New Analysis Shows Japan Would Accept U.S. No First Use Policy

23.07.2021

nuclear-nuklear — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

As the Biden administration crafts its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), the document laying out the administration’s proposed nuclear weapons doctrine, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today released new analysis that finds Japan would accept a U.S. policy to never use nuclear weapons first. The analysis makes the case for including a “no first use” policy in the forthcoming NPR.

Japan is part of a group of non-nuclear countries under the so-called U.S. nuclear “umbrella.” If any of the countries were attacked with nuclear weapons, the United States has pledged to retaliate. Japan would still have that guarantee under a U.S. no first use policy, which would declare that the U.S. would never be the first nation to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.

Although many U.S. officials and experts worry Japan might respond to a U.S. no first use declaration by withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and developing its own nuclear weapons, UCS found that there is virtually no chance Japan would make that decision.

“The Japanese government has carefully considered developing nuclear weapons in the past and found it was not in their national interest,” said Gregory Kulacki, UCS China project manager and a co-author of the report. “As the only country to have experienced wartime use of a nuclear weapon, the Japanese public has a deep understanding of the danger of nuclear war, the immorality of nuclear weapons, and a strong opposition to their development.”

President Biden has said he supports a no first use policy and promised U.S. voters his administration would consider it a priority when conducting its nuclear policy and defense reviews. In April, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) reintroduced legislation that would prohibit any U.S. president from launching nuclear weapons in a first strike.

“A no first use policy by the United States would maintain extended nuclear deterrence, while decreasing the chances that such action would ever be necessary by strengthening non-nuclear norms and significantly lowering the risk of accidental nuclear war,” said Kulacki.

Nuclear powers including China and India have already adopted no first use policies. The U.S. has pledged that it will not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states under any circumstances as part of nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

Source: Union of Concerned Scientists

Empowering “Smart Cities” Toward Net Zero Emissions

23.07.2021

smart-4168483_960_720 — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

The world’s cities can play a central role to accelerate progress towards clean, low-carbon, resilient and inclusive energy systems. This idea is recognized by climate and energy ministers from G20 nations who will meet under the presidency of Italy in Naples to focus on steps that national governments can take to support urban areas to deploy solutions and technologies to reduce emissions.

New technologies and increased connectivity, as well as the sheer scale of the world’s metropolises, are opening up massive opportunities to optimise urban planning, improve services and extend access, while at the same time creating revenue streams, jobs and business ventures. In this context, the International Energy Agency developed a report at the request of the Italian G20 presidency to showcase the opportunities and challenges facing cities, and the actions that can be taken to support progress.

The IEA’s Empowering Cities for a Net Zero Future builds on extensive consultations with over 125 leading experts and organisations, and presents case studies from 100 cities in 40 countries. The examples illustrate the wide range of opportunities and solutions that can help city-level authorities make full use of efficient and smart energy systems.

At the same time, urban agglomerations are incubators for cutting-edge technologies, and their density and size offer economies of scale that can cut the cost of infrastructure and innovation. This mix of factors puts cities at the leading edge to come up with creative solutions to climate and energy challenges.

And with growing urbanisation trends, the central role of cities will keep increasing. Cities today account for more than 50 percent of the planet’s population, 80 percent of its economic output, two-thirds of global energy consumption and more than 70 percent of annual global carbon emissions. By 2050, more than 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities, resulting in a massive demand growth for urban energy infrastructure.

From smart street lamps to self-cooling buildings to smart electric car chargers, investing in city-level action can provide the biggest carbon-mitigation return on investment and accelerate inclusive clean energy transitions.

The new report contains a set of high-level recommendations to accelerate energy transitions and leverage the full potential of cities to reduce emissions thanks to digitalisation.

By 2024, an anticipated 83 billion connected devices and sensors will be creating large, diverse datasets on a wide range of topics, such as energy consumption, air quality, and traffic patterns. Next-generation energy systems can leverage the data from these connected buildings, appliances and transportation systems to reduce energy consumption, improve grid stability and better manage city services.

For example, digital simulations can show how different designs, technologies and equipment affect energy demand pathways and associated costs. The LA100 study, conducted by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, points the way towards achieving a 100 percent renewables-supplied city by 2045. The study simulates thousands of buildings, using aerial scans, customer adoption models as well as utility planning tools to ensure power system stability, and estimates that these measures would avoid between USD 472 million and USD 1.55 billion in distribution network investments.

The electricity consumed in street lighting globally is equivalent to Germany’s total annual electricity consumption, and can constitute up to 65 percent of municipal electricity budgets. Yet only 3 percent of the globe’s 320 million street lighting poles are smart enabled, even though smart street lighting can reduce electricity use by up to 80 percent by adjusting output based on ambient light levels and weather. Smart street lamps can also monitor traffic, pedestrian crossings, and noise and air pollution, as well as incorporate electric car chargers and cell phone infrastructure.

India, under its National Street Lighting Programme, has reduced peak energy demand by more than 1000 MW thanks to 10 million smart LED streetlights. Digitalisation can also help improve maintenance. In Italy, an app developed by Enel X allows citizens to report street lighting faults using their smartphones.

To reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, Jakarta’s Smart City initiative integrated public transport management and payment systems to help plan a more reliable, safe and affordable rapid bus transit system. Under PT JakLingko Indonesia, this comprehensive integration process increased the number of Transjakarta commuters from about 400 000 per day in December 2017 to just over 1 million per day in February 2020.

Vancouver, Canada, now requires every residential parking space in new developments to feature electricity outlets to charge electric vehicles. Meanwhile, digitalisation can shift around 60 percent of the generation capacity needed to charge these vehicles away from peak demand times. Smart traffic management systems can reduce congestion by 8 percent.

As economies recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, CO2 emissions are rebounding rapidly. The increase in global energy-related CO2 in 2021 could be the second largest in recorded history. Cities are the globe’s economic engine, and the solutions they seek can transform the energy landscape by creating new synergies to reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency, enhance resilience and provide a cleaner prosperous future for us all. Strong international cooperation and collaboration can play a crucial role in this, notably through emerging knowledge-sharing networks that span cities and countries.

New IEA report for the G20 Italy Presidency examines how cities can be a key to a net-zero emissions future as digitalisation opens up a range of new opportunities.

