Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 3 February 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# A new study by Nature Climate Change reveals that seaweed farms could be a promising solution to carbon storage and climate change mitigation. These farms absorb carbon from seawater and store it in the seabed, doubling nearby carbon storage. Key findings of this study include seaweed farms bury carbon at rates similar to mangroves and seagrasses, and older and larger seaweed farms store more carbon. Researchers believe if expanded worldwide, seaweed farming could remove up to 140-million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year by 2050.

# Government launched an e-waste recycling pilot project in Bushbuckridge Municipality, Mpumalanga, to tackle pollution and illegal dumping. Census 2022 results indicate that 72.1-percent of households in the municipality illegally dumped their waste in open areas. Deputy minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Bernice Swarts, says industry and producer responsibility organisations will work with local enterprises and the municipality. This is to set up collection points and provide infrastructure, such as collection bins, for separate collection of e-waste to ensure the ongoing sustainability of the project.

# And finally: The world’s largest banks are reportedly making progress in tackling issues of climate change. The financing ratio for low-carbon energy rose slightly in 2023 at 0.89 to one, remaining far below the 2030 net zero emissions goal of four to one. This is according to the latest BloombergNEF data. Chinese banks continue to dominate coal financing, underwriting 66-percent of the money that went into the sector in 2023.  The US was second, followed by Pakistan and Singapore.

Stay tuned for more news………….