Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 22 October 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# Business Leadership South Africa has urged the local motor industry to shift to cleaner fuels, particularly electric vehicles, to avoid penalties from the European Union’s carbon border adjustment mechanism. The EU’s upcoming mechanism will impose tariffs on imports with high carbon emissions, which could affect local car manufacturers that export to the EU. In her weekly newsletter, the organisation’s CEO, Busi Mavuso, emphasised the need for the industry to adapt to these environmental standards to remain competitive and avoid these financial penalties. 

# Climate Envoy in the office of the president of Kenya, Ali Mohamed, says livestock should be seen as solutions with legs in combatting intensifying climate and environmental crises at scale. The livestock sector accounts for 30- to 40-percent of the total agricultural gross domestic product across Africa. In an opinion piece for Aljazeera, Mohamed says improved rangeland management and the adoption of climate-smart feeding practices can significantly reduce livestock-related emissions. He adds that integrating climate-resilient forages into grazing systems improves both productivity and environmental outcomes.

# And finally: Experts are warning that humanity is on the brink of exceeding Earth’s natural limits, and urgent action is needed. With wildlife populations declining by an average of 73-percent since 1970, scientists stress that failing to address biodiversity loss could lead to significant crises, including food shortages and ecological collapse. The Cop16 UN Biodiversity Summit is taking place in Colombia this week. Scientists emphasise that the biodiversity crisis must be treated as urgently as the climate crisis.

Stay tuned for more news………….