Source: IEA

How Technology Can Bridge the Gap Between Climate Talk and Action

22.07.2021

As society pressures leaders for a more environmentally-friendly agenda, governments responsible for 63 percent of world emissions have committed to net zero with corporate net-zero commitments covering 12 percent of the global economy (representing USD 9.81 trillion in revenue).

However, it is not uncommon to see large disconnects between targets and actual emissions – when the talk and the walk must go hand-in-hand in terms of effective emission-reduction progress. In June 2021, when the G7 decided to make climate risk disclosure mandatory, seven of the most influential global economies indicated that carbon reporting and disclosures would play a vital role in ensuring that emission reduction targets are in fact met.

Setting a target is just the first step; the second is to understand and quantify the real emission baseline into measurable units. Next, a clear definition of the emissions reduction strategy must be built. Finally, near real-time monitoring of targets vs actual progress should be in place. Ultimately, if countries and companies are to achieve net zero, they need to monitor, reduce and, in some cases, offset the emissions they generate.

The journey can be complex for beginners; it can be time-consuming, very manual, and prone to errors. That should not prevent companies from joining the decarbonization wave. After all, beyond satisfying consumers and political leaderships, committing to net zero might also prove economical, as access to capital will prove increasingly difficult for those not embracing the energy transition. As ‘carbon tax’ or ‘cap-and-trade’ schemes become the most likely path forward, and as access to capital is reduced for those who fail to embrace the energy transition, early net-zero movers will have a competitive financial edge over laggards.

Carbon-management process

Carbon management can be broken down into three main categories: emission measuring and reporting, abatement, and offsetting.

1. Measuring and reporting carbon footprint

The first step is to measure carbon emissions. The carbon reporting process involves the collection of CO2 data, organising by emission type and geographical segment. The data is then measured against internationally recognised carbon-accounting standards such as GHG protocol or ISO 14064-1. Currently, emission data may be obtained through meter readings, purchase records, utility bills, engineering models, direct monitoring, mass balance, stoichiometry (the calculation of reactants and products in chemical reactions), or other methods for acquiring data from specific activities in the company’s value chain. Challenges associated with measuring and reporting commonly include the laborious data collection process, difficulty reviewing carbon footprints across business units and assets, as well as validating underlying assumptions of emissions.

2. Abatement planning and management

Abatement planning involves identifying key sources of emissions and implementing measures to reduce them. By categorising emissions in step one, businesses can then pinpoint and measure which processes emit the highest volumes of CO2 and optimise their carbon-abatement plan. To achieve this, abatement roadmaps set out targets and KPIs to reduce emissions, focusing on changing emission-heavy processes and implementing new technologies to reduce emissions. Due to the multiple variables that need to be considered in such planning, the process can be uncertain and complex. Furthermore, tracking the performance and progress of abatement programmes is laborious. Organizational challenges include a lack of both transparency regarding marginal cost-benefit of abatement programmes, and resources for managing and executing this abatement journey.

3. Carbon offsetting

Carbon offsetting is considered the option of last resort once all abatement efforts and decarbonization investments have been exhausted. It is a way of taking responsibility for unavoidable carbon emissions by paying for others to reduce or absorb CO2. Multiple types of projects are used for carbon offsets, ranging from environmental projects such as reforestation, to carbon-capture technologies and renewable energy production. Carbon credits are measurable, verifiable emission reductions and have been used as a means for governments and companies to offset carbon emissions. Further methods include the use of RECs (renewable energy certificates) to offset energy consumed from non-renewable sources. However, offsets also come with challenges, from accurate measurement to transparency and verification to ease of trade.

How technology can help

Artificial intelligence of things (AIoT) solutions are integral to tackling some of the challenges associated with carbon management. There are three main areas of focus to make carbon management more efficient, transparent and effective.

1. AIoT – integration into measurement and reporting

With a myriad of databases and systems involved with different carbon-producing assets, the labour required to simply categorise and organise the data from multiple business units and assets is immense. AIoT integration enables seamless sourcing of real-time activity level data and asset inventory data from a variety of systems. This provides an organization with the capability to efficiently structure, collect and transform data into reports for accurate emissions-monitoring and measurement, reducing overall efforts around data collection and enhancing data quality and report resolution.

2. Abatement intelligence – predictive analytics to simulate emissions over time

Abatement planning is a challenge primarily due to the lack of accurate measures for determining the emissions derived from certain processes. AIoT technology tackles this challenge by creating insights from real-time data to better predict process emissions. By analysing and learning through data from multiple processes, AIoT can refine the performance evaluation of abatement measures and optimise emissions predictions. Beyond optimising abatement strategies, this technology also lowers the overall marginal abatement costs.

3.Carbon offsetting and offset integration

Although a last resort, the carbon offset market plays an essential role towards achieving global net-zero emissions goals for countries and organizations, with an estimated addressable market size of USD 200 billion by 2050. However, verification of carbon offsetting and difficulty in trading plagues the industry. Technology can support validation of RECs in near real-time and offer a marketplace for affordable and fast carbon offsetting. Offset integration would provide a global pool of offsets to an organisation, improving ease of trade and emissions planning, reducing organizational hassle, and optimising the timings of REC purchases and retirement.

Carbon management solutions are essential to meeting the G7’s mandatory climate risk disclosures. More importantly, they provide the technology to actively manage and reduce carbon emissions and achieve the net-zero pledges made by governments and corporations. Driven by strong political, societal and economic agendas, carbon management solutions will be an integral part of emission reductions. For that, real-time measurement, abatement, and offset integration will help ensure companies not only talk the talk but also walk the walk and transparently meet their net-zero targets.

Source: World Economic Forum

The IED Serbia Project – For the Efficient Prevention and Better Control of Environmental Pollution

21.07.2021

fabrika_zagađenje_cinkarna — Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Cristi Goia)

Through project “Further Implementation of the Industrial Emissions Directive – IED Serbia”, implemented over the past three years, Sweden has supported our country both at institutional and individual companies level, with the aim of prompting our European Union accession process. When it comes to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, this project included the support in preparing the legal framework and a part of the Negotiation Position for Chapter 27, which pertains to specific chapters of the Industrial Emissions Directive.

A Directive Specific Implementation Plan has been drafted, describing the measures necessary for full transposition of the Industrial Emissions Directive at the institutional level and at the level of each individual industrial installation. Preparation of this document took place for more than a year, and the analysis included 227 large industrial installations that are subject to the integrated permitting procedure.

