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Bunyan Bryant, a trailblazer in environmental justice, died on March 28 at age 89.
Lori Atherton writes forThe University of Michigan News.
In short:
Key quote:
“The world has been a better place with Bunyan’s vision, determination, compassion and involvement. He had a deep compassion for other people and humanity at large, and I will miss him greatly.”
— Paul Mohai, Bryant’s longtime friend and collaborator at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Why this matters:
Bryant helped establish the first environmental justice program in the country at the University of Michigan. He mentored and inspired thousands of advocates over his long career.
Building environmental justice advocacy from within academia continues to be challenging work, even decades after Bryant's pioneering contributions to the field. Dr. Ana Baptista recently joined the Agents of Change podcast to discuss some solutions.
Articles curated and summarized by the Environmental Health News' curation team. Some AI-based tools helped produce this text, with human oversight, fact checking and editing.
Bunyan Bryant, a trailblazer in environmental justice, died on March 28 at age 89.
Lori Atherton writes forThe University of Michigan News.
In short:
Key quote:
“The world has been a better place with Bunyan’s vision, determination, compassion and involvement. He had a deep compassion for other people and humanity at large, and I will miss him greatly.”
— Paul Mohai, Bryant’s longtime friend and collaborator at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability
Why this matters:
Bryant helped establish the first environmental justice program in the country at the University of Michigan. He mentored and inspired thousands of advocates over his long career.
Building environmental justice advocacy from within academia continues to be challenging work, even decades after Bryant's pioneering contributions to the field. Dr. Ana Baptista recently joined the Agents of Change podcast to discuss some solutions.
"We’d like to be talking about positive things, focusing on our renewable energy future.”
As fights over chemical recycling spread, we sat down to talk about one of the largest such facilities.
Governor Jay Inslee signed the Lead in Cookware Act, which will ban the toxic from any products used to cook food.
The plastic crisis has evolved from an environmental concern to a critical human health issue.
“Simplemente hay demasiadas por ahí”.

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Shell appeal against landmark climate ruling kicks off in Dutch court  Financial Times
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Scott Walter’s Testimony Before the Senate Budget Committee
Written Statement: HTML or PDF
Oral Testimony: Video, question, and text (below)
Full Committee Hearing (Senate website)
Before the
Senate Budget Committee
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Chairman
Hearing on
“Recreation at Risk: The Nature of Climate Costs”
Scott Walter
President, Capital Research Center
March 20, 2024
Chairman Whitehouse, Ranking Member Grassley, distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for the honor of testifying. Like the rest of the panel & most Committee members, I have no expertise in climate science. But I do have expertise in political operations that camouflage themselves as grassroots groups while quietly exploiting complicated funding streams enriched by billionaires—some people call this, “dark money.”
The phenomenon often appears in environmental debates, including pressure groups that claim to represent outdoor recreation interests but receive cash from billionaires and other elite political operatives for crude political purposes. Take Patagonia, whose owners donated billions in company stock to a series of 501(c)(4)—aka “dark money”—groups. Initial reports said the money would go only to save the planet.[1] But even the New York Times, fooled at first, investigated and found monies going to political machinations like saving the seats of the Majority’s congressional delegation and pushing non-environmental issues like abortion.[2] This Patagonia network of “dark money” nonprofits already has an FEC complaint because it appears to have falsified the actual sources of its contributions to the Senate Majority PAC and others.[3]
Now consider an environmentalist group that’s received Patagonia funding, Protect Our Winters, or POW.[4] Protect Our Winters claims it’s just “help[ing] passionate outdoor people protect the places and experiences they love.”[5] But POW also cares about the banal indoor recreation of politics, such as helping elect Democrats to Congress and shilling for the partisan Inflation Reduction Act.[6]
POW has a (c)(4) “dark money” arm that gives 100%, cycle after cycle, to elect Democrats.[7] POW’s (c)(3) arm receives support from ordinary outdoor enthusiasts but also from notorious political actors. Those include a nonprofit in Arabella Advisors’ network, the biggest “dark money” network on earth,[8] which takes in billions every election cycle, including large sums from a foreign donor,[9] yet oddly goes unmentioned by Congress’s fiercest “dark money” hawks. POW also receives money from the Tides Foundation,[10] a donor-advised fund provider, and from the David Rockefeller Fund,[11] which also donates to the Tides and Arabella networks.[12]
POW helps corral into political campaigns trade associations that should know better, including the National Ski Areas Association. The Association’s ties to POW appear in its “Climate Challenge” reports, which require “all Climate Challengers” to do such things as endorse letters from groups like POW, Citizens Climate Lobby, and We Are Still In.[13]
We Are Still In is an environmentalist pressure group underwritten by left-wing billionaire Michael Bloomberg,[14] while Citizens Climate Lobby has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Enron billionaire John Arnold, as well as funding from Arabella.[15]
Groups like POW are so compromised politically that they never mention powerful threats to outdoor recreation from their radical environmentalist allies.
