The Triple Bottom - 🌱 Finland's smelly energy

UK postal service (The Royal Mail) rolls out drone deliveries 
Over 500 drones will be deployed across the UK over the next 3 years to deliver post. The drones will target coastal and island routes, such as the Isle of Scilly, Orkney Islands, and the Hebrides which currently rely on deliveries via ferry or plane. The reason behind the move is twofold; firstly, it will improve the reliability of the service by allowing delivery no matter the location or weather. While drones will also lower the Royal Mail’s carbon emissions. The initiative comes off the back of a successful 18 month trial between the Royal Mail and logistics drone company - Windracers.

The Body Shop campaign for young people to have a bigger say in politics 
The global campaign, “Be Seen, Be Heard”, is a partnership with the UN advocating for lower voting age requirements and reduced barriers to voting. 
Why? A better chance for the world to address environmental and social challenges. Research suggests 75% of people under 30 believe incumbent political leaders aren’t moving fast enough for people, climate and the environment - but U30’s only make up 2.6% of parliamentarians.

Energy updates galore

• Portugal just plugged in Europe’s largest floating solar power plant. They benefit from cooler temperatures near the water’s surface, which allow floating solar panels to operate up to 15% more efficiently than their land-based counterparts.

• The UK government has opened a £120m “Future Nuclear Enabling Fund” to help meet its goal of approving eight new reactors by 2030

• The US government cancelled three oil and gas lease sales scheduled in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, removing millions of acres from possible drilling.

World's plastic waste mapped from space for the first time 
Global Plastic Watch (GPW) is a digital platform that maps the world’s plastic pollution in near real-time using a unique combination of satellite imagery and artificial intelligence. Using the images from the European Space Agency the platform helps inform site clean-ups and better enforcement of laws against dumping. It also helps provide risk indicators for existing plastic waste sites, such as proximity to water, to highlight priority areas for investment into recycling infrastructure. Finally, it allows for ongoing monitoring to demonstrate visible progress towards waste management targets - a starting point for governments in the fight against plastic.

• A new highway is set to ease congestion on the busy beltway in Rotterdam, Netherlands, while also being eco-friendly and energy neutral.

• Cheap, gigaton-scale carbon capture using algae.

• Kraft Heinz is set to develop a paper-based variant of its ketchup bottles, made from 100% sustainably sourced wood pulp.

• An Alliance of global manufacturers, retailers and chemical firms has unveiled a new $500m “circular plastic” fund aimed at supporting the collection, recycling and design solutions for plastics.

• UK Government have promised the first ‘net-zero’ transatlantic flight in 2023.

• Arcadia who aggregates energy data for companies to build climate-friendly products raises $200M in Series E funding

• Carbon Clean raises $150m in record carbon capture funding round (Series C)

• Indian e-scooter maker rides to $128m raise in Series E funding 

• Startup Solfácil Raises $100M in Series C funding, Aims at Hardware to Be ‘Solar Alexa’

• SkySpecs Raises $80 Million in Series D funding for Its Renewable Energy Asset Management Solution

3 of these stories are true, and 1 is not, can you guess which?

• Las Vegas ‘water police’ patrol for violations

• Google unveils language translating glasses

• Women in South Korea freeze eggs as child costs surge

• Kim Kardashian announces investment in metaverse real estate