Ola Andersson, Head of the Development Cooperation to the Embassy of Sweden, says that the analysis has been conducted regarding the main amendments in legislation on integrated pollution prevention and control, introduced by the Industrial Emissions Directive, referring to certain industrial sectors such as chemical and wood processing industry or waste management.

“These amendments envisage that the obligation to obtain an integrated permit now applies also to additional industrial activities in these sectors and installations of certain capacities in the same sectors. That means that around 75 new operators could be listed as IPPC installations following the adoption of the amended Law and full alignment of the list of activities and installations obligated to obtain an integrated permit with the Annex I to the Industrial Emissions Directive”, Mr Ola Andresson has explained.

In focus:

Specific attention has been paid to the improvement of the environmental inspectors’ knowledge and skills to facilitate their coping with future challenges resulting from the implementation of the Industrial Emissions Directive.

“Electronic tools for the assessment of compliance with Best Available Techniques (BAT) have been developed for three new sectors of the Directive, which include the majority of companies in Serbia that will also fall under the scope of the Directive following the full transposition thereof”, added Mr Andresson.

When it comes to BAT, they have the best environmental performance, efficiently using energy and raw materials, and the practice has already proved their technical feasibility and economic viability. Most companies running businesses in Serbia have sufficient technical knowledge to apply all necessary techniques. The Ministry’s official list comprises 227 installations in Serbia that are subject to the Law on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control. These industrial installations will have to obtain integrated permits that will contain the programme of compliance with Best Available Techniques.

They will have enough time for that, even several years’ periods, but certain installations will need a longer time to comply. However, for each such installation, Serbia will have to negotiate to obtain additional periods. To facilitate those negotiations, one of the activities of this project included drafting a Directive Specific Implementation Plan (DISP). Based on the results of the conducted analysis and compliance with Best Available Techniques (BAT), financial and social analyses, 68 installations have been identified as those that will need additional extended periods.

“During the cooperation with companies and representatives of competent authorities, many problems have been identified that slow down the integrated permitting process. Companies, most commonly, do not have experience in the development of necessary paperwork, do not have employees responsible for environmental affairs, resolved ownership rights and updated or complete technical documentation. A very commonly noticed problem is the absence of usage and water permits”, explained Mr Andersson.

From the aspect of competent authorities, the primary problems include limited administrative capacities and other permitting procedures. All stated problem indicated the need for building and strengthening administrative capacities, especially at the local level. To that end, a part of project activities was focused on providing direct technical assistance both to operators and competent authorities. They comprised delivery of several workshops and meetings with representatives of both sides to share experience and speed up the permitting procedure.

Prepared by: Milica Radičević

Read the whole interview in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine CIRCULAR ECONOMY, march 2021 – may 2021.

Role of Amazon as Carbon Sink Declines: Nature study

21.07.2021

amazon-forest-šuma — Foto: Unsplash (Lucas Campoi)

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Lucian Dachman)

Amazonia hosts the Earth’s largest tropical forests and has been shown to be an important carbon sink. This carbon sink seems to be in decline, however, as a result of factors such as deforestation and climate change, according to a new paper published in Nature.

The study was led by Lucia Gatti, Group Leader, Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research /Center of Earth System Science and a member of the steering committee for the Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System spearheaded by WMO.

The authors investigated Amazonia’s carbon budget and the main drivers responsible for its change into a carbon source. The group used observational based approach to evaluated the ecosystem carbon fluxes evaluation and performed 590 aircraft vertical profiling measurements of lower-tropospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide at four sites in Amazonia from 2010 to 2018.

They found that total carbon emissions are greater in eastern Amazonia than in the western part because this part experiences stronger increase in dry-season temperature and reduced precipitation. Southeastern Amazonia, in particular, acts as a net carbon source (total carbon flux minus fire emissions) to the atmosphere.

“Over the past 40 years, eastern Amazonia has been subjected to more deforestation, warming and moisture stress than the western part, especially during the dry season, with the southeast experiencing the strongest trends,” said the study.

“We explore the effect of climate change and deforestation trends on carbon emissions at our study sites, and find that the intensification of the dry season and an increase in deforestation seem to promote ecosystem stress, increase in fire occurrence, and higher carbon emissions in the eastern Amazon. This is in line with recent studies that indicate an increase in tree mortality and a reduction in photosynthesis as a result of climatic changes across Amazonia,” it said.

Carbon sinks such as the carbon uptake by the terrestrial biosphere are a vital regulator of climate change by removing one quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by humans.

If sinks such as the Amazon become net emitters, because of deforestation and fires, as well as a result of climate change, there is the potential for this to become a “tipping point” in the climate system. This would consequently have far-reaching implications for slowing the pace of climate change and temperature increase.

Read the whole article HERE.

Source: World Meteorological Organization

United Invests In Swedish Electric Airplane Startup

20.07.2021

plane - avion — Photo illustration: Unsplash (Sebastian Grochowicz)

Reducing carbon emissions from commercial aircraft is hard. Unlike cars, trucks, and buses, where the extra weight of batteries is more or less irrelevant, weight is absolutely critical when it comes to planes. If 747s were made of cast iron, the history of flight would be short indeed.

It’s simple physics. According to Jet Pack Aviation, jet fuel has an energy density of 9.6 kWh per liter. By comparison, the battery in a Tesla Model 3 has an energy density of 207 wH per kilogram. That means jet fuel has about 50 times as much energy by weight that the best batteries available today.

That’s not the end of the story, of course. Electric motors are far more efficient than jet engines, so that narrows the advantage a bit. Even so, a thousand pounds of jet fuel yields about 14 times more power than a thousand pounds of batteries.

What that means is that electric aircraft are not going to be shuttling 500 people non-stop across the Pacific Ocean any time soon. However, they may be be able to fly a dozen or more over short distances fairly soon. Swedish electric airplane startup Heart Aerospace says its ES-19 will be ready to begin commercial service on flights of 250 miles or less by 2026.

Unites Airlines, through its venture capital subsidiary, has agreed to purchase 100 ES-19 electric aircraft from Heart and anticipates having them transporting paying passengers before the end of the decade. Mesa Airlines, a subsidiary of United, has also signed up for 100 of the electric airplanes. Heart has also attracted investments from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

With a capacity of 19 passengers, the ES-19 is significantly larger than many other electric airplanes for commercial use, including the 9-passenger Alice from Eviation. For passengers, electric airplanes hold the promise of cheaper fares and a much quieter trip than they are accustomed to on today’s short-haul turbo-prop aircraft. Zero direct emissions while in flight is just an added bonus.