Obviously, for the foreseeable future, outdoor recreation absolutely depends on inexpensive transportation for ordinary Americans. That means fossil fuels for cars, trucks, boats, and planes, and it means roads and parking.
Just consider what outdoor trade groups say and the Biden Administration brags about. The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable’s president says, “We have the best public lands, waters and outdoor businesses in the world right here in the United States, but if Americans can’t access them with sound roads … then we are missing out on economic opportunity and undermining our American outdoor heritage.”[16] I think she expects those roads to be traveled by people who aren’t rich enough to afford Teslas.
Then there’s the Biden Administration, bragging that its National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund will “increase visitor access by restoring and repairing roads … and parking areas.”[17]
After all, how many hikers can reach Yellowstone without the use of jet fuel or gasoline?  How many skiers visit Aspen or Park City without flying on a plane?
Ending jet travel and sales of gasoline—or just hiking their costs—would devastate outdoor recreation, which means a lot of environmental extremist groups pose serious threats to outdoor recreation. Just last year the magazine of the Sierra Club, a group Chairman Whitehouse repeatedly cites,[18] ran a long article that began by lionizing a man who hasn’t ridden a plane in five years; it ended with hopes that planes will disappear in a few decades.[19] Jet travel is also denounced by groups like Stay Grounded[20] and Flight Free USA.[21] In the world these pressure groups and their donors fight for, how can an Aspen ski resort or a fishing outfitter on Montana’s Blackfoot River survive?
More threats come from the ESG movement’s effort to debank all fossil fuel-related companies.[22] If this movement and its rich leaders like Larry Fink have their way, an ordinary American who depends on a gas-powered car for transport will never drive to Yosemite, and no fisherman will travel in a gas-powered boat across the beautiful Tennessee lakes of my childhood.
These threats to outdoor recreation deserve their own hearing.
Thank you.
Notes
[1] David Gelles, “Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company,” New York Times, September 21, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html.
[2] David Gelles and Kenneth P. Vogel, “Patagonia’s Profits Are Funding Conservation—and Politics,” New York Times, January 30, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/climate/patagonia-holdfast-philanthropy.html.
[3] Thomas Catenacci, “Major Outdoor Clothing Company Quietly Operating Liberal Dark Money Group Hit with FEC Complaint,” Fox News, https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/major-outdoor-clothing-company-quietly-operating-liberal-dark-money-group-hit-fec-complaint. For the actual FEC complaint, see https://americansforpublictrust.org/document/holdfast-collective-fec-complaint/.
[4] The proprietary FoundationSearch database reports eight grants from Patagonia Org to POW totaling $85,742.
[5] Protect Our Winters, “About POW,” https://protectourwinters.org/about-pow/.
[6] See the extensive cheerleading for the Inflation Reduction Act in its 2022 annual report: Protect Our Winters, “2022 Annual Report,” https://protectourwinters.org/about-pow/annual-reports/2022-annual-report/.
