Sustainability Weekly
Fridays are for…
COP 29, Turkey Day, Congestion Pricing, G20 Summit, and more!
by Alli DiGiacomo
Happy Friday! It finally rained here in NYC after weeks of abnormally dry conditions forced the city to declare its first drought warning in 22 years. It is “not a drought buster, but it will help, especially with ongoing fire weather issues,” the Weather Service’s New York office said on social media.
GrowNYC has helpful rainwater harvesting guides and resources, which is a great way to make your garden more resilient to drought. GrowNYC has built over 140 rainwater harvest systems in NYC, collecting more than 1.5 million gallons of water annually.
Last week’s post was missed because I was attending the Greenbuild conference in Philadelphia, learning about the latest solutions and tech in sustainable design, as well as the common themes green building professionals are seeing this year. Some of the main themes I saw were a focus on indoor air quality (IAQ), calculating embodied carbon (not just operational carbon), and mass timber. IAQ has been getting more attention than ever in recent years, starting with the Covid-10 pandemic when we spent more than normal time indoors and learned more about airborne diseases, combined with the increased amount of fires spreading particulate matter and smoke all over the city. It’s critical as designers to choose products with low VOC content to avoid toxic chemicals off-gassing inside. Also paying attention to the overall building envelope from a systems perspective, making sure there is proper balanced airflow to avoid mold. At CTA, we have air filters throughout the office and more plants than ever!
Keep reading for more of this week’s sustainability news…
Happy Turkey Day!Thanksgiving is coming up this week! If you are curious about the journey a turkey takes to get to your table, check out this Turkey Tracker, it is interesting! If you haven’t already, consider how you can have a low-impact celebration this year. A few things you can do:
Buy local and in season! If you buy from your local farmers it avoids all carbon emissions that are used to transport the food to you, ensures peak freshness, plus supports our neighbors! Some produce in season right now are broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens, beans, apples, parsnips, and pumpkins. This is the schedule for the 2024 Thanksgiving Week Greenmarkets and Farmstands in NYC.
Reduce your food waste. Plan how much food you are going to make and coordinate with other guests, bring reusable food containers for leftovers, and freeze the leftovers after a few days. Compost your scraps and consider donating your leftovers if you have too much. ReFED estimates 316 million pounds of food will be wasted on Thanksgiving Day this year.
Use reusable dishes, napkins, and utensils.
Include more plant-based dishes. This reduces carbon emissions from your food. According to the USDA, 46 million turkeys are eaten on Thanksgiving each year with a typical 20-pound turkey producing roughly 64 pounds of CO2.
T H I S W E E K ’ S T O P S T O R I E S
COP29 SUMMIT COMES TO AN END IN AZERBAIJAN
COP29 ends today in Baku, Azerbaijan, a center for oil and gas production often referred to as the “City of Oil”. COP29 started off with the president of Azerbaijan using his speech to hail fossil fuels as a “gift of god.” There are more than 1,700 oil and gas lobbyists at this year’s climate summit, more than the combined number of delegates from the 10 nations most vulnerable to climate change. Not to mention that only days before the conference kicked off, Donald Trump was re-elected, signaling to other nations that the world’s largest economy will once again pull out of the Paris Agreement that the president-elect has called a “rip off.”
One of the most anticipated agenda items this year is the climate finance text, where developed countries, who are higher-emitting, pledge funding to less-developed countries for their fight against the climate crisis. The latest draft negotiating text released Friday pledged $250 billion by 2035, more than double the previous goal set 15 years ago, but less than a quarter of what developing countries requested.
In positive news, a group of 25 countries and the European Union say they will publish new climate plans that include a pledge not to add any new unabated coal power, and push other nations to do the same. The plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), outline each country’s path to curbing its carbon emissions. Also, Indonesia, the fifth largest generator of coal power in the world, plans to retire its coal power plants within the next 15 years to curb climate change, the nation’s President Prabowo Subianto said at the G20 summit in Brazil.