You can read the whole article HERE.

Source: Clean Technica

With Only 2 percent of Governments’ Recovery Spending Going to Clean Energy Transitions, Global Emissions Are Set to Surge to an all-time High

20.07.2021

renewables_obnovljivi_izvori_energije_wind_energy_energija_vetra_wind_park_vetropark — Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Grahame Jenkins)

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Asia Chang)

Governments worldwide are deploying an unprecedented amount of fiscal support aimed at stabilising and rebuilding their economies, but only about 2 percent of this spending has been allocated to clean energy measures, according to new analysis from the International Energy Agency.

The sums of money, both public and private, being mobilised worldwide by recovery plans fall well short of what is needed to reach international climate goals. These shortfalls are particularly pronounced in emerging and developing economies, many of which face particular financing challenges.

Under governments’ current recovery spending plans, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are set to climb to record levels in 2023 and continue rising in the following years. This would leave the world far from the pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050 that the IEA set out in its recent Global Roadmap to Net Zero.

These findings come from the new Sustainable Recovery Tracker that the IEA launched today to help policy makers assess how far recovery plans are moving the needle on climate. The new online tool is a contribution to the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Environment, Climate and Energy in Naples, which takes place on 22 and 23 July under the Presidency of Italy.

The Tracker monitors government spending allocated to sustainable recoveries and then estimates how much this spending boosts overall clean energy investment and to what degree this affects the trajectory of global CO2 emissions. The Tracker considers over 800 national sustainable recovery policies in its analysis, which are publicly available on the IEA website.

“Since the Covid-19 crisis erupted, many governments may have talked about the importance of building back better for a cleaner future, but many of them are yet to put their money where their mouth is. Despite increased climate ambitions, the amount of economic recovery funds being spent on clean energy is just a small sliver of the total,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director.

Governments have mobilised USD 16 trillion in fiscal support throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, most of it focused on emergency financial relief for households and firms. Only 2 percent of the total is earmarked for clean energy transitions.

In the early phases of the pandemic, the IEA released the Sustainable Recovery Plan, which recommended USD 1 trillion of spending globally on clean energy measures that could feature prominently in recovery plans. According to the Plan – developed in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund – this spending would boost global economic growth, create millions of jobs and put the world on track to meet the Paris Agreement goals.

According to the Tracker, all the key sectors highlighted in the IEA Sustainable Recovery Plan are receiving inadequate attention from policy makers. Current government plans would only increase total public and private spending on clean energy to around USD 350 billion a year by 2023 – only 35 percent of what is envisaged in the Plan.

The Tracker shows the stark geographic disparities that are emerging in clean energy investment. The majority of funds are being mobilised in advanced economies, which are nearing 60 percent of the investment levels envisaged in the Sustainable Recovery Plan. Emerging and developing economies, many of which have limited fiscal leeway, have so far mobilised only about 20 percent of the recommended spending levels.

“Not only is clean energy investment still far from what’s needed to put the world on a path to reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century, it’s not even enough to prevent global emissions from surging to a new record. Many countries – especially those where the needs are greatest – are also missing the benefits that well planned clean energy investment brings, such as stronger economic growth, new jobs and the development of the energy industries of the future,” Dr Birol said

“Governments need to increase spending and policy action rapidly to meet the commitments they made in Paris in 2015 – including the vital provision of financing by advanced economies to the developed world,” Dr Birol added. “But they must then go even further by leading clean energy investment and deployment to much greater heights beyond the recovery period in order to shift the world onto a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050, which is narrow but still achievable – if we act now.”

Source: IEA

Tesla Patent Application – Process To Extract Lithium From Clay Minerals

19.07.2021

lithium-ion-battery-baterija — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

On July 8, Tesla submitted a patent application for processes to extract lithium from a clay mineral and its composite elements. Lithium has been at the forefront of many technological changes since the 1990s thanks to the commercialization of lithium-ion batteries — it is the reason for the revolution in electric vehicles (EVs) and personal technology devices.

Lithium is vital to the clean energy transition for the batteries that provide power and store energy. It is the gateway that allows renewable power to be released steadily and reliably. Demand for lithium has soared in recent years as automakers have moved much more toward EVs, notably since many countries including the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Norway, and Canada have announced a phaseout of combustion-engine cars.

According to the World Bank, 5× more lithium than is mined currently is going to be necessary to meet global climate targets by 2050.

The new Tesla patent application includes providing a clay mineral comprising lithium, mixing a cation source with the clay mineral, performing a high-energy mill of the clay mineral, and performing a liquid leach to obtain a lithium-rich leach solution.

The patent, titled “Selective Extraction of Lithium from Clay Minerals,” argues that extracting lithium from ore using sodium chloride is an environmentally friendlier way to obtain the metal compared to currently used techniques such as acid leaching. According to Tesla, it also allows for higher recoveries.

Clay minerals consist of microscopic framework layers composed of Li, Na, K, Al, Si, Mg, Ca, Fe, O, and/or OH, and inter-layer spaces through which cations like Li, Na, K, and Mg may be conducted in water or other electrolytes. The position of the lithium atom in this mineral structure makes all the difference for how it can be extracted — if the lithium is found within the framework layer or floating in the interlayer.

Source: Clean Technica

How Countries Are Turning the Tide on Marine Plastic Pollution

19.07.2021

plastika-voda — Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Naja Bertolt)

More and more countries are joining the Clean Seas campaign to fight against marine litter and plastic pollution. Over 60 countries – both coastal and landlocked – have signed up to this global movement with ambitious pledges and commitments.

Many have pledged to reduce or eradicate single-use plastics from their societies through stronger legislation and regulation. Others have committed to invest more in national recycling facilities and promote action plans to prevent harm to the coastal and marine environment.

The next phase of Clean Seas is expanding on the source-to-sea approach focusing on the root cause of marine plastic, which mainly comes from the land-based sources and works its way to the sea through lakes, rivers, and waterways.

In this final year of the Campaign, governments have a unique opportunity to join the global action and adopt the necessary policies to beat plastic pollution. We sat down with Leticia Carvalho, Head of the Marine and Freshwater Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), to find out more about what it means to join Clean Seas, and how countries can get on board.

Clean Seas was launched in 2017, and since then, 63 countries have become signatories. What does it mean to be a Clean Seas country?