[7] OpenSecrets reports the 2022 cycle independent expenditures made by Protect Our Winters Action Fund in OpenSecrets, “Protect Our Winters Action Fund Independent Expenditures,” 2022 cycle, https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/protect-our-winters-action-fund/C90017898/independent-expenditures/2022; OpenSecrets, “Protect Our Winters Action Fund Independent Expenditures,” 2020 cycle, https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/protect-our-winters-action-fund/C90017898/independent-expenditures/2020; and OpenSecrets, “Protect Our Winters Action Fund Independent Expenditures,” 2018 cycle, https://www.opensecrets.org/political-action-committees-pacs/protect-our-winters-action-fund/C90017898/independent-expenditures/2020.
[8] The Atlantic headlined an interview with Arabella’s then-president Emma Green, “The Massive Progressive Dark-Money Group You’ve Never Heard Of,” The Atlantic, November 2, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/11/arabella-advisors-money-democrats/620553/. “Over the past half decade, Democrats have quietly pulled ahead of Republicans in untraceable political spending. One group helped make it happen.” For more on Arabella, see InfluenceWatch, “Arabella Advisors,” https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/arabella-advisors/. POW received $500,000 from Arabella’s Hopewell Fund in 2022: ProPublica, Hopewell Fund’s Form 990 for 2022, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/473681860/202333149349300038/IRS990ScheduleI.
[9] See the Americans for Public Trust report on Hansjörg Wyss: Americans for Public Trust, “Left-Wing Swiss Billionaire Exploiting the Foreign Influence Loophole,” July 10, 2023, https://americansforpublictrust.org/news/report-left-wing-swiss-billionaire-exploiting-the-foreign-influence-loophole/. Wyss has admitted to illegal direct political contributions to groups such as Friends of Dick Durbin; the statute of limitations has expired for Wyss’s direct political contributions, but they remain in the FEC database: Federal Election Commission, “Individual Contributions: Wyss, Hanjorg,” https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Wyss%2C+Hansjoerg&contributor_name=Wyss%2C+Hansjorg.
[10] ProPublica, “Tides Foundation,” https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/510198509. For more on Tides, see InfluenceWatch, “Tides Foundation,” https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/tides-foundation/.
[11] ProPublica, “The David Rockefeller Fund Inc,” https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133533359.
[12] InfluenceWatch, “David Rockefeller Fund,” https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/david-rockefeller-fund/.
[13] National Ski Areas Association, Climate Change Annual Report 2023, http://nsaa.org/webdocs/sustainability/CC%20Annual%20Reports/CCAR2023.pdf.
[14] InfluenceWatch, “We Are Still In,” https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/we-are-still-in/.
[15] InfluenceWatch, “Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL),” https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/citizens-climate-lobby/.
[16] Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, “ORR Applauds Administration’s $2.8 Billion Investment in Public Lands Infrastructure and Access,”
April 8, 2022, https://recreationroundtable.org/news/orr-applauds-administrations-2-8-billion-investment-in-public-lands-infrastructure-and-access/
[17] U.S. Department of the Interior, “President Biden’s Budget Invests $2.8 Billion to Support Outdoor Recreation Economies, Access to Public Lands,” April 8, 2022, https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/president-bidens-budget-invests-28-billion-support-outdoor-recreation-economies-access.
[18] Office of Sheldon Whitehouse, search string “sierra club,” https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/?s=%22sierra+club%22.
[19] Dayton Martindale, “The Carbon Footprint of Air Travel and How to Live a More Grounded Life,” Sierra, June 15, 2023, https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/2023-2-summer/feature/carbon-footprint-air-travel-and-how-live-more-grounded-life.
[20] Stay Grounded, website, https://stay-grounded.org/.
[21] Flight Free USA, website, https://flightfree.org/flightfacts.
