*[Enwl-eng] SFB Weekly: Can investors save the Amazon?

Fri Aug 27 18:21:43 MSK 2021

SFB Weekly: Can investors save the Amazon?

                              View this email in your browser  

                              A solutions-oriented weekly digest from Struggles From Below
                              27/08/21 

                              N.B. If someone forwarded you this email, subscribe for free here. 

                              Some of the world's biggest investors have been linked to deforestation of crucial habitats like the Amazon Rainforest. In our top read this week, BBC Future's Alexander Matthews examines whether they can they use their financial might to stop deforestation in its tracks.

                              When you think of your retirement savings, your bank, or your investments, it's unlikely that you associate these with trees being chopped down in lush tropical rainforests. And yet, well-known banks, asset managers and other financial institutions either own shares in or provide credit to companies that have links to deforestation.

                              This reliance on finance to deforest crucial habitats begs the question: how can financial institutions turn the tables and help protect the world's forests?

                              Between 2001 and 2015, almost a third of the world's deforestation was due to commodity production – including cattle, soy, palm oil and paper. In Brazil, where deforestation has reached a 12-year high, the chief reason is beef. Two-thirds of cleared land in the Amazon and the Cerrado savannah have been converted to cattle pasture, the authors of one study conclude. As well as driving huge biodiversity loss, this makes the Brazilian cattle sector responsible for one-fifth of all emissions from commodity-driven deforestation across the entire tropics.

                              Deforestation could not happen on this scale without vast financial investment. Loans totalling $249bn (£176bn) were extended to companies linked to deforestation between 2013 and April 2020, while equity investments in such companies amounted to $37bn (£26bn) as of April 2020, according to the database Forests and Finance, a database developed by an international coalition of research groups and civil society organisations.

                              Meanwhile, three of the world's largest asset managers, BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, had $12.1bn (£8.6bn) invested in producers and traders whose activities are claimed to be directly driving deforestation, according to one analysis by the environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth in September 2020.

                              Turning off the funding sources for deforestation has become a target for many people working to preserve the habitats on which the world, and the climate, rely. 

                              Read the article

--------------------------------------------------
                              Support SFB's mission

                              Struggles From Below is very much a labour of love; one that we feel so privileged to be able to bring to you. But as with most labours, it comes at a cost to produce. If you value what we do and want to support the continuation and growth of the publication, we hope you'll consider becoming a sustaining patron. Any little you could afford to donate monthly would go a long way helping us achieve a sustainable business model. 

                              Support SFB

--------------------------------------------------
                              What we're reading:

                              Costa Ricans live longer than us. What’s the secret?
                              We’ve starved our public-health sector. The Costa Rica model demonstrates what happens when you put it first. THE NEW YORKER

                              Rewilding: should we bring the lynx back to Britain?
                              Reintroducing the big cats could control deer numbers and enrich ecosystems but farmers and the public need reassurance, say experts. THE GUARDIAN

                              Nuclear fusion breakthrough: what do new results mean for the future of ‘infinite’ energy?
                              The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has announced a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion, using powerful lasers to produce 1.3 megajoules of energy – about 3% of the energy contained in 1kg of crude oil. Nuclear fusion has long been thought of as the energy of the future – an “infinite” source of power that does not rely on the need to burn carbon. But after decades of research, it has yet to deliver on its exciting promise. How much closer does this new breakthrough bring us to the desired results? THE CONVERSATION

                              A radical plan to treat Covid’s mental health fallout
                              The UK’s NHS is trialling a new approach to tackling physical and mental health issues: ask what really matters. WIRED

                              As disasters mount, central banks gird against threat of climate change
                              From the Bank of England to the People’s Bank of China, monetary authorities of the world’s largest economies are gauging how climate change could rock the financial system. Though long committed to being “market neutral,” some are even starting to push greener investments. YALE ENVIRONMENT 360

--------------------------------------------------
                              One to ponder:

                              You are a network
                              You cannot be reduced to a body, a mind or a particular social role. An emerging theory of selfhood gets this complexity. AEON

--------------------------------------------------
                              Quote of the week: 

                              "Life without industry is guilt. Industry without art is brutality" – John Ruskin

--------------------------------------------------
                              Song of the week: 

                              NSG - Colonization  

--------------------------------------------------
                              That's it for today, folks. If you're enjoying this newsletter, please do forward it on to any friends who might be into it.

                              All the best,

                              Ollie

                              Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Struggles From Below 

                              Copyright © 2019 Struggles From Below, All rights reserved.
                              Our mailing address is:
                              Struggles From Below, 48b Waller Road, London, SE14 5LA

            Struggles From Below · 48b · Waller Road · London, SE14 5LA · United Kingdom 

      From: Struggles From Below 
      Sent: Friday, August 27, 2021 10:03 AM
      Subject: SFB Weekly: Can investors save the Amazon?

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.enwl.net.ru/pipermail/enwl-eng/attachments/20210827/9ca8a8b5/attachment-0001.html>