By joining Clean Seas, countries take steps towards becoming champions to turn the tide of plastic. Joining means agreeing to the Campaign objectives and having access to a platform and best practices to profile your work and encourage others to act. There are no financial implications associated with joining the Clean Seas. Signatories may also request technical support from UNEP to develop their national action plans to tackle litter and plastic pollution. So far, our signatories represent 60 percent of the world’s coastlines. But we need to engage more governments, particularly major plastic producer countries, to succeed in our mission to protect our waters, ecosystems and wildlife from marine litter and plastic pollution.

Why should a country join the current global momentum against marine litter and plastic pollution?

Pollution is one of the three interrelated planetary crisis we face, along with biodiversity loss and climate instability, due to unsustainable production and consumption. We must shine a light on the negative impact of marine litter and plastic pollution on human and planetary health. This becomes even more urgent when one looks along the value chain to the land and seascape (from source-to-sea). Of the 11 million metric tons of plastic entering the ocean, approximately 80 percent comes from land-based sources and works its way to the sea through our lakes, rivers, and other waterways.

A thousand rivers are accountable for nearly 80 percent of the global annual riverine plastic emissions. Yet, this is often overlooked. We hope to engage governments at the source to raise awareness and to strengthen legislation to encourage better business and disposal practices. Ultimately, this is an issue that affects the health of our planet, our societies, and our livelihoods. Governments need to play their part in securing their citizens’ right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, much of which can happen through encouraging and rewarding private sector innovation.

Are there any sub-groups of countries that have a significant role to play?

Key water bodies found in upstream countries such as rivers and lakes represent some of the main pathways for the flow of plastics and litter to our coasts and oceans. Hence, the need to get their governments on board in our efforts to prevent such flow. So far, the Campaign has been joined by two landlocked countries. The first was Paraguay and Uganda joined last month.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) also have the most to gain, and to lose, from not rapidly tackling the pollution problem since most rely heavily on tourism to some of the most idyllic beaches and underwater habitats on the planet. On average, tourism accounts for almost 30 percent of SIDS’ GDP. They have also been at the front line on the COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of loss of travelers but also with having a bird’s eye view of the impacts of single-use personal protective equipment washing up on their shores. Many SIDS have some of the toughest regulations against single-use plastics in place and are true leaders in their efforts to safeguard our seas and ocean from man-made pollution. Thirteen of the 39 SIDS have already joined Clean Seas, representing one of our largest sub-groups of signatories. We hope to join hands with those who have not done so yet and coordinate their truly impressive efforts with our campaign objectives.

How can a country join the Clean Seas campaign?

It is easy! A country simply needs to decide on the level of commitment they wish to undertake, aligned with their current and future ambitions to tackle this problem and send an ‘Expression of Interest’ to the UNEP Executive Director.

UNEP stands ready to help the country team navigate this process and provide technical expertise to develop national actions plans. Our team has recently prepared an eBook to guide interested governments in this regard. It presents visually and interactively what it means to be a Clean Seas country, why it is urgent for more governments to join the momentum and what options are available for taking action.

Source: UNEP

North America heatwave almost impossible without climate change

18.07.2021

The record-breaking heatwave in parts of the US and Canada at the end of June would have been virtually impossible without the influence of human-caused climate change, according to a rapid attribution analysis by an international team of leading climate scientists. Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, made the heatwave at least 150 times more likely to happen.

Pacific Northwest areas of the US and Canada saw temperatures that broke records by several degrees, including a new all-time Canadian temperature record of 49.6°C (121.3°F) in the village of Lytton – well above the previous national record of 45°C (113°F). Shortly after setting the record, Lytton was largely destroyed in a wildfire.

North America had its warmest June on record, according to the monthly bulletin from Copernicus Climate Change Service implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

Every heatwave occurring today is made more likely and more intense by climate change. To quantify the effect of climate change on these high temperatures, the rapid attribution study analysed the observations and computer simulations to compare the climate as it is today, after about 1.2°C (2.2°F) of global warming since the late 1800s, with the climate of the past, following peer-reviewed methods.

The extreme temperatures experienced were far outside the range of past observed temperatures, making it difficult to quantify exactly how rare the event is in the current climate and would have been without human-caused climate change — but the researchers concluded that it would have been “virtually impossible” without human influence.

The study was conducted by 27 researchers, including scientists from universities and meteorological agencies in Canada, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and the UK, as part of the World Weather Attribution group. This is an international collaboration that analyses and communicates the possible influence of climate change on extreme weather events, such as storms, extreme rainfall, heatwaves, cold spells, and droughts.

“What we are seeing is unprecedented. You’re not supposed to break records by four or five degrees Celsius (seven to nine degrees Fahrenheit). This is such an exceptional event that we can’t rule out the possibility that we’re experiencing heat extremes today that we only expected to come at higher levels of global warming,” said Friederike Otto, of the Environmental change Institute at the University of Oxford.

You can read the whole article HERE.

Source: WMO

ENV.NET – Circular Economy and Climate Change

17.07.2021

The third cycle of the project “ENV.net factoring the environmental portfolio for the Western Balkans and Turkey in the EU Policy Agenda” (ref. No. 2017 / 394-372) – ENV.net3 was realized in the period from December 2017 to December 2020. Over the three years, well-known partners from the previous two cycles of ENV.net projects, successfully implemented from 2012 to 2016, used resources, knowledge and experience to build a strong network that represents a unique force in advocating and advancing policies through empowerment and opportunities for citizens to have their voices heard.

During the last third ENV.net cycle, the partners worked to strengthen the links made between the various stakeholders in the EU accession countries, to draw the attention of the media and decision-makers to key environmental issues. In the three years, the goal of the ENV.net3 project was fulfilled related to the contribution to the improvement of environmental policies in accordance with EU standards, in terms of strengthening interactions between individual actors in environmental protection, such as civil society organizations, media, local communities and decision-makers and policymakers. The joint actions examined potential opportunities for creating a better technical and financial environment to develop partnerships and joint action of all stakeholders.

The achieved results and the long-term regional partnership have led to the strengthening of the profile of ENV.net as a leading network that connects various participants in environmental protection in the Western Balkans and Turkey in relation to the EU. In addition to the Ambassador for Sustainable Development and Environment, the project partners are six organizations from the Western Balkans and two organizations from the EU: 4X4X4 Balkan Bridges, Advocacy Training and Resource Center, Green Home, Lir Evolution, TEMA – the Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and Protection of Natural Habitats, European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and Foundation Punto Sud.

