Schulze wants to ask manufacturers to pay: Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze wants to ask manufacturers to pay for the disposal of to-go cups, cigarette butts and other civilized plastic and disposable waste. The reason – the costs for the disposal of the garbage cost the municipalities about 700 million Euro per year. „This is a question of justice“, said the SPD politician. Schulze said that she could not yet say in detail how much producers should pay exactly and how the money would be collected. tagesschau.de , vku.de
Luise Neubauer and Greta Thunberg at Merkel: Now that Chancellor Merkel is to lead the movement, one could interpret the result of a conversation between the Chancellor and Greta Thunberg and the German „Fridays for Future“ activist Luisa Neubauer. It had become clear that the topic was being looked at „from different perspectives“, said Luisa Neubauer. „We told her that we needed courageous leaders who would actually do what was needed,“ said Belgian activist Adélaïde Charlier. The activists called on Merkel to take the lead in the global fight for climate protection „We cannot be the only ones to communicate the urgency of this crisis“. The meeting with Merkel was not received positively everywhere in the climate movement. For decades, politicians had been showing that „despite knowledge of the climate crisis, they have no political will“ to stop it. klimareporter.de, sueddeutsche.de, taz.de.
By August 22, humanity has used up as much as the earth can renew throughout the year. Last year, Earth Overshoot Day was still on the calendar on 29 July. The fact that this year the day of action takes place a few weeks later is a consequence of the Corona pandemic.
umweltbundesamt.de
Steag got turned down by the Constitutional Court: In a decision, the Federal Constitutional Court has rebuffed, The Federal Constitutional Court, in a now published decision, has rejected an application by the Essen-based power generator Steag, which was directed against the amount of the coal surcharge. According to the Federal Constitutional Court, the urgent application is just as inadmissible as a constitutional complaint announced by Steag that has yet to be filed. This is because, as a mixed-economy company in which the public sector holds a stake of more than 50 percent, the company cannot invoke basic material rights. manager-magazin.de , bundesverfassungsgericht.de
The German government believes it is making progress in the fight against climate change: in 2019, greenhouse gas emissions were 35.7 percent below the 1990 level, according to the German government’s climate protection report in black and white. The consequences of the corona pandemic have not yet been included. Critics, such as the Nature Conservation Ring and the Climate Alliance, warned against „sitting back“ because, contrary to expectations, Germany could still achieve its climate target for 2020. The reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is based, among other things, on the mild winter and the decline in economic output, they said. The transport sector paints a different picture – CO2 emissions in the mobility sector rose by 1.2 million tonnes to 163.5 million tonnes compared to 2018. The share of transport in total emissions in 2020 is now around 19 percent. The largest contribution was made by the energy industry, but it is still the biggest polluter. In second place for CO2 emissions is industry, followed by transport. rp-online.de
eurotransport.de , energate-messenger.de
More microplastics in the sea suspected: British researchers estimate that more than ten times as many microplastic particles drift in the upper layers of the ocean than previously suspected. The Atlantic alone contains an estimated 21 million tonnes of polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene – in the form of nanoplastics of between 32 and 651 micrometres in size, in the upper 200 metres. „The basic problem with earlier estimates is that they assume that plastic floats,“ explains Richard Lampitt, one of the study’s authors. But on closer measurement, they found that microplastics can sink into deeper layers. This results in a higher load than previously calculated. geo.de
BOOKTIP OF THE WEEK:
Heißzeit
Mit Vollgas in die Klimakatastrophe – und wie wir auf die Bremse treten
It has been known for decades that our use of fossil fuels leads to a warming of the global climate. But instead of finally limiting the rise in global temperature, we are increasing our CO2 emissions even more. In the face of populist governments that deny climate change against their better judgment, but also movements such as Fridays for Future, the prominent climate and oceanographer Mojib Latif takes the floor once again. His credo: Physics is not negotiable. You cannot make compromises with nature. And: Fast action is necessary. Latif presents the facts in a sober and easily understandable way. A fiery appeal to finally take these facts seriously. With a special chapter on the effects of the Corona crisis on our approach to climate change. herder.de
Greenpeace study: Home office reduces CO2 emissions. greenpeace.de
CDU-Wirtschaftsrat: Environmental associations in focus. wallstreet-online.de
Eon: investment in geothermal energy. finanzen.net
Climate crisis: Despite COVID-19 the biggest problem for many. energie.de
Hydrogen: Expert warns against exodus from Germany. focus.de
Kamila Harris: What their positions on climate protection are. klimareporter.de
Forest damage in Germany: greater than expected. br.de
Bundesverfassungsgericht: Wind power developers must be partially compensated. wiwo.de
The seventeeen goals magazine tells inspiring stories about how people move the world and shows how everyone can contribute to achieving sustainability goals.