[22] See my testimony to this Committee last year: “The ESG movement, for example, funded with millions from billionaires like George Soros and millions from the Arabella network, is currently trying to have banks stop loans to any company related to fossil fuels, which would mean Americans couldn’t buy gas for their cars and trucks.” Scott Walter, “Written Statement on ‘Dark Money’ in the Climate Debate,” testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, June 21, 2023, https://capitalresearch.org/article/written-statement-on-dark-money-in-the-climate-debate/. I gave the following citations to support those claims: “For example, Soros’s Open Society foundations have given seven-figures in donations to As You Sow, one of the most prominent ESG groups. Open Society Foundations, “Awarded Grants,” search “as you sow,” https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=as+you+sow. For example, Arabella’s New Venture Fund has given almost $7.3 million to Ceres, a prominent ESG group, from 2017 to 2021. InfluenceWatch, “New Venture Fund (NVF): Grants from New Venture Fund,” https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/new-venture-fund/#grants-from-new-venture-fund. For more on Ceres, see Ken Braun, “Ceres Inc.: The ESG Old Guard,” Capital Research Center, September 12, 2022, https://capitalresearch.org/article/ceres-inc-the-esg-old-guard/. In 2022, 10 different banks had received proposals asking them to stop financing or underwriting such projects. See Brigid Rosati, Kilian Moote, Rajeev Kumar, Michael Maiolo, and Georgeson, ‘A Look Back at the 2022 Proxy Season,’ Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, February 14, 2023, https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2022/10/23/a-look-back-at-the-2022-proxy-season/.”
Capital Research Center (CRC) was established in 1984 to promote a better understanding of charity and philanthropy. We support the principles of individual liberty, a free market economy and limited constitutional government: These are the cornerstones of American society.

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Garland’s Earth Day Celebration Promises Sustainability Education Amid Absence of Recycle Row  Hoodline
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TEPCO's crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Okuma, Fukushima prefecture on Aug. 24, 2023. The power plant suffered a meltdown of three reactor cores after being struck by a tsunami in 2011. STR / Getty Images

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With the possibility of climate change driving more extreme weather events in areas where nuclear power plants operate, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission needs to incorporate those events into the safety planning of the facilities, a new report has found. 
The Government Accountability Office said in an audit Tuesday that 75 operational and shuttered nuclear power plants in the U.S. reside in areas expected to be further impacted by climate change-driven weather events like drought, extreme heat and floods.
The NRC is tasked with developing the safety regulations and for licensing those power plants, with the agency mandating that nuclear facilities are designed to withstand earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods without harm to the public, largely by ensuring that their reactors remain cooled through a series of redundancies. 
The report noted that while the NRC issued new safety requirements following the 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant — where an earthquake-triggered tsunami caused the meltdown of three reactor cores —the agency does not factor climate projections data in its safety risk assessments, instead leaning on historical data to predict potential future risk. 
“In such a case, NRC expects the event to occur only once in 10,000 to 10 million years, depending on the hazard,” the report said. “NRC officials we interviewed told us that they review regional climate projections information for some hazards but do not incorporate site-specific climate projections data, which include hazard assessments, design bases or determining the adequate safety margin for plants.” 
 The agency also doesn’t reevaluate natural hazard or climate-related events in its license renewal process, beyond a power plant’s initial 40-year licensing period, instead focusing on its aging impacts and retaining its original natural disaster risk-informed design.
The report noted that as of January, the NRC “had issued license renewals to 49 of the 54 operating nuclear power plants, meaning most plants are operating on the basis of assessments of natural hazard risk that are over 40 years old.”
The NRC inspection process also doesn’t factor in the climate projections, but agency officials told the GAO that other criteria such as the historical record of severe natural phenomena at a power plant site — known as conservatism — safety margins and multiple independent and redundant layers of defense “provide an adequate margin of safety to address climate risks to the safety of nuclear power plants.” However, GAO officials said that the NRC has done no assessment to affirm that assertion.  