The Circular economy encompasses but also goes beyond waste management Perhaps the project’s biggest success is the launch of a discussion related to the circular economy in the region, as well as the intensification of activities related to climate change. Activities related to the exchange of experiences with partners from EU countries were adapted to the situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, the virtual tour planned for Italy’s experience in the circular economy was organized by Punto Sud partners from Italy, and a special productive way of a consultative virtual meeting with EU representatives, organized by EEB, a partner from Belgium, was used in a very productive way. Also, the participation of the representatives of the ENV.net project in the conference of the signatories of the UN Convention on Climate Change was realized.

In focus:

Besides, the ambassadors of sustainable development and the environment participated in scientific and professional conferences, presenting the results of the ENV.net project (such as the Fifth Eurasian Symposium on Waste Management), where Prof. Andjelka Mihajlov PhD., a thematic expert on the ENV.net project in Serbia, presented the paper “Circular economy surpasses waste management.” A new paper was accepted, which will be presented in 2021 at an international conference in Athens (“Communication and Management”). It is based on research conducted by the Ambassadors of Sustainable Development, in cooperation with the Ebart Media Archive, during the ENV.net3 project cycle for the nexus of environmental issues. Also, at the Universities of Belgrade and Novi Sad, as well as at meetings of eco-school coordinators, representatives of various educational institutions involved in the Eco-school program, lectures were held to students and teachers on the basics of circular economy and climate change to stimulate their reactions and readiness to act. The circular economy is one of the main topics of this cycle of the ENV.net project. Introducing the circular economy in different segments and towards different interested parties has contributed to a better understanding of the concept and concept and further promotion of the transition from linear to so-called “circular economy” in different local communities. Eco-schools and civil society organizations in Serbia have played a special role in this through the sub-grant scheme within the ENV.net project.

Four organizations: Zlatibor Circle from Čajetina, Planet from Sombor, Eco-Musketeers from Belgrade and the Center of Expertise for Natural and Economic Resources from Belgrade, in cooperation with Eco-schools in their local communities, developed relations with decision-makers and presented the results of work so far in promoting the concept of a circular economy and their efforts to combat climate change. The sub grants were awarded to civil society organizations that had joint activities with Eco-schools from their communities. They chose the topics of circular economy, climate change or monitoring progress in the development of environmental policies. Also, within the subgrants, together with the Ambassadors of Sustainable Development, an analysis of policies/regulations related to the environment and climate change in Serbia was made and presented in the form of a monitoring matrix, which can serve in further work on establishing sustainable and integrated environmental protection system, including all actors and stakeholders.

Longer used resources reduce the amount of waste

The analysis “Circular Economy in Serbia – The Process Started” was created to develop a methodology for assessing the state of the circular economy in the Western Balkans and Turkey through the project ENV.net3. Authors Prof. Andjelka Mihajlov, PhD, Aleksandra Mladenović and Filip Jovanović, within this analysis (which was done as a compilation of a limited amount of available information), understand the term circular economy as follows: Circular economy is an economy in which the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy as long as possible, and waste generation is minimized. This is in contrast to the “linear economy”, which is based on the model of production and consumption “take, consume and discard”.

That is how the first report on the circular economy was created, presented at the first regional conference on the circular economy held in November 2018 in Belgrade, where all previous participants in the process of introducing the circular economy in Serbia were presented international organizations, national and local decision-makers, civil society organizations and, of course, economic entities that have based part or all of their production on the principles of the circular economy.

The following progress reports on the further development of the circular economy in the Western Balkans and Turkey were presented at two more regional conferences held in Tirana and the last virtual conference hosted by Turkish partners. The partners of the Ambassador for Sustainable Development and Environment in the advocacy campaign during the ENV.net 3 project on the topics of circular economy and climate change were the French Institute in Serbia, local communities, the EU Convention in Serbia and of course, Eco-schools. ENV.net 3 project and project “Caravan for Climate – All active in the fight against climate change!” crossed paths and together tried to point out the problems of climate change, raise awareness of the existence of this global problem and mobilize citizens, the economy, public institutions and decision-makers. “Green growth” was presented as a new opportunity for development through the promotion of simple and operational solutions that every citizen or business entity, decision-maker or civil society organization can apply and fight against climate change in their own way.

Eco-schools from a dozen cities in Serbia had the opportunity to host the exhibitions “Life of Garbage” and “Conquering Renewable Energy Sources” and encourage local decision-makers to take actions that will lead to environmental improvement and climate change mitigation. Together with the National Convention in Serbia, the need to support all initiatives that bring Serbia closer to the realization of the concept of circular economy was emphasized. It was proposed to the competent Ministry of Environmental Protection to adopt an innovative National Strategy for Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Goods which would strategically complete all areas of importance for the circular economy along with the National Waste Management Strategy.

Read the story in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine CIRCULAR ECONOMY march 2021.-may 2021.

Global Electricity Demand is Growing Faster than Renewables, Driving Strong Increase in Generation From Fossil Fuels

16.07.2021

struja koridor žice wires electric — Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Fre Sonneveld)

Renewables are expanding quickly but not enough to satisfy a strong rebound in global electricity demand this year, resulting in a sharp rise in the use of coal power that risks pushing carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector to record levels next year, says a new report from the International Energy Agency.

After falling by about 1 percent in 2020 due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, global electricity demand is set to grow by close to 5 percent in 2021 and 4 percent in 2022 – driven by the global economic recovery – according to the latest edition of the IEA’s semi-annual Electricity Market Report released today. The majority of the increase in electricity demand is expected to come from the Asia Pacific region, primarily China and India.

Based on current policy settings and economic trends, electricity generation from renewables – including hydropower, wind and solar PV – is on track to grow strongly around the world over the next two years – by 8 percent in 2021 and by more than 6 percent in 2022. But even with this strong growth, renewables will only be able to meet around half the projected increase in global electricity demand over those two years, according to the new IEA report.

Fossil fuel-based electricity generation is set to cover 45 percent of additional demand in 2021 and 40 percent in 2022, with nuclear power accounting for the rest. As a result, carbon emissions from the electricity sector – which fell in both 2019 and 2020 – are forecast to increase by 3.5 percent in 2021 and by 2.5 percent in 2022, which would take them to an all-time high.

Renewable growth has exceeded demand growth in only two years: 2019 and 2020. But in those cases, it was largely due to exceptionally slow or declining demand, suggesting that renewables outpacing the rest of the electricity sector is not yet the new normal.

