Positive Climate Stories in September
It’s been a month for giving things up for the greater good, as Britain turns its back on coal, The Hague ditches fossil fuel ads and Dutch bank ING stops financing climate laggards. All this and more in our monthly round-up of positive climate stories…
1. New fossil fuel-free ad utopia in The Hague
Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where we didn’t have to see fossil fuel ads? Thanks to new legislation passed in September, this is what residents of The Hague can soon expect. It means that advertising fossil fuel products and services, including petrol and diesel, aviation and cruise ships will no longer be allowed across the city, including on billboards and bus shelters.
While the Dutch city is the first in the world to enforce a legally binding ban of this sort, similar initiatives have been introduced elsewhere. For example, this May, Edinburgh Council agreed to a similar ban for council-owned advertising spaces. As a result, advertising and sponsorship for fossil fuel companies, airlines, airports, cruise ships, fossil-fuel powered cars and arms are no longer allowed.
2. Britain leads the way on quitting coal
It’s been a great month for moving away from coal, as Britain became the first rich country in the world to quit coal. On 30 September, Britian’s last coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, closed for good, marking the end of 142 years of coal in this country. There’s already been an enormous shift in our reliance on coal, from the 1920s, when virtually all Britain’s electricity was produced by coal to the 2020s, when it accounts for nearly nothing thanks to advances in wind and solar power.
But that’s not all. Earlier in the month, there was a High Court ruling against the opening of the UK’s first new coal mine in three decades. The previous government had approved a plan to develop a mine in Cumbria and this was challenged by Friends of the Earth and South Lakes Action on Climate Change.
The decision to reject the plan was made by High Court Justice David Holgate who said, “The assumption that the proposed mine would not produce a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, or would be a net zero mine, is legally flawed.”
3. ING calls out shipping and aviation as climate laggards
Dutch bank ING announced it will stop financing clients who are failing to reduce their climate impact. After assessing 2,000 of its largest clients on their plans for reducing their carbon footprint, the bank singled out shipping and aviation clients. It warned that, as these modes of transport transition to cleaner technologies, lending for fossil-fuel intensive transport would become more risky.
“It's great to see ING is pulling back from risky investments in fossil-fuel intensive planes and ships. But, it just highlights how wide off the mark the EU is in including these assets in its "green" list of investments under the EU Taxonomy,” says our Legal Director, David Kay.
"Including polluting fossil fuel planes and ships in the EU Taxonomy is not only terrible for the environment, it's terrible for investors too. Investors and banks want clear signals from the EU, but the Commission has undermined the credibility of the Taxonomy by including things that everyone – including banks like ING – can see imperil the Paris climate goals and expose investors to huge financial risks."
This is why our court action suing the EU Commission for its decision to label highly polluting planes and ships as ‘green’ in the EU Taxonomy is so important.
4. Colombia unveils plans to move away from fossil fuels
September played host to New York Climate Week, where Susana Muhamad, Colombia’s Environment Minister spoke about a $40bn transition plan away from oil and gas. It’s hoped that up to $10bn of this will come from international financial institutions and developed countries.
Columbia has already made huge strides by putting an end to new oil and gas exploration two years ago. This investment plan aims to replace the inevitable decline in fossil-fuel revenues as a result.
“The portfolio of investments is around developing sectors that we think could start replacing oil revenues,” said Susana Muhamad. She explained that the money will go to nature-based climate solutions, clean energy and electrification of transport, as well as projects that improve agricultural practices and protect biodiversity.
5. Call for a paternity leave policy fit for the 21st Century
It may not be a climate story per se, but this is certainly a story close to our heart at OG. We were excited to see action on improving paternity leave from new campaign group The Dad Shift this month. If you were in central London, you might have noticed the addition of model babies in slings tied to prominent male statues like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Gene Kelly and Thierry Henry to raise awareness of the terrible state of paternity leave in the UK.
The UK has the worst paternity leave offer in Europe, with only two statutory weeks of leave, paid at £184.03 a week. Recent research found one in three UK fathers took no paternity leave after the birth of their child, and one in two families where the fathers took paternity leave reported struggling financially afterwards.
Here at Opportunity Green we buck that trend. Our parental leave policy offers 26 weeks’ full paid leave to all new parents, and we make it compulsory for new dads to take at least three months’ leave. There are many good reasons for this – not least because it helps to address the gender pay gap – and our CEO Aoife O’Leary outlines her top 5 reasons in this blog.
The Dad Shift is now urging the government to back a new parental leave policy that’s fit for the 21st Century and we’re already on board. Join us and sign up to support the campaign here.
What positive climate stories have lifted your spirits this summer? Share it with us on X or LinkedIn and we’ll help to spread the word.
