Green Options

Just a couple of weeks ago, soya traders agreed to extend a moratorium on buying soya linked to Amazon destruction. However, as discussed in January, 80% of Amazon deforestation is from cattle farming. With continued involvement of major international organizations and companies — Greenpeace, McDonald’s, Nike, Wal-Mart, and Carrefour — a giant leap in protection of the Amazon was made a few days ago.

Brazil and China have been in talks with the United States about increasing cooperation in expanding clean energy technologies, and possibly reducing their carbon emissions. It seems that the developing countries are finding it difficult to maintain their stance of no emission reduction targets.

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from David Hone, Climate Change Adviser for Shell.

I have been in Sao Paulo this week at Sustentavel 2009, perhaps the premiere Sustainable Development event in Brazil, if not all of South America. At the opening I represented the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and then on the first day of presentations I participated in the main climate change panel session.

What is clear is that there is a passion in Brazil for sustainability – from the huge issues they face in the Amazon region to the road congestion in Sao Paulo. Talking with delegates at Sustentavel, it is also clear that the country faces an interesting future in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

The team asserts, based upon their results, that amphibian diversity world-wide is being under-estimated at an “unprecedented level”. The researchers hope that their “integrative taxonomic survey” approach to specimen analysis will be adopted by other scientists to improve their inventory counts and also buttress other biodiversity preservation initiatives through helping scientists and policy makers prioritize conservation efforts within these hot spots.

International companies such as McDonald’s are happy, and companies like Nike, Wal-Mart and Carrefour are asking for more.

Timberland has announced a new policy agreement with Greenpeace to ensure that leather used in new boots and shoes won’t contribute to deforestation in the Amazon.

The policy will issue a moratorium on purchasing any cattle raised in newly deforested areas within the Amazon Rainforest, and it will force all of its suppliers to do the same.

We know a bit about the current situation on climate change. We know which countries are emitting the most global warming emissions. We know that the EU is actively implementing policies to get their emissions down and are serious about keeping climate change at the top of the priority list, even in one of the biggest economic struggles in history. We know that little nations like Tuvalu are working to address climate change. We know that ambitious and engaged countries are running into unseen problems and are unsure where to go in the future. We know that the US is looking to pass a climate bill for the first time and could change history in the process, and the USDA supports it but climate change groups, consumer advocate groups, and social equity groups are quite concerned about some of the changes made by the House of Representatives at the last minute. We know that China, India, and Brazil’s growth in greenhouse gas emissions have skyrocketed (several times faster than developed countries’ still growing emissions) in the past two decades.

Ever wonder who leads the world in global warming emissions? And by how much? A report released this month by the New Zealand government gives us this information.

Hydrogen may just be making its come back in America, but its definitely gaining some momentum in Brazil. Earlier this week, Brazil announced plants to buy, operate and maintain up to five hydrogen-cell-fueled buses as well as install the station to produce the hydrogen to supply the fuel for the buses. The first vehicle will serve the ABD Metropolitan Corridor (Sao Mateus / Jabaquara), located in the Greater Sao Paulo area.

The bus uses a hybrid system that combines hydrogen cells with batteries. This strategy allows for increased fuel savings and lower energy use. The batteries can be used to store the energy generated by the cell during the periods when the vehicle is idle (for passenger boarding or at traffic lights, for instance), in addition to regenerating braking energy. The hydrogen fuel cell system – which generates 68kW - is specific for automotive use, making it less expensive. This is similar to how an electric car such as the Tesla, or a hybrid car such as the Volt works.

Nike has stopped all imports of leather from the Amazon region of Brazil, after a Greenpeace report claimed that its shoes and trainers could be speeding up the destruction of the world’s largest rainforest and contributing to global warming.

The report, published last month, revealed how cattle hides from deforested areas were entering the supply chains of global brands including Nike, Clarks, Adidas and Reebok.

According to the NGO, deforestation for cattle ranching in Brazil alone is now the biggest driver of deforestation anywhere in the world.

While the world quivers over a potential Swine Flu pandemic, a far deadlier outbreak of dengue fever has gone comparatively under-reported in South America and Australia.

Hundreds of thousands have been infected in South America, and in Australia the outbreak is being called the worst seen in 50 years. While the swine flu scare may be an overreaction in comparison, both outbreaks do highlight a clear link between environmental degradation and the spread of disease.