“Renewable power is growing impressively in many parts of the world, but it still isn’t where it needs to be to put us on a path to reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century,” said Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA Director of Energy Markets and Security. “As economies rebound, we’ve seen a surge in electricity generation from fossil fuels. To shift to a sustainable trajectory, we need to massively step up investment in clean energy technologies – especially renewables and energy efficiency.”

In the pathway set out in IEA’s recent Roadmap to Net Zero by 2050, nearly three-quarters of global emissions reductions between 2020 and 2025 take place in the electricity sector. To achieve this decline, the pathway calls for coal-fired electricity generation to fall by more than 6 percent a year.

However, coal-fired electricity generation is set to increase by almost 5 percent this year and by a further 3 percent in 2022, potentially reaching an all-time high, according to the Electricity Market Report. Gas-fired generation, which declined 2 percent in 2020, is expected to increase by 1 percent in 2021 and by nearly 2 percent in 2022. The growth of gas lags that of coal because it plays a smaller role in the fast-growing economies in the Asia Pacific region and it faces competition from renewables in Europe and North America.

Since the IEA’s last Electricity Market Report in December 2020, extreme cold, heat and drought have caused serious strains and disruptions to electricity systems across the globe – in countries ranging from the United States and Mexico to China and Iraq. In response, the IEA is establishing an Electricity Security Event Scale to track and classify major power outages, based on the duration of the disruption and the number of affected customers. The Texas power crisis in February, where millions of customers were without power for up to four days because of icy weather, was assigned the most severe rating on this scale.

Source: IEA

Growing Underwater Noise in the Arctic Puts Whales and Other Animals at Risk

16.07.2021

Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Paola Ocaranza)

Until recently, the Arctic Ocean’s ice cover made it a natural “acoustic refuge” for marine animals for much of the year. Many marine animals, including narwhals, belugas, and bowhead whales, rely on clicks, whistles, songs and other noises to locate food, raise calves, and find mates for survival.

But melting sea ice has led to expanded shipping routes and increased oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. As a result of new shipping routes, the type and amount of noise underwater has significantly changed, and that traffic is expected to quadruple by 2025.

This activity puts whales and other species at tremendous risk and there is an urgent need to understand the impacts on these animals, upon which many coastal and Indigenous communities depend. Human-driven noise affects the animals’ ability to locate food, find mates, navigate, communicate, and evade predators, and can cause commercial fish species to abandon their habitats. And noise travels further underwater than above, further underscoring the threat to marine life.

Ship propellers, seismic booms, and construction are just some of the man-made noises that disrupt life under water—and their frequency is growing. A new report released by the Arctic Council—an intergovernmental and stakeholder forum for the Arctic—outlines the extent of disruption.

In just seven years, underwater noise has doubled in some areas of the Arctic. This is an incredibly rapid and concerning increase that puts wildlife in danger.

Natural sounds—and the animals that rely upon them—are in danger of being overwhelmed by an increasingly loud and man-made racket.

These Arctic Council’s findings are a wakeup call to countries and the shipping industry to turn down the volume of industrial noise in the Arctic, it cannot be left unchecked.

But something can be done. Shipping operators can immediately make a positive impact by slowing down and directing travel routes away from key habitats, Indigenous-use areas, and protected areas. Slowing ships down by just 10 percent can reduce noise pollution by as much as 40 percent in some cases.

Arctic nations—including Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States— must acknowledge the global impacts of underwater noise and take action to keep noises at safe levels by pushing for quiet vessel designs, slower ship speeds, and changes in global regulated shipping routes.

These eight nations can stop the spread of underwater noise and gain a better understanding of its impacts on marine biodiversity and coastal and Indigenous communities, whose cultures and livelihoods depend upon a healthy marine environment.

Source: WWF

EBRD and EU Support Packaging Producer in Serbia

15.07.2021

egg-pakovanje — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Packaging is a crucial feature of successful product marketing and greatly influences business and sales growth. Comex, a Serbian company specialising in the production of flexible food and non-food packaging and wrapping materials since 1990, knows this all too well.

“Even though packaging is a very specialised sector, it is also very competitive,” says Rajko Pribilović, General Director of Comex. “Our recipe for success consists of three key ingredients: focus on our clients, dedicated employees and a drive to improve.”

The business has grown over the years to serve customers in Serbia and abroad. Comex now sells its products to more than 200 customers, with exports accounting for around 40 percent of sales.

“We operate in an extremely dynamic environment, but keep up with the latest trends through permanent innovation and investment in production processes and technology and by keeping abreast of industry standards,” Pribilović says.

Being up to date with current trends requires investment in new equipment and adherence to globally recognised standards. An EBRD and European Union (EU)-supported programme offers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to credit lines through local partner financial institutions precisely for this kind of project.

Once SMEs have successfully completed their investment, they are eligible for a cashback grant of 15 percent, significantly reducing the overall cost. In addition, SMEs can obtain EBRD advisory support, which, in Serbia, is also funded by the EU.

“After we successfully implemented world-recognised ISO standards, which helped us to harmonise our production with the highest international safety and quality regulations, the next step was to upgrade our technology,” says Pribilović.

His company decided to invest in a new printing machine, financed with a EUR 1 million loan from Banca Intesa. In addition to the loan, the company also received a EUR 150,000 grant, funded by the EU.

“The investment allowed us to replace old equipment with the latest technology, which led to several improvements, primarily in reducing our primary energy consumption, but also in boosting occupational health and safety standards,” he adds.

Investing in competitiveness pays off in the long run, generating higher sales, better-quality products and greater production capacity, among other things. Thus, the EBRD-EU programme in the Western Balkans improves SMEs’ access to well-structured finance and business advice, helping them grow.

To date, the programme has supported more than 100 businesses in Serbia with more than EUR 26 million worth of loans and grants, available through Banca Intesa and UniCredit Bank.

This is just a small portion of the total amount the EBRD provides to the private sector in Serbia. In 2020 alone, the EBRD provided more than EUR 480 million in financing to privately owned companies, the majority of which went to SMEs.

Source: EBRD

In 2020, U.S. Coal Production Fell To Its Lowest Level Since 1965

15.07.2021

rudnik_ugalj — Foto-ilustracija: Unsplash (Gerold Hinzen)

U.S. coal production totaled 535 million short tons (MMst) in 2020, a 24 percent decrease from the 706 MMst mined in 2019 and the lowest level of coal production in the United States in any year since 1965.

