In today’s edition:

⚡️ A jump in US solar imports

🚜 Nestle’s boost for regenerative agriculture

🌳 New funds to tackle biodiversity crisis

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⚡️ Energy (1-minute read)

US Solar reopening?

What’s happened: For much of this year, the US solar industry has been hampered by a 2021 law that limited imports from China’s Xinjiang region. The US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act stops US-bound imports traced to Xinjiang for extra scrutiny, limiting imports due to concerns about large-scale human rights violations. This action had consequences for the Biden administration’s clean energy efforts.

Impact: Utility-size solar installations fell by almost one-third in 2022 from a year earlier, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Commercial and residential solar projects have also been plagued by backlogs, the industry group reported.

Change: There is evidence that the Biden administration has loosened restrictions on solar panel imports. New data from the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has shown that electronics imports (including solar panels) jumped to a 2023 high of $175.6mn in June. Solar companies have also reported that their foreign-made panels have been released by the CBP.

So what: Morgan Stanley estimate that solar panels installed by electricity utilities could jump by almost half this year compared with its previous forecast.

🚜 AgriTech (1-minute read)

Nestle boost efforts to source key ingredients grown with regenerative agriculture practices

Headline: The initiative aims to grow the use of regenerative agriculture practices across 100k acres of farmland (size of over 50k football fields) among farmers supplying wheat for Nestle’s DiGiorno frozen pizza brand.

Details: Financial support and technical assistance will be provided to farmers who use practices like cover crops, reduced tillage and less pesticide application which will improve soil health and reduce water, energy, and fertiliser use alongside safeguarding biodiversity.

Importance: Conventional agriculture practices erode soils and biodiversity, so adopting regenerative practices provides a way of undoing some of the damage. Nestle’s assistance for farmers will help reduce costs associated with adopting new practices.

More Regen Agri news: Nestle is also partnering with a non-profit, Leading Harvest, to verify and certify that farmers in its tomato supply chain adhere to principles of regenerative agriculture.

🌳 Nature (1-minute read)

How a wave of new funds are tackling the biodiversity crisis

(Caution: Longer story than usual..)

In discussions around sustainability, investors’ focus has been largely on climate change, but Fund groups have recently launched a wave of products targeting the threat to biodiversity. In the past couple of years, the following funds have been launched:

So what: As with the broader space of ESG funds, there is a large discrepancy in both their holdings and wider approach, suggesting some way to go before a properly defined ‘biodiversity’ investment theme can emerge. One problem is that there is not much hard data on biodiversity that can be used to select stocks. Efforts to tackle this area and avoid challenges in the broader ‘ESG’ themed funds market are critical. There has been growing scrutiny amongst regulators that fund managers are “greenwashing” - using misleading environmental claims to entice well-meaning customers.

💭 Little Bytes

Quote: If we don’t keep pushing for change, we will continue to see behaviour that drives deforestation, damages the land and soil we depend on, releases harmful carbon into our atmosphere, and pollutes the waterways that give us life.” — Dove’s vice president of external communications and sustainability Firdaous El Honsali

Stat: Two in Five People Cannot Afford Healthy Food — UN Report

Watch: China launches the world’s largest salt-light solar station

🗞 In other news…

🎣 Gone Phishing

Three of these stories are true, one we've made up. Guess which:

🌞 Climate meme of the week

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