We’re back with our monthly roundup of ESG content highlights – articles we’re reading, podcasts we’re enjoying, useful videos and more.
Climate change
Global dismay as supreme court ruling leaves Biden’s climate policy in tatters
When Joe Biden celebrated election victory, the world grew optimistic that the US would take the necessary steps to confront climate change. But the supreme court’s recent decision to limit the US government’s power to phase out coal-fired power generation is a massive blow to the country’s net zero commitment that could have catastrophic consequences.
Gas and nuclear pass EU parliament vote for taxonomy inclusion
In a controversial move, the European Parliament recently approved the inclusion of nuclear energy and gas power in sustainable investments under the bloc’s sustainable finance taxonomy.
Government policies will not get UK to net zero, warns damning report
In its annual assessment of progress towards the UK’s legally-binding decarbonisation goals, the Climate Change Committee reveals ‘shocking’ gaps in policy and ‘scant evidence’ of delivery since the government published its net zero strategy last year.
Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
Set in the near future, the novel follows the UN’s Ministry for the Future – a fictional body established under the Paris Agreement, whose mission is to advocate for the world’s future generations to encourage action on a whole range of issues, primarily climate change. The plot follows Mary Murphy, the head of the Ministry, and Frank May, an American aid worker traumatised by experiencing a deadly heat wave in India. It’s a thought-provoking, if slightly off the wall, account of future events and some of the economic, technological and social solutions to the issues that keep the RI team up at night.
Energy
Putin’s energy power play
The Financial Times chief foreign affairs columnist Gideon Rachman sits down with American energy expert Dan Yergin to discuss the role of energy in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the global implications.
Nature
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A gentle but challenging reflection on our relationship with nature, individually, as a society, and touching on the corporate sector, blending western ecology science with American indigenous perspectives.
