Welcome to this week’s edition of AppropriateFuture, a weekly review of the convergence of technology, sustainability, innovation, and public policy.
Yeah, it’s hot out. Here are photos from the Pacific Northwest via NYMag. Here’s VOX on heat waves and how climate change makes it much worse. The burden off proof has shifted, as per Shannon Osaka in Grist, to show that the heat wave isn’t caused by global warming.
Technology
UN disarmament chief warned that disruption of computer networks with disinformation or malicious incidents will threaten global stability. “Digital technologies are increasingly straining existing legal, humanitarian and ethical norms.” [Edith Lederer, AP]
How Big Tech decides what to count when measuring climate impact. [Betsy Vereckey in MIT Sloan]
So much of tech, and moving away from fossil fuels, relies on battery technology — where the most direct impact is in specialty metal mining, which creates global and regional challenges for a very old industry [Ian Mitchell in Lexpert]. Also see: “Has the mining industry reached the limits of the effectiveness of human rights abuses?” [JP Casey in Mining Technology]
Facebook’s Sustainability Report for 2020 has been released, along with their priority ESG topics, with “Transparent & Ethical Business Practices” leading the way. [Facebook]
Speaking of Facebook, Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebooks’s Battle for Domination” is slated for a July 13th release. Impressive and dramatic jacket design (those aren’t blurbs, those are apologies):
Sustainability
Green Places releases a free, online calculator to help small offices and retail get a quick estimate of the carbon emissions [Adele Peters in Fast Company]. Then, what can a small business owner do? [Nick Hunter in Dynamic Business (AUS)]
The Big Pushback on Big Oil, still in the news:
The Insurgency Against Big Oil [Binoy Kampmark in International Policy Digest]
Investors demand firms align with Paris climate goals [Harriet Dennys, Financial Mail]
ESG is no longer a fringe interest nor specialty knowledge: Nasdaq announced the launch of the ESG Data Hub, which let’s investors see datasets from multiple providers on companies’ ESG profiles to impact investment decisions. [Finextra]
More on the topic of ESG data — In Pensions and Investments, Andrew Howard, Schroder’s global head of sustainable investment:
“Climate data needs to go one step further than just reporting on the current climate profile of a company or investment. To present a true picture of future risk, opportunity and competitiveness, data has to be forward-looking. Ratings are inherently backward-looking. We also need data that tells us how a company intends to change going forward. How are we going to hold them accountable? And what benchmarks are they giving us to measure their progress?”
Innovation
Rheaply, a Chicago startup that provides a platform for businesses and organizations to share resources such as furniture and office equipment to organizations like the US Air Force and Google, has received $2.2M in funding from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, and MIT’s Solve Innovation Future. [Gordon Gottsegen in Built in Chicago]
And over in the Material Sciences realm:
The future of greener construction [Karam Filfilan in Sifted]
Ten Materials that store carbon and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions [Marcus Fairs in Dezeen]
Public Policy
The World Economic Forum on ways to boost clean energy investment in developing economies. [Bradley Handler, Morgan Bazillian, Michael Hayes in Weforum]
An Oxford University report claims that current evidence used in climate litigation “lags significantly behind the state of the art”. Could better science help to see more big polluters getting prosecuted? [Tess Colley in Ends Report]
“Politics needs green innovators too”. Clean tech research scientist, seeing limitations of technology and the private sector’s ability to provide answers to climate crisis, decides to run for Parliament in Toronto. [Phil De Luna in Green Biz]
Could Los Angeles turn into a Solar City? [Avi Asher-Schapiro in Weform]
Scotland is well positioned for net-zero as a driver for growth — with it’s natural sources of renewable energy and skilled workforce — 97% of their energy is through renewables. [Rosemary Gallagher in Futurescot]. Scotland is also planning a new direct air capture (DAC) carbon removal facility that could annually capture a million tons (operational in 2026). [Bob Yirka in Tech Xplore and Matt McGrath, BBC]
And Finally, The Good Links: The Onion is at it’s best when it sadly doesn’t feel like satire…
Senate Passes Bill Wishing Younger Generations Best Of Luck Stopping Climate Change.