Energy Blown in the U.S.A.
Welcome back to our weekly newsletter, Pique Behind the Curtain. If you’ve come in search of climate content, new film features, and all-around positive vibes, then you’ve come to the right place.
Is Carbon-Neutral B.S.?
Last week, we talked a bit about greenwashing and how you can avoid falling prey to a non-green, clever marketing skeem. Today, we’re going to talk about one of those marketing buzzwords: carbon-neutral.
Carbon neutral is a term used to describe a business that has calculated its annual greenhouse gas emissions and offset or balanced its impact on the climate by investing in ventures designed to save an equal amount of GHGs somewhere else.
This is generally a good thing. The carbon credit market is up 164% since 2020. Which is… a lot. And it signals investment trends are going green.
The biggest complaint with the concept of carbon-neutral is that it allows businesses to continue polluting under the guise of being green. Which is… kind of true. A company can use an emissions-spewing factory that causes all kinds of health and environmental risks for local communities, pay someone to plant some trees, and put a shiny “carbon-neutral” label on their product. (Okay, it’s not that simple. But you get it.)
It’s possible that if a company is clear and upfront about how they’re carbon-neutral and it’s within reasonable limits they’ve done it the right way. And that is a good thing for the planet. Some technology to reach net-zero emissions simply does not exist yet, and those companies using carbon credits are doing the best they can.
According to the targets set by the Paris Climate Agreement, we have 29 more years to reach global net-zero emissions. And even though natural carbon sinks have the bad*ss capability of removing between 9.5 and 11 gigatons of CO2 per year, that’s not enough to fight climate change alone.
So, what does that mean? The explosion of the carbon credit market tells us something incredibly important: consumers are demanding better from businesses. Let’s be honest - carbon-neutral is a step in the right direction, but the real progress will come when companies invest in cleaner production processes and reach net zero (meaning they produce no carbon themselves, rather than producing it and paying someone else to offset it).
As consumers smarten up to greenwashing tactics and learn that demanding decarbonization is the only path to clean, ethical business, companies will have no choice but to follow suit.
I have my megaphone ready for the next rally. Do you?
Check out our video on the carbon-neutral debate here.
Good Climate News!
Paying to Protect Planet Earth
Global renewable investment sets a new record at $226B in H1 despite supply chain constraints.
Now THIS is good news. This is the news for all the “put your money where your mouth is” folk (and I am said folk).
Global investment in renewable energy has increased by 11% in the first half of this year compared to the same time period in 2021. That increase brings total green energy investment spending to $226 billion, setting a new record.
Lots of that dough went toward solar, a total of $120 billion and up 33% from last year, and wind projects, at $84 billion and up 16%. These are massive jumps that will have equally massive impacts on emissions reductions. Renewables provide reliable power supplies and fuel diversification which not only reduces pollution risks like fuel spills and toxic emission output but also reduces the nation’s reliance on imported fuel.
The United States can do better on many, many, many things. So many things. And now I kind of want to list them… but you came here for the opposite of doomscrolling so, never mind.
One area where we do lead, however, is in renewable energy venture capital and private equity investment. Global funding in renewables in H1 was $9.6 billion - and the United States contributed approximately half of that at $4.8 billion.
These investments are a crucial part of the growth and scalability of clean energy, especially in regards to meeting the standards set by The Paris Agreement. Which, by the way, seems a lot more attainable after the recent passing of the Inflation Reduction Act. If you’re like me and you go through periods of living under a rock, fear not. I summarized it for you last week.
Fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas are undoubtedly the largest contributors to to global climate change, responsible for over 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and almost 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions. The science is quite clear. To avoid the biggest and baddest effects of climate change, we need to cut emissions in half by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
The good (actually, great) news is - that’s possible. It’s more than possible… it’s happening. Albeit, slowly - but economic trends like one are an incredibly promising sign. I’ve closed newsletters like this before, and I’ll do it again: money talks. So, let’s keep it talking about climate.
What We’re Watching, Reading, and Listening to
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