gfxsign

[nets2050]

Navigate Sustainable Futures: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Montreal - Nets2050

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[probablyasocialecologist]

In recent years, the Tanzanian government has forcefully evicted Masai communities in the north of the country from their ancestral land to make way for conservation and tourism. Around 70,000 people are thought to have been affected. The government plans to lease the UