Climate change facts from the frontline: The Circle

The Earth climate’s changing. Temperatures are rising, we’re seeing more unusual and extreme weather patterns and climate events. Climate anxiety is on the rise. Leaders have met again at COP27 in Egypt to talk about how to tackle it on a global scale.

Since they last met the business context has changed: rising inflation, a cost of living crisis, political upheaval and rising energy costs are all added to the mix. As businesses, leaders and people try to make sense of how they manage all of this on top of urgent climate action.

There are lots of people and businesses taking positive action, experimenting and making things better. At Magnetic, we’re privileged to work with some of the boldest: WSP, Legal & General, Ocean Bottle, Jacobs to name a few.

Here’s an eclectic list of climate, net zero and circular economy learnings and observations collated and curated by the Magnetic team, straight from the innovation and design front line:

• Those stories about the huge carbon footprint of Netflix? They’re nonsense. Watching 30 minutes of Netflix produces (much) less carbon than boiling a kettle. [link] Credit: Tom
• Putting money where your mouth is. Tesco aligns performance targets to sustainability goals. Linking 25% of executive pay bonuses to cutting food waste by 50%, bringing their target forward 5 years to 2025. [link] Credit: Maria
• Reverse shop-ology. Decathlon changed its name in three Belgian cities. ‘Nolhtaced’ (pronounced Noltakket), is Decathlon written backwards. The move is part of a campaign to promote ‘reverse shopping.’ Customers will be able to resell old and unused sporting goods to the shop, so they can be repaired and resold. [link] Credit: Luke
• Turning a world changing concept into a real business. FiberTrace: on a mission to make the textile supply chains more sustainable, to understand the needs of fashion brands, manufacturers and customers to turn patented technology into a viable business. [link] Credit: Tom
• Partnerships unwrapped. Fairtrade has joined with Mars and co-operative organisation Ecookim to drive the delivery of improved wages for farmers within Ivory Coast. [link] Credit: Jassi
• Cleaning up steel. Electra, a Colorado-based startup, has developed a new way of making emissions-free iron. The ironmaking process accounts for 90% of steel’s emissions, and Electra makes iron at merely 60 degrees Celsius — or temperatures cooler than coffee — instead of 1,600C inside a coal-fired furnace. [link] Credit: Maria
• How many grifters does it take to sell a hydrogen boiler? [link] Credit: Tom
• Startups taking the plastic out of pet packaging. The pet sector produces an estimated 300m pounds of waste annually in the US alone — meet the startups trying to clean up the industry. [link] Credit: Dean
• When dance powers music. Glasgow arts venue SWG3 has switched on a system that creates renewable energy from the body heat on its dancefloor. [link] Credit: Rosie
• Consumers want to adopt more sustainable lifestyles by limiting single-use plastic (69%) and choosing brands that have environmentally-friendly values (40%). But the biggest barrier to adopting a more sustainable lifestyle is cost. [link] Credit: Gemma
• Get paid more for polluting less. Introducing Arla’s new sustainability incentive aimed at cutting emissions on farms of its 8,900 European members. [link] Credit: Maria
• Lithuania based online marketplace Vinted is now Europe’s largest C2C marketplace now used by 45m consumers and estimated to be worth $4.5bn. [link] Credit: Tomer
• Renault Group announced the creation of a new entity entirely dedicated to the circular economy: The Future Is NEUTRAL. Developing circular economy loops at each stage of a vehicle’s life, from the production phase to the use and end of life of vehicles. [link] Credit: Jon A
• National Highways’ Net Zero Highways plan is one of the most ambitious strategies in the UK infrastructure sector. It aims to cuts carbon in line with the global, Science Based Target Initiative’s trajectory to keep climate change at or below 1.5 degrees celsius. [link] Credit: Tom

Join the circle and access the latest on design and innovation at work.