“According to NRC officials, using site-specific climate projections data for extreme hazard levels in nuclear power plant design and safety reviews is challenging because of the uncertainty associated with applying these data to specific sites” the report said. “However, NRC regulations do not preclude NRC from using climate projections data, and new sources of reliable projected climate data are available to NRC.”
The report also notes that since 2017, the agency uses an information system dubbed Process for the Ongoing Assessment of Natural Hazard Information to log and document historical hazard data and assess potential risk, including events driven by climate change.
But GAO officials said that the NRC has not developed new regulations as a result of the system, hasn’t used it to assess potential changes to all natural hazards and hasn’t comprehensively reviewed natural hazards on a regular basis.
“NRC conducts POANHI assessments for one hazard at a time, and the agency does not have a schedule for reviewing natural hazards beyond the assessment of seismic hazards currently underway,” the report said. “As such, POANHI is used to react to new hazard information or events when NRC staff become aware of them.”
GAO officials offered three recommendations, including assessing whether licensing and oversight processes address increased risk from climate change, that the NRC develop a plan to address gaps in its assessment process and that the agency finalize guidance incorporating climate projections data into its processes. 
NRC officials said the recommendations were “consistent with actions that are either underway or under development,” but asserted that its conservatism and defense-in-depth processes provided reasonable assurance to natural hazards and potential climate change. 
GAO officials said the agency “cannot fully consider potential climate change effects on plants without using the best available information—including climate projections data—in its licensing and oversight processes.”
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SEC Faces Lawsuits From Across Political Spectrum
Following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) adoption of a scaled back set of climate disclosure rules on March 6, 2024, several states have filed lawsuits claiming that the rules go beyond the SEC’s statutory authority. The lawsuits will be consolidated and reviewed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, a decision made by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation as a result of a lottery drawing; the Republican attorneys general, various energy companies and other stakeholders filed challenges to review the rules in the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Eleventh circuits, all of which are conservative leaning. The Eighth Circuit court is comprised of 17 judges, one of which was appointed by a Democratic president, with the legal challenge filed there being led by Iowa. Other states that have filed include West Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wyoming, Virginia, Arkansas, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which opposed the rules at an early stage, also filed its own lawsuit, and described it as a “novel and complicated rule that will likely have significant impact on businesses and their investors.” The claimants are looking for the courts to vacate the rule. On the other side of the political spectrum, the SEC was challenged by the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, who argue that the climate rule was scaled back too far. A spokesperson for the SEC stated that the commission “undertakes rulemaking consistent with its authorities and laws governing the administrative process and will vigorously defend the final climate risk disclosure rules in court.”
It is likely that businesses will continue to prepare for compliance with the approved rule particularly given similar pre-existing, or imminent, climate reporting and disclosure obligations, such as in California (through Senate Bills 253 and 261), and the European Union’s European Sustainability Reporting Standards.
Trending: “Scaled-Back” Climate Rules
Member States continue to vacillate on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), as the European Council adopted a scaled-back version of the controversial legislation on March 15. The announcement was made just weeks after the European Council failed to provide final approval on February 28, 2024. Among the changes to the more robust form proposed in December 2023 are:
As with the SEC’s climate rule, companies are well-advised to plan ahead and prepare to comply with the rules. The CSDDD is likely to have significant global impact given that companies not headquartered in the EU, but operating there, will be in-scope.