MOBILITY:
Airports uneconomical: Despite millions in subsidies, regional airports in Germany are in the red. Even before Corona, passenger numbers were declining. Nevertheless, in 2018 alone there were more than 40 million euros from public funds. The Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) and the Forum Ökologisch-Soziale Marktwirtschaft (FÖS) criticise this waste of taxpayers‘ money for airports that have no transport policy benefit and are fuelling the climate crisis by offering holiday flights on their doorstep. „In doing so, the regional airports show the whole absurdity of flying: The usage figures bear no relation to climate damage and the subsidies. Only three of 14 regional airports have a transport policy benefit from linking their region to international air traffic. The rest are almost without exception holiday flights. Therefore, BUND and FÖS demand the immediate closure of half of the 14 regional airports investigated“, said Olaf Bandt, BUND chairman. airliners.de
Night trains are becoming modern again: The night train business in Europe lay idle for many years. Although this type of travel is practical and climate-friendly. After many years, the range of night trains is being expanded, especially in some countries – only in Germany do the trains have a hard time. focus.de
Volkswagen: Starts production of the electric ID.4 in Zwickau. heise.de
LAST WEEK IN THE BUNDESTAG
Methane emissions from intensive livestock farming: The German government obtains its information on the temperature effect of methane in the atmosphere from the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This is stated in a reply (19/21506) of the German government to a minor question (19/21202) of the FDP faction. The reports of the panel, also known in Germany as the „Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change“, provide a comprehensive, balanced and objective account of the state of the world’s scientific knowledge on climate change, the report continues. The balance, reliability and completeness are guaranteed by detailed procedural rules with a multi-stage assessment procedure and by the participation of experts from around the world.
Financing animal welfare: In a minor question (19/21458), the FDP parliamentary group is interested in the implementation of the proposals of the so-called Borchert Commission. In February, the Commission, also known as the Competence Network for Livestock Farming, presented recommendations for a comprehensive restructuring of livestock farming in Germany and estimated the costs involved at up to 3.6 billion euros annually. In this context, the Liberals want to know from the Federal Government why a consumption tax under discussion for this purpose should be called an „animal welfare levy“.
TAKEN LITERALLY
We have made the experience that companies that act in a sense-oriented way (have a strong purpose) managed to get through the crisis better than others that are only at the beginning of these thoughts. The corporate purpose sets the direction and defines what contribution an organization makes to the quality of life or the business success of its customers.
Alfred Tolle, The Preston Associates, Companies that had answered the questions about the impact of their work on society and the environment, and knew what contribution the organisation was making to a future worth living in, and which had also succeeded in creating a place of identification for customers and employees, had come through the crisis better than those who were still facing this homework. wallstreet-online.de
MORE KNOWLEDGE
Mangroves are fading from the coastlines: Mangroves are mainly found in tropical coastal areas, in America and West Africa, on the coasts of East Africa, Madagascar, India and South East Asia. The plants have adapted to the environment and the changing tides and provide habitats for many animal species, provide coastal protection and store CO2. Even though the decline of mangrove forests has slowed down, more than 2,000 square kilometres of mangrove forests were lost between 2000 and 2016. spiegel.de
Dead city centres: The corona virus has accelerated the dying of city centres, but the crisis of Karstadt-Kaufhof, which were something like the anchors of the city, began long before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Incidentally, the same applies to restaurants, ghost kitchens and delivery services are celebrating growth. Online department stores pay no shop rents. deutschlandfunk.de
World Day of Slavery: Many people still suffer from it today. dw.com
Floating waste barriers: Can only make a small contribution to cleaning up the seas. fr.de
Restposten: Are our jobs worth saving? podcast.de
LAST WORDS:
Rising rents due to Airbnb: It has always been assumed that rents in the major cities are rising due to rental platforms. Researchers have now been able to prove, at least in Berlin, that Airbnb advertisements, which were open on a particularly large number of days a year, even rose to as much as 0.13 euros – depending on the city district, rents rose by as much as 0.46 euros per square metre of rented accommodation. This confirms earlier studies which had already suggested that the growing popularity of Airbnb is accompanied by rent increases. In the case of Berlin, they were now able not only to quantify the effect, but also to add that it is above all the particularly active advertisements that are responsible for this influence.
diw.de
All photos, unless otherwise indicated: pixabay.com
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