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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital
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Hello!
It’s already that time of the year again – the holiday season. Time does fly when you’re having fun and it’s been a great joy to keep on bringing you the latest sustainability news.
Thank you to all of you ‘Switchies’ who have signed up to this newsletter. Whether it’s a recent addition to your mailbox or one you’ve enjoyed from the beginning and you’re tweaking to bring back the halcyon days of ‘ESG Movers and Shakers’ or Beyonce song lyrics as subject lines (a little in joke for deeply invested Switchies), I sincerely appreciate you signing up and hope that you stick around for more.
I’m not quite done getting all sentimental. Keep scrolling for my highlights from the newsletter this year and predictions for 2024.
And Sustainable Switch will be back in your inbox with all the latest climate news on Jan. 2. Have a great holiday season and wonderful New Year!
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Lacretia Johnson Flash holds a photograph of her ancestors Tapp and Amy Craig in Linden, Tennessee, U.S. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm
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Now, this was a tough one to measure. Would it be the most interesting story highlighted on this newsletter or would it be based on data and analytics via the ‘most clicked on’ link?
Luckily enough, these two factors coincided this time around. The Reuters report that caught my eye this year and also garnered the most clicks was the ‘Slavery’s Descendent’ Investigation by Reuters investigative journalist Nicholas P. Brown, specifically part four – ‘American Dreams’.
In this moving and insightful report, Brown takes us on a journey between two families – one enslaved by the other – to highlight the impact of racial discrimination and disparate economic opportunities afforded to Black and white Americans. The whole series has been incredibly eye-opening about the ways slavery and the current inequalities are connected, and I highly recommend reading each report.
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Through using the power of data, the most opened newsletter was ‘Airlines face greenwashing claims’ on Sept. 14. The newsletter focused on the criticism faced by Ryanair, Lufthansa and Etihad from Britain’s advertising watchdog for either alleged instances of oversimplifying or providing misleading environmental claims.
Earlier this month, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), banned ads from Lufthansa, Air France and Etihad for giving a “misleading impression” of the airlines’ environmental impact.
Outside of stats, another top newsletter highlight was being able to use a clip from one of my favorite TV shows, Succession, to talk about the moment major oil and gas giant Shell sued the environmental charity group Greenpeace.
There are a few others that deserve honorary mentions like the series on the Hollywood strikes over pay and AI, or the deep dive into the defense industry’s contribution to the worsening climate crisis.
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Not only do the stats show that you all enjoy the Friday ‘Climate Focus’ edition a lot, it shows a specific part of the newsletter as a ‘Switchie’ favorite and that’s the ‘What to Watch’ segment.
This new section has taken you all by storm as it tends to have the most clicks month-on-month overall. The most clicked on video this year was ‘How a robot may help conserve the Amazon rainforest’. Seems like the pilot project in Peru using a robot to plant seeds to help reforestation in the Amazon really resonated with a lot of you.
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Reuters Global Managing Editor Simon Robinson asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard – two of the most popular generative AI tools – to sum up the most important news of this past year. But alas, their answers fell short of Reuters editorial standards and human editors.
Based on current trends and topics, ChatGPT did paint a rather rosy scenario which included the global community agreeing “to a radical and comprehensive set of measures to reduce carbon emissions significantly by 2030”. Click here to find out what else the AI tools had to say about this year and its predictions for 2024.
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Flames and smoke rise from a line of trees as a wildfire burns at the Dadia National Park in the region of Evros, Greece. REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis
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- Wider Image: Extreme weather featured in headlines frequently in 2023. Drought dried up lakes, record heat sparked wildfires, rains turned streets into rivers, and deadly storms wiped out entire towns. Click here for a special Reuters wider image review.
- Autos: As the year closes, legacy automakers as well as Tesla, Rivian and other electric vehicle (EV) startups are throttling back investments and reworking product strategies. Legacy automakers are appealing to policymakers for more help to offset the high costs of the EV transition, on top of billions of dollars already pumped into EV subsidies. Read more here by Reuters Autos guru Joe White and be sure to check out his newsletter here.
- Climate change, worsening armed conflicts, growing debt-loads and shrinking international support will accelerate humanitarian crises worldwide in 2024, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a report.
- EU Regulations: Large companies in the European Union will have to identify and take remedial action if they find their supply chains employing child labour or damaging the environment, the bloc’s lawmakers and council of member states agreed.
- Breakingviews: Looks like I’m not the only one in a reflective mood as Reuters Commentator-at-Large Hugo Dixon shares his ruminations on the holiday period, consumption and whether citizens can continue to live well in an era of slower growth. Dixon ponders on what would happen if nations embrace a more purposeful, caring and green future, where citizens can thrive. Click here to read more.
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For years, the world has been steadily warming alongside rising greenhouse gas emissions, caused by the burning of fossil fuels. 2023 was no exception.
One after another, records have fallen in 2023 alongside skyrocketing temperatures.
Deadly floods, heatwaves and storms have unfolded against the backdrop of what climate scientists say is set to be the world’s hottest year on record, with observations stretching back to the 1800s. Click here for an in-depth Reuters graphics feature on the hottest year.
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A duck keeper guides a flock of Indian Runner ducks patrol around the Vergenoegd Wine Estate, in Stellenbosch, in Cape Town, South Africa. REUTERS/Esa Alexander
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In South Africa, flocks of white, black and brown ducks hunt for snails and bugs as they patrol the grapevines at a vineyard in the winemaking town of Stellenbosch, helping the owners steer clear of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.
Around 500 Indian runner ducks work as a natural pest control at the Vergenoegd Löw Wine Estate, but also entertain wine-quaffing tourists.
“We call them the soldiers of the vineyards,” the managing director of the estate, Corius Visser, told Reuters. Ducks are at the heart of the winery’s regenerative agriculture practices. Nutrient-rich manure from the ducks and other animals ensure the vineyard runs as sustainably as possible.
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Red grapes are seen in a truck as a machine harvesting grapes during a night harvest in Valvigneres in the Ardeche department, France. REUTERS/Clotaire Achi
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Over in the south of France, winemakers were tasting the bright side of a hotter season this summer as the prolonged hot spell produced “exceptional” quality vintage wine.
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There were many strong contenders for this year’s Quote of the Year, but the below managed to perfectly balance wit and sharpness to highlight the importance of deforestation.
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“Industry laggards like P&G are fueling a tree-to-toilet pipeline that is flushing away some of the most environmentally important – and threatened – forests in the world.”
Jennifer Skene, natural climate solutions policy manager at U.S.-based non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council, Jan. 26 2023
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