James Munson: SEAL Award Winner 2018

A selection of this year’s best environmental journalism

Kinder Morgan Shareholders Pass Sustainability, Climate Plans

Shareholder proposals urging energy pipeline giant Kinder Morgan Inc. to disclose an annual sustainability report and to say how its work can coexist with climate change goals have passed at the company’s annual general meeting. Source: Bloomberg Environment

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Funds Don’t Always Back Clean Tech Leaders

People putting their money into environmental, social and governance investments might be in for a disappointment. ESG funds, which select companies for their broader environmental and social impact on top of performance, include a lot of big names whose business has little to do with reducing pollution. Source: Corporate Knights (Approx. 4 Minutes)

Indigenous Communities To Share Billions In Renewable Energy

Indigenous communities could move quickly to bid on a share of C$10 billion (USD $7.8 billion) in renewable energy contracts in Alberta, said a key facilitator of First Nations’ power projects in the Canadian province. Source: Bloomberg Environment

Economic Growth From Investing In Climate Safe Infrastructure Could Reach USD $26 Trillion Globally

Benefits in 2030 include avoiding 700,000 premature deaths from air pollution, USD $2.8 trillion in revenues from carbon pricing and savings from fossil fuel subsidies, 65 million new jobs, higher GDP growth and an increase in female employment. Source: Corporate Knights (Approx. 3 Minutes)

Cost Of Cutting Carbon Emissions Rises With Farmer Exemptions

The cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be higher if farmers don’t have to cut their emissions, according to a report released by the Canadian government. A key concept explored in this report is that not all carbon reduction activities cost the same. By leaving out agriculture, you’re missing potentially inexpensive carbon reduction activities which then must be traded for more expensive reductions in other industries to compensate for this exemption. Source: iPolitics Canada (Approx. 4 Minutes)

Chief Climate Official Likens Climate Change To Credit Card Debt

‘If you care about debt, you wouldn’t leave credit-card debt to your kids,’ said Catherine McKenna, the Canadian environment minister. ‘That’s exactly what climate change is.’ The analogy is part of McKenna’s efforts to make her language more closely related to people’s everyday realities, in a bid to make the subject of climate change more relatable and therefore more compelling. Source: Bloomberg Environment (Approx. 7 Minutes)

GreenReads:
Your must-read guide to environmental issues, published by the SEAL Awards (an environmental advocacy organization that hosts environmental journalism awards and business sustainability awards).