Court Rules That Dutch Airline KLM Misled Customers
On March 20, a Dutch court held that airline KLM misled customers through vague environmental claims and depicted an “overly rosy picture” of its use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The suit, which we originally discussed in October 2023, was brought by several environmental activist groups, including ClientEarth and Fossielvrij. The groups challenge KLM’s “Fly Responsibly” campaign, which was comprised of advertisements promoting its use of SAF, reforestation and onboard changes to reduce its carbon footprint. Fifteen of the total 19 advertisements were determined to be misleading and vague. One, on a billboard at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, which depicted a child on a swing, accompanied by a statement reading “join us in creating a more sustainable future,” for example, did not set out how flying with KLM would have an environmental benefit. The court stated that the impression was reinforced by the background of sky, mountains and water. With respect to the airline’s use of SAF and related advertising, the court ruled that the measures only “marginally reduce the negative environmental aspects and give the wrong impression that flying with KLM is sustainable.”
The decision in this case is a significant one, given the slew of greenwashing lawsuits against airlines. For instance, in 2020, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) censured Ryanair based on a finding that the airline made misleading and unsubstantiated comparative claims in its 2019 advertising touting that it was “Europe’s lowest emissions airline.” In April 2023, ASA found that two of Etihad Airways’ claims concerning “sustainable aviation” lacked context and exaggerated the immediate positive environmental impact of flying the airline, and were therefore misleading. And a month earlier, the ASA found that Lufthansa’s advertising claim “Connecting the world. Protecting its future,” in the context in which it was presented, could be understood by consumers as an environmental claim, and that it was misleading because it suggested that Lufthansa had already taken action to mitigate its environmental impact, but that the airline’s initiatives found on its website through a link in the advertisement were aspirational. In the United States, a consumer class action was filed in California federal court, alleging that Delta Air Lines falsely claimed that it is the world’s “first carbon-neutral airline.” Action against greenwashing continues to trend in the airline sector with little sign of abating.
In principle, the message is the same irrespective of the sector or industry: environmental and sustainability claims must be clear, accurate and substantiated. While the consequences in some cases may be the wasted costs of the offending advertising campaigns, and the warning to refrain from similar action in the future, the more embedded greenwashing legislation becomes, the greater the risk of high financial penalties being levied. And as KLM’s lawyer stated at an inaugural lecture at Leiden University, “With climate litigation, you grab attention – media attention – and, at least that is the hope, you instill fear in other companies. So interest groups are using it to try to bring about behavioural change.”
ING Put on Notice of Climate Lawsuit
Environmental activist group Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Netherlands) announced its intention to file a lawsuit against Dutch banking group ING for breaching its Dutch law duty of care to not create dangers that can cause avoidable damage to people or property, by providing financial support to high carbon-emitting companies. ING has been given eight weeks to respond before Milieudefensie files the suit with a Dutch court. The group says it is targeting ING because it is the largest Dutch bank in terms of assets, equity and emissions. It is also considered to be one of the 30 global systematically important banks and the hope is that imposing change upon it will positively impact the banking ecosystem. In response to notice of the lawsuit, ING stated “[w]e’re in regular dialogue with a variety of stakeholders, including Friends of the Earth Netherlands. We’re confident that we take impactful action to fight climate change. We will of course respond in court if necessary.”
Milieudefensie announced the threat of legal action via a 40-page letter setting out its rationale, demanding that ING reduce its carbon emissions by at least 48% by 2030 compared with 2019. The group also called on ING to cease financing to all fossil fuel clients that intend to continue investing in fossil fuel projects or do not have adequate transition plans and stressed that ING should commence such engagement with its clients within three months of receiving the letter.
The basis of the threatened action is similar to action under France’s corporate duty of vigilance law. The law requires companies to establish a “Vigilance Plan” to “identify and prevent risks of severe violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, health and safety of people and to the environment in their entire sphere of influence.” Several climate advocacy groups have filed lawsuits against companies for breaching their duty of vigilance, including Friends of the Earth France, Notre Affaire à Tous and Oxfam France, who filed against BNP Paribas in March 2023. ClientEarth also filed on the same basis against food products company, Danone. Prior to filing its claim against Danone for breaching the duty of vigilance law, ClientEarth served “legal warnings” on Danone and certain other French companies, including Auchan, Carrefour, Casino, Lactalis, McDonald’s France, Les Mousquetaires, Picard, and Nestlé France. As we reported in our previous edition on March 5, three separate cases were heard before the Paris Court of Appeal in which it is alleged that energy companies Suez, EDF and TotalEnergies breached France’s Duty of Vigilance Act. Once the decisions in these cases are handed down (in June 2024), the direction that pending cases may follow will become clearer.
