3 Bits periodically provides three bite-sized items of interest about climate news.
1. It’s Your Day
It’s easy to tee off on Amazon in all of its many manifestations. However, Amazon Day is a nice little program for Prime members that can help reduce (at least somewhat) the feverish demand for same day delivery for that box of paperclips on Monday and that 55-ounce plastic jar of peanut butter filled pretzels on Tuesday. With the Amazon Day program, Prime members can pick the day of the week when they would like to receive their orders. This allows grouping of shipments which reduces delivery impacts and, one assumes, a significant reduction of shipping container waste. You pick the day. You can still utilize other shipping options under the program. Baby steps. (Source: What Is Amazon Day? How to Use the Prime Perk to Schedule Deliveries (businessinsider.com))
2. Belch and Road
The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, et al, has found that the Communist Chinese government has continued to build out new coal power plants at a feverish pace while the rest of the world is moving away from this energy source. The current build-out rate is pegged at about two new plants per week – the number of approved coal power plants quadrupled from 2021 to 2022. Their justification is a bit tortured. They have pledged to be at peak emissions by 2030 without much clarity about what that maximum level will be – under this pledge they can set a high water mark for emissions in 2030 and show so-called progress reducing emissions from that unknown apex. Due to recent droughts that have reduced their hydroelectrical capacity and the impact of the Ukraine war on oil, they profess a need to hedge their bets with coal to ensure they have a reliable energy source; and they point to being the world leader in building new wind and solar power capacity as responsible actions. In short, they’re going to do what they want to regardless of world opinion. (Source: China builds more new coal plants than rest of the world : NPR)
3. California Dreaming
While California’s publicly traded companies have known for some time that reporting carbon emissions is a cost of doing business, the State has now adopted legislation requiring privately held companies with revenues of $1 billion or more must also report their emissions, both their direct emissions and their Scope 3 emissions. It is estimated that about 3900 privately held companies will be required to start reporting their emissions. The overhead associated with compliance is estimated to be an estimated $530K per year based on similar SEC rules. In addition to collecting data and fees, the State wants to put “reputational and stakeholder pressure” on privately held companies. (Source: New California Climate Law Pulls In Private Companies – WSJ)