October 14: Five Things Happening in the Green Economy This Week

Every two weeks, Mike Moffatt, Senior Director at SPI, explores five things to watch in the green economy in a segment for Smart Prosperity: The Podcast. Click here to listen to this week's episode.

On top of all the additional news, research, and analysis covered in the podcast, here are five (other) things happening in the green economy this week:

1) Energy shortages are leading to record-breaking energy prices and power-outage risks in the United Kingdom, Europe, China, India and other parts of the world. The widespread energy shortages are attributed mainly to a bumpy economic recovery from COVID-19, in which electricity systems haven’t been prepared for the sudden rebound in industrial energy needs.

2) A trio of climate scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. The scientists, who hail from Germany, Italy and the US, were recognized for their lifetime contributions to “the physical modeling of the earth's climate and the development of scientific methods to reliably predict global warming”.

3) The global fossil fuel industry benefits from $11 million dollars in subsidies every single minute, according to an analysis by the International Monetary Fund. The analysis find that not a single country is pricing fossil fuels to reflect their true costs and eliminating subsidies to the fossil fuel industry would cut global carbon emissions by more than a third.

4) A World Health Organization report calls climate change, quote, “the single biggest health threat facing humanity… the burning of fossil fuels is killing us”. The report is supported by a letter signed by 400 health bodies, representing 45 million health practitioners worldwide, asking governments to act urgently.

5) With the UN climate conference approaching, the world’s biggest companies are making major climate promises. Last week, 28 mining companies, including Canada’s Barrick Gold, pledged to be carbon neutral by the year 2050. McDonalds made a similar commitment, promising to tackle the emissions in its supply chain. And the International Air Transport Association, also committed to net zero by 2050.

Listen to the full segment, and plenty of other great content, in today's new episode of Smart Prosperity: The Podcast. Our podcast provides fresh takes on the current affairs, politics, research and business of the clean economy. New episodes posted every two weeks.