Pre-approval for Sustainability Claims
In a bid to expand the protections provided to consumers purchasing products with environmental claims, the European Parliament proposed establishing a verification and pre-approval system. If enacted, each Member State would need to assign verifiers to pre-approve the use of claims such as “biodegradable,” “less polluting,” “water saving” or having “bio based content.” The aim would be for claims and underlying evidence to be assessed within 30 days. Non-complying companies would face financial penalties of at least 4% of annual turnover or may, for example, be temporarily suspended from public procurement tenders.
Claims based solely on carbon offsetting and removals would be banned, but such initiatives could be referenced in advertisements where companies have already reduced carbon emissions as much as possible and only use such schemes for residual emissions. Additionally, the carbon credits in question would have to be certified under official frameworks such as the Carbon Removals Certification Framework if approved. The proposal is in early stages, and any follow up will now be after the European elections which take place between June 6 and 9.
As we discussed in our February 9 edition, the EU’s Green Deal umbrella encompasses a number of initiatives aimed at increasing consumer protection when it comes to green claims. This includes the Green Claims Directive, which will prohibit companies from making statements such as “carbon neutral” or “environmentally friendly” unless they can substantiate those claims, the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, and amendments to two existing EC Directives – 2005/29/EC the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, and 2011/83/EU, the Consumer Rights Directive. The European Parliament’s proposal to implement a system whereby environmental claims would need to be verified prior to being made is in line with the EU’s continued efforts to prevent greenwashing and protect consumers and investors.
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DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
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NEWARK, Del. — Oppy BB #:116424, the leading grower, marketer, and distributor of fresh produce, has released the second edition of its sustainability report, “Expect the world from us,” marking substantial achievements in its commitment to environmental responsibility and social impact.
Evolving from the inaugural report which was released a year ago and consisted of benchmark data related to Oppy’s five ongoing focus areas — greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, food waste, water use, packaging materials and impact on people and communities — this update celebrates numerous sustainability and innovative achievements and sets tangible objectives for the future.
Director of Innovation and Sustainability Garland Perkins shared, “When I began leading Oppy’s sustainability efforts, I knew we were already doing impactful work. Now, with the second report, we are excited to demonstrate the legitimacy and depth of our progress. Our approach to sustainability reflects our commitment to ‘doing the right thing’ for the environment and our people, while aligning with the business’ needs and realities.”
In the 2024 report, Oppy has transitioned from tactical initiatives to a focus on more significant, global-impact projects. The company is now addressing critical challenges within its supply chain, moving beyond quantifying efforts to tackle more complex issues.
“As an industry, we are all in this together,” shared President and Chief Operating Officer David Smith. “While Oppy’s global presence and unique role in the supply chain has the potential for staggering impact — when it comes to sustainability, we believe in collaboration over competition. Which is why we are committed to working with partners, stakeholders and competitors to create a sustainable tomorrow for all and drive meaningful change.”
Key highlights from the 2024 report:
• Oppy received SmartWay certification in the fall of 2023, a voluntary public-private program that measures and documents fuel use and freight emissions throughout the supply chain.
• 119,062 kilowatt hours (kWh) were generated from renewable sources, representing 59% of electricity used to power our offices and warehouse space, and avoiding 162 metric tons of carbon emissions
• Oppy’s upcycling partnerships for food waste and recycled materials resulted in the reduction of 74 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e) and 430 mtCO2e, respectively.
• As the leading marketer of Fair Trade-certified bell peppers, $1,574,965 in premium funds for farmworkers and their communities amounted from 26 million of the 34.9 million lbs of total certified produce sold in 2023.