The decline of U.S. coal production in 2020 was largely the result of less demand for coal internationally and less U.S. electric power sector demand for coal. Lower natural gas prices made coal less competitive for power generation. U.S. coal-fired generation fell 20 percent from 2019.

Natural gas prices started 2020 relatively low because mild winter weather led to less natural gas demand for space heating, and prices remained low as the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic reduced both natural gas production and consumption.

U.S. coal exports were 26 percent lower in 2020 than they were in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic slowed global demand for coal, and some U.S. coal mines were idled for extended periods to slow the spread of the virus among workers. Coal exports decreased significantly in April 2020 as the United States and countries around the world responded to the pandemic.

The Clean Air Act of 1970 restricted sulfur emissions from new coal-fired power plants. One way for coal plants to meet the emissions regulations was to use subbituminous coal, which has a lower sulfur content than other coal types. This change, along with the oil shortages and the resulting high oil prices of the 1970s that made coal more economical, contributed to the expansion of mining and the development of large, open-pit coal mines in the Powder River Basin (located in Northeast Wyoming and Southeast Montana), where the majority of subbituminous coal in the United States is found.

One of the largest U.S. coal-producing mines by volume, Black Thunder, opened in Wyoming in 1977. Today, the Powder River Basin accounts for approximately 43 percent of all coal produced in the United States.

More coal is produced in Wyoming, representing 41 percent of U.S. coal production (219 MMst) in 2020, than in any other state. Coal production in Wyoming was 21 percent lower in 2020 than it was in 2019.

Coal production in West Virginia, the state with the second-most coal output, fell by an even larger share than Wyoming in 2020, declining 28 percent from 2019. West Virginia is a primary producer of metallurgical coal, which is used to produce coke, the primary fuel for steelmaking. U.S. metallurgical coal exports dropped 20 percent in 2020.

Coal production stopped after the first quarter of 2020 in Oklahoma and Tennessee.

We estimate weekly coal production using coal railcar loadings. So far in 2021, weekly coal railcar loadings have been trending higher than 2020 levels, and the most recent year-to-date coal railcar loadings are up 9,5 percent compared with 2020.

We expect these increases in production to continue for the remainder of 2021. In our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we forecast that U.S. coal production will increase by 15 percent in 2021, driven primarily by rising electricity demand, and U.S. exports will increase by 21 percent, driven by rising demand for steam coal in Europe and Asia.

Source: Clean Technica

Sustainability is in Fashion

14.07.2021

DOM (4) — Photo: Courtesy of Dunja and Marija

The concept of fast fashion prevails in the fashion industry. Garments are mass produced, and from harmful materials, and in the process of their creation, many natural resources are consumed. When we consider the rights of workers in this industry are often abused, it is clear that there is no place for the concept of sustainability in this kind of fashion. On the other hand, we as users are not sinless either. We still don’t recognize unsustainability in the way we wear clothes. We buy a lot and recklessly, as marketing and trends dictate to us, and we wear that clothes for a short time, which leads to the accumulation of textile waste in landfills.

We talked to Dunja Jovanović and Marija Radaković, the authors of the F.fm podcast show, about what sustainable fashion is and how to adopt a healthy attitude towards clothes. In their show, they and their interlocutors from the domestic fashion industry seek a balance between fashion and environmental protection. The F.fm podcast is a radio format that is broadcast every other Wednesday of the month on RadioAparat.com.

Three years ago, Dunja and Marija launched Sustainable Fashion Day, an event held twice a year as part of the official program of Belgrade Fashion Week. In the meantime, they worked on a podcast, wrote columns, held forums and fairs of sustainable local brands, and finally founded the Association for Sustainable Initiatives with the idea of influencing environmental and social change through education and action.

How to tell if a fashion brand is sustainable?

Sustainable fashion is a holistic approach to the design, production, sale, consumption and use of clothing, accessories, and footwear to restoring ecosystems and respecting and protecting human rights, thus enabling the equal development of communities. But what does it mean when we say that a material is sustainable?

In their posts on Instagram, Dunja and Marija mention textiles made from cork, “leather” made from cactus and biosporin. Today, there is more and more talk about mushrooms and their use in the textile industry.

In focus:

Our readers had the opportunity to read in the previous issue the story of the new material Biosporin, which is an ecological alternative to styrofoam, and was obtained from one type of fungus. This material is produced (or perhaps a better word – grown) by the domestic startup SOMA, and their idea is to replace different types of packaging with it. They are already working with wineries and ceramic producers who want their products to be completely sustainable. California-based company MycoWorks has developed an alternative to animal and plastic skin from a single type of fungus. This material, in addition to being completely safe to wear, is not sprayed with various chemicals, as is the case with other skin types. When it decomposes in a landfill, it actually turns into fertilizer. Maja Halilović and Adrien Ujhazi made sure that our region does not lag behind the world. They work on the development of skin from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, which is also very sustainable. Research is ongoing, and it should answer how this material behaves when worn and how it is maintained.

The authors of the F.fm podcast believe that in addition to the problems caused by today’s fashion industry, it is important to continuously communicate alternatives to today’s fast fashion system to inform citizens about possible solutions and better choices available to us – such as domestic, small local brands. They are one of the options of sustainable fashion because they produce a small series of clothes. They consider every aspect of the business – from materials through working conditions to product packaging. It is very encouraging that more and more brands on the local scene are thinking about making their business (more) sustainable.

“On our Instagram profile, we have several separate cat- egories dedicated to domestic producers, as well as a series of posts #domacicakida, so we suggest readers explore the local scene and other brands behind really great, creative and responsible people”, Dunja reveals how to keep up. Recommended manufacturers include:

@marijahandmade , in addition to recycling fabrics and materials, also employs women from vulnerable categories;

@thema.page – children’s clothing brand that uses certified organic cotton;

@manonija introduced an ordering system according to which sewing is started only after a certain number of orders;

@ivkowomen company introduces numerous innovations such as electricity from renewable energy sources, water purification, fabric recycling and production certification.

Marija also points out the work of fashion designer Ana Trošić Trajković, who opened the concept store Biro 354c three years ago, where clothes can be rented and redesigned to extend its shelf life. There is also a team of young people who are developing an application for exchanging clothes, and their profile on Instagram is Barter.rs.

Prepared by: Jovana Canić

Read the whole interview in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine CIRCULAR ECONOMY, march 2021 – may 2021.

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