Another major theme of COP29 is Nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. There is now 28-countries who pledged to triple the world's nuclear power by 2050. The U.S. and U.K. also signed a deal for civil nuclear collaboration to speed up billions of dollars of new research. The clean energy source does not emit greenhouse gases, but some environmentalists say its toxic waste is just as dangerous.
NYC CONGESTION PRICING IS BACK
NYC’s transit authority voted 12-1 this week to approve a first-in-the-nation daily toll on vehicles entering Manhattan's central business district, starting around Jan. 5. After Kathy Hochul sidelined the original congestion pricing plan in June, the revised proposal is expected to generate $15B to help modernize the city's 120-year-old transit system. Most motorists with E-ZPasses will pay $9, rather than an initially proposed $15, to enter Manhattan's busiest areas from 5 am to 9 pm on weekdays and 9 am to 9 pm on weekends. The fee is set to increase to $15 by 2031. Trucks with E-ZPasses will be charged $14.40 during the same hours. Don’t get too excited yet though, because Federal transportation authorities must now approve the plan, which President-elect Donald Trump has said he will terminate once in office.
BRAZIL URGES G20 LEADERS TO MOVE FASTER ON NET ZERO TARGETS
Also happening this week was the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva urged world leaders to accelerate their net-zero climate targets, proposing countries reach net zero emissions by 2040 or 2045 instead of the current 2050 goal. Stressing the urgency of action amid escalating climate disasters, Lula declared, “There is no time to lose.” The G20 joint statement called for significantly increasing climate finance—from billions to trillions—to support developing countries and urged COP29 (happening simultaneously in Azerbaijan) negotiators to finalize a new financial goal for climate funding. Lula also proposed the creation of a U.N. council to expedite the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and criticized wealthy nations for failing to deliver the $100 billion in annual climate finance promised by 2020.
The summit highlighted the growing divide between developed and developing nations over climate responsibilities. President Joe Biden emphasized the need for financial support to help developing countries transition and protect against climate impacts. G20 leaders also committed to addressing all emissions comprehensively and agreed to finalize a legally binding treaty on plastic pollution by the end of 2024. The G20 nations are responsible for 85% of the global economy and over 75% of emissions, making their actions crucial.
MORE IN SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
President Biden becomes first US sitting President to visit the Amazon rainforest.
So big it can be seen from space, scientists just discovered the world’s largest coral colony.
The UK will ban new coal mine licenses.
Oysters as large as cheese plates: How New Yorkers are reclaiming their harbor's heritage.
Salmon return to lay eggs for the first time in decades in historic Oregon habitat after largest dam removal project in US history.
Scientists reveal how industrial factory pollution is affecting snow levels.
According to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research: Climate, Ocean heat due to human-caused climate change is making Atlantic hurricane winds stronger. So far in 2024, all of the 11 named storms have been made stronger because of climate change.
8 times as many children around the world will be exposed to extreme heat waves by the 2050s (compared to the 2000s) if current trends in greenhouse gas emissions, climate mitigation and adaptation, and economic growth continue, according to Unicef’s State of the World’s Children 2024 report.
Trump’s ‘EV Mandate’ message may have helped him win Michigan.
Quick action you can take: Urge Governor Kathy Hochul to sign climate and environmental protections into law!
SUSTAINABILE SPOTLIGHT: HEMPWOOD
HempWood® is a wood substitute product that can be used for construction materials, flooring, furniture, and pretty much anything wood is used for. The products use a variety of non-toxic hemp materials to create sustainable materials made in the United States, all sources within 100 miles of Murray, KY. The adhesive used in the product is plant-based and has no added formaldehyde. The products have a low carbon footprint because the Hempwood factory is run on hydropower, and they turn the hemp waste into biofuel for the heat source in production. Also, hemp is a carbon negative product, meaning that growing hemp removes and stores 2 tons of CO2 per acre, and grows in 120 days compared to 50-100 years for oak trees.