• Increased sales volume of organic products by 130% between 2018 and 2023 — to both meet market demand and limit the effects of climate change.
• Launched a home and industry-certified compostable avocado bag in January 2024. The Earth Sack™ is a 100% biodegradable and compostable bag free of microplastics and petrochemicals.
• 800% increase in Oppy employees’ paid volunteer time off, largely spent in the following areas: Food bank and food security related charity work, environmental support initiatives such as tree planting and activities supporting children’s education.
Oppy looks toward updating this annual document with its progress and strategic vision in the years ahead, while standing committed to transparency and collaborative progress. An open invitation is extended to industry peers to foster teamwork and exchange insights that will collectively shape the future.
About Oppy
Growing, marketing and distributing fresh produce from around the globe for over 165 years, Vancouver, BC-based Oppy discovers and delivers the best of the world’s harvest. With over 50 million boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables grown on every continent moving through its supply chain annually, Oppy offers popular favorites from avocados and berries to apples and oranges year-round, alongside innovative seasonal specialties. Over the years, Oppy has introduced North Americans to a number of items across its diverse produce range, including Granny Smith, JAZZ and Envy apples, as well as green and gold kiwifruit. Go to oppy.com to learn more.

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Oppy unveils progress and vision in second annual sustainability report

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By: Chadner Navarro Published: Mar 09, 2023 10:00 AM IST
As conscious travellers consider climate change and their individual impact on the globe, deciding how to travel is, for some, as big a question as where to go. Transportation industry leaders like the cruise line and airline below are investing significant resources in reducing the carbon footprint, from physical renovations to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions to turning to renewable sources to fuel their journeys across the globe.
The year 2023 is an exciting moment in the progress of planes, trains, and automobiles — and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. — T+L Editors

Carbon emissions and air travel might seem inextricably linked, but United Airlines knows that cleaner flights are achievable — in part because the solution exists. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a type of renewable energy made from organic materials, has huge potential to lower greenhouse gases if it’s affordable and widely available, according to Lauren Riley, United’s chief sustainability officer.
To help create that marketplace and fund SAF and other innovations, the company launched United Airlines Ventures in 2021. The airline has also signed purchase agreements with several SAF producers, including Finland’s Neste, which makes its version from 100 percent cooking oil and animal fat. For United, SAF is the real endgame — along with the lofty goal of flying with net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. “If we’re able to replace fossil jet fuel with a sustainable alternative, we pull emissions way down,” Riley says.

There is perhaps no one more vocal about the cruise industry’s challenges in reducing its carbon footprint than Daniel Skjeldam, CEO of the Norway-based Hurtigruten Group. “There’s a massive amount of greenwashing out there,” he says. “But the more we speak about it, the more pressure we’re putting on operators to make significant investments in a more sustainable cruising industry.” The 130-year-old company has invested USD 109 million (892.5 crores) to retrofit its seven Norwegian Coastal Express ships, which will reduce the company’s carbon-dioxide emissions by 25 percent and its nitrogen-oxide emissions by 80 percent by 2024.

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Among the improvements: upgraded propulsion systems and wastewater treatment, new battery packs, and certified biofuels. “We’re simultaneously cutting emissions in our current operations and learning about what we need to do for future builds,” Skjeldam says, adding that Hurtigruten aims to sail the world’s first zero-emission ship by 2030, then follow it up by eliminating all of the company’s emissions 20 years later. But he is also realistic that these upgrades are going to lead to tangible changes that passengers need to prepare for. “These are costly investments,” he admits. “We have to accept that travelling in the future — when it’s going to be sustainable — can’t be as cheap as it is today.”
This story first appeared on www.travelandleisure.com
Main and Feature Image Credit: Stian Klo/Courtesy of Hurtigruten
Related: This Todos Santos Hotel Is An Eco-Conscious Paradise
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