yields plastic that’s degraded or contaminated, this type of “chemical” recycling promises plastic that behaves like it’s new, and could usher in what the industry casts as a green revolution: Not only would it save hard-to-recycle plastics like frozen food wrappers from the dumpster, but it would turn them into new products that can replace the old ones and be chemically recycled again and again.
So when three companies used ExxonMobil’s pyrolysis-based technology to successfully conjure up that fruit cup, they announced it to the world. “This is a significant milestone,” said Printpack, which turned the plastic into cups. The fruit supplier Pacific Coast Producers called it “the most important initiative a consumer-packaged goods company can pursue.” ExxonMobil is supporting the circularity of plastics,” the August 2023 news release said, citing a buzzword that implies an infinite loop of using, recycling and reusing. They were so proud, I hoped they would tell me all about how they made the cup, how many of them existed and where I could buy one.
This year, nearly all of the world’s countries are hammering out a United Nations treaty to deal with the plastic crisis. As they consider limiting production, the industry is making a hard push to shift the conversation to the wonders of chemical recycling. It’s also buying ads during cable news shows as U.S. states consider laws to limit plastic packaging and lobbying federal agencies to loosen the very definition of what it means to recycle.
It’s been selling governments on chemical recycling, with quite a bit of success. American and European regulators have spent tens of millions subsidizing pyrolysis facilities. Half of all U.S. states have eased air pollution rules for the process, which has been found to release carcinogens like benzene and dioxins and give off more greenhouse gases than making plastic from crude oil.
Given the high stakes of this moment, I set out to understand exactly what the world is getting out of this recycling technology. For months, I tracked press releases, interviewed experts, tried to buy plastic made via pyrolysis and learned more than I ever wanted to know about the science of recycled molecules.Under all the math and engineering, I found an inconvenient truth: Not much is being recycled at all, nor is pyrolysis capable of curbing the plastic crisis. Not now. Maybe not ever.
LESSON ONE- MOST OF THE OLD PLASTIC THAT GOES INTO PYROLYSIS DOESN’T ACTUALLY BECOME NEW PLASTIC. IN TRADITIONAL RECYCLING, plastic is turned into tiny pellets or flakes, which you can melt again and mold back into recycled plastic products.Even in a real-life scenario, where bottles have labels and a little bit of juice left in them, most of the plastic products that go into the process find new life. The numbers are much lower for pyrolysis. It’s “very, very, very, very difficult” to break down plastic that way, said Steve Jenkins, vice president of chemicals consulting at Wood Mackenzie, an energy and resources analytics firm. “The laws of nature and the laws of physics are trying to stop you.”.....read on.....
LESSON TWO- THE PLASTIC THAT COMES OUT OF PYROLYSIS CONTAINS VERY LITTLE RECYCLED MATERIAL. it’s hard to make plastic that’s 100% recycled; it’s expensive to do, and the process degrades plastic. Recycled pellets are often combined with new pellets to make stuff that’s 25% or 50% recycled, for example. But far less recycled plastic winds up in products made through pyrolysis.That’s because the naphtha created using recycled plastic is contaminated. At the end of the day, nothing that comes out of pyrolysis physically contains more than 10% recycled material (though experts and studies have shown that, in practice, it’s more like 5% or 2%).......read on
LESSON THREE- THE INDUSTRY USES MATHEMATICAL ACROBATICS TO MAKE PYROLYSIS LOOK LIKE A SUCCESS. TEN PERCENT doesn’t look very impressive. Some consumers are willing to pay a premium for sustainability, so companies use a form of accounting called mass balance to inflate the recycled-ness of their products. It’s not unlike offset schemes I’ve uncovered that absolve refineries of their carbon emissions and enable mining companies to kill chimpanzees. Industry-affiliated groups like the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification write the rules. (ISCC didn’t respond to requests for comment.) To see how this works, let’s take a look at what might happen to a batch of recycled naphtha.....scroll through revealing graphics to find out! There are many flavors of this kind of accounting. Another version of free attribution would allow the company to take that entire 30-pound batch of “33% recycled” pouches and split them even further: A third of them, 10 pounds, could be labeled 100% recycled — shifting the value of the full batch onto them — so long as the remaining 20 pounds aren’t labeled as recycled at all. As long as you avoid double counting, Jenkins told me, you can attribute the full value of recycled naphtha to the products that will make the most money. Companies need that financial incentive to recoup the costs of pyrolysis, he said. But it’s hard to argue that this type of marketing is transparent. Consumers aren’t going to parse through the caveats of a 33% recycled claim or understand how the green technology they’re being sold perpetuates the fossil fuel industry. I posed the critiques to the industry, including environmentalists’ accusations that mass balance is just a fancy way of greenwashing......read on
- Details
- Written by: Glenn and Rick
- Category: Economic & Corporate
- Hits: 130
Inside the Pathways Alliance’s three-step greenwashing plan. National Observer June 5th 2024 Since its launch in 2021, the Pathways Alliance has used a three-step greenwashing strategy to weaken and delay climate measures, according to new research from a leading international think tank. According to U.K.-based InfluenceMap, the Pathways Alliance, which represents Canada’s largest fossil fuel companies responsible for 95 per cent of oilsands production, appears to use this three-step plan to keep profit margins of its members healthy as the global energy transiti s companies are committed to climate action. Step two: Promote carbon capture technology as the solution and secure government funding for it. Step three: Advocate against other emission reduction policies. As previously reported by Canada’s National Observer, the Pathways Alliance splashy advertising campaign called "Let's clear the air," also included buying commercial time at premier sporting events like the FIFA World Cup, Australian Open, and 2023 Super Bowl. Since March alone, the Pathways Alliance has recorded $100,000 worth of advertising on Facebook and Instagram. But the ultimate audience is policymakers in Ottawa, the researchers note. “Pathways’ messaging attempts to convince policymakers on the 'climate benefits' of Canadian oil production, using claims around the positive contribution of [the] sector to tackling climate change that appears to contradict science-based guidance, all while advocating for greater production,” InfluenceMap notes. The InfluenceMap study, published Wednesday, comes a day before the CEOs of Pathways members Suncor, Cenovus and Imperial Oil are scheduled to testify to the House of Commons environment committee about their companies efforts to cut emissions. CAPP realized "their pre-2021 strategy of basically aligning with the Conservative Party and provincial governments against the federal government wasn't working... So the Pathways group broke off from CAPP and developed this greenwashing brand. The study dug into how the Pathways Alliance has lobbied on federal policies like the proposed cap on oil and gas emissions, methane regulations, clean electricity regulations and carbon tax amendments. The think tank found the alliance was against every measure. In fact, the Pathways Alliance has “led an active campaign against the oil and gas emissions cap, with its direct advocacy on the policy growing more negative over the years,” InfluenceMap found. The Pathways Alliance did not return a request for comment........read on https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/06/05/news/pathways-alliance-greenwashing-advertising-oilsands-InfluenceMap-facebook-lobbying
- Details
- Written by: Glenn and Rick
- Category: Economic & Corporate
- Hits: 210
Ending the era of fossil fuels on an ambitious timeline is the only way to mitigate climate change. António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General, made this clear at the UN Climate Ambition Summit in September 2023. Hundreds of thousands of climate activists said the same in the streets, in bank lobbies, and at sites of fossil fuel extraction, transportation, and use in 2023. And finally, for the first time in the treaty’s history, parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties in December 2023 (COP28) agreed to “transition away” from fossil fuels. Six new countries endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, bringing the total to twelve countries, the European Parliament, hundreds of elected officials, civil society organizations, scientists, and faith communities. The message is clear: fossil fuels are a dead end for people and the planet. The fossil fuel industry continues doing its best to ignore the facts, evidenced by their reckless expansion plans and rollbacks on their already weak climate commitments.6 Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels increased in 2023, following increases in 2022. And 2023 was the hottest year on record, with an average global surface temperature 1.4°C above 19th century averages.
Climate impacts (PHOTOS Duncan Selby / Alamy Stock Photo; Parilov / shutterstock) are intensifying: 2023 saw heat waves, droughts, stronger storms, atmospheric rivers, flooding, record low global sea ice, tropical cyclones, and a global wildfire crisis.9 These impacts could quadruple heat deaths and create food insecurity for over half a billion people on the planet. Unless action is taken now, it's estimated that climate change will kill an additional 250,000 people annually, especially in areas deprived of adaptive infrastructure. Without drastic cuts in fossil fuels, the climate will reach a catastrophic 3°C of warming by 2100. There is still time to save lives and protect future generations -- people are worth more than profits. Even at half of that temperature increase, the human impacts of climate change are tremendous. Worse, the United Nations Environment Program reports that adaptation financing lags, even as people face the consequences of a changing environment, including displacement, health impacts, and the costs of rebuilding. Even as climate chaos mounts, fossil fuel companies are doubling down on their expansion plans while their executives and shareholders enjoy extravagant compensation. Bank executives are also cashing in on dirty investments on a scale that puts climate mitigation & adaptation financing to shame. Climate change only exacerbates inequalities between the tiny minority of highly-wealthy people and the rest of the world.16 Over the next 25 years, average incomes globally are likely to drop by a fifth as a result of the climate chaos already locked in by existing emissions, with worse impacts across the Global South. This loss of income will hit hardest for those who contributed the least to the problem.
BANKING ON CLIMATE CHAOS 2024"Every day, finance ministers, CEOs, investors, and development bankers direct trillions of dollars. It’s time to shift those dollars from the energy and infrastructure of the past, towards that of a cleaner, more resilient future. And to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable countries benefit." Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, April 2024 " .....read the reporthttps://www.ran.org/wp-
POSITIVE ACTION Business Strategies to Address Climate Change....Leading companies are taking action both inside and outside their fence lines to reduce their own emissions and become more resilient to inevitable climate impacts. C2ES has found that, internally, companies are seeking a deeper understanding of the risks and opportunities of a changing climate, and are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprints (the emissions from producing their products) and their handprints (emissions from the sales and use of their products). Externally, they are engaging suppliers, customers, key stakeholders and policymakers, and are publicly reporting emissions and energy-usage data, climate-related risks and management strategies. Companies are also demonstrating their commitment to climate action by partnering with other companies and stakeholders on solutions and by publicly supporting policies like the Paris Agreement.Climate Action PlansThe first step for many companies is to develop climate action plans across the company and for individual business units. The components of a climate action plan depend on the type of company and the goals it wants to achieve, but every company faces a few general decisions, such as...... whether the plan is........designed through a “top-down” or “bottom-up” process.......whether to establish one or more targets – and if so, of what type and how targets fit in with other environmental management activities.......to what extent the plan features market mechanisms such as internal carbon price and/or and external carbon offsets........how to use research and development resources and other means to drive innovation. https://www.c2es.org/content/business-strategies-to-address-climate-change/
- Details
- Written by: Glenn and Rick
- Category: Economic & Corporate
- Hits: 93
The inaugural report Banking on Biodiversity Collapse
launched on ‘Finance Day’ at COP28 by the Forests & Finance Coalition. The report maps commercial financial flows to the forest-sector operations of 300 companies within six forest-risk commodity sectors – beef, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber, soy, and timber – collectively causing the most tropical deforestation globally. This report lays out the role that banks and investors play to drive deforestation, biodiversity loss, climate change, and human rights abuses in tropical forest regions through credits and investments. By making lofty pledges on sustainability without any real transparency or accountability, finance are enabling bad actors and are complicit in driving biodiversity collapse.
- Details
- Written by: Glenn and Rick
- Category: Economic & Corporate
- Hits: 132
Big Oil Clouded the Science on Extreme Weather. Now It Faces a Reckoning..As more communities sue oil majors following climate disasters, a collection of evidence reveals the industry’s efforts to deny the link between extreme weather and climate change. Emily Sanders, ExxonKnews Apr 2, 2024 When Bucks County, Pennsylvania, filed a lawsuit last week against major oil and gas companies for climate damages, Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia pointed to “unprecedented weather events here in Bucks County that have repeatedly put residents and first responders in harm’s way, damaged public and private property and placed undue strain on our infrastructure.” The county argues oil companies’ “campaigns to deceive and mislead the public about the damaging nature of their fossil fuel products” delayed climate action for decades, robbing communities of precious time to mitigate the climate-driven disasters they now face. One of those disasters occurred last year, when a rainstorm in Bucks County caused deadly flash flooding that swallowed vehicles and killed 7 people, including two children. Scientists said the deluge and its aftermath — not the county’s first “100-year flood” in recent years — are a harbinger of the intense and dangerous rainstorms that a warming climate is making more likely.
As the science connecting climate change to more frequent and severe weather events becomes clearer, there is mounting evidence that members of the fossil fuel industry coordinated to downplay that link — evidence that could be valuable to lawsuits seeking accountability. Bucks County is just one in a growing list of communities taking legal action against fossil fuel companies in the wake of deadly extreme weather events. Multnomah County, Oregon sued oil, gas, and coal majors after a 2021 heat dome that killed nearly 70 people. On the 10 year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, New Jersey’s attorney general took Exxon, Chevron, and other oil giants to court, citing the billions of dollars in damage and deaths the hurricane caused in the state. In the first-ever racketeering lawsuit against Big Oil companies, Puerto Rico municipalities are seeking to recover costs incurred by Hurricane Maria.
Fossil fuel majors, these cases argue, should help communities pay for the costs of adapting to and recovering from climate disasters given the industry’s early research into — and subsequent denial of — their products’ harm. “We’re already seeing the human and financial tolls of climate change beginning to mount,” said Commissioner Ellis Marseglia. “If the oil companies’ own data is to be believed, the trend will continue.” It’s a trend that the fossil fuel industry worked to obscure for decades. A collection of evidence just published to ClimateFiles.com reveals the extent to which oil companies and their trade associations sought to deny and downplay the relationship between climate change and extreme weather.....read on https://www.desmog.com/2024/
More Articles …
- World’s top Fossil Fuel Companies Owe at least $209bn in Annual Climate Reparations to Compensate Communities most Damaged by their Polluting Business and Decades of Lies,
- New Research Shows Eight Major Banks Responsible for Majority of $20 Billion in Financing For Oil And Gas Companies Destroying the Amazon
- One Bank Exits Financing Fossil Fuels- What About the Rest?
- What happens when America’s Flood Insurance Market goes Underwater?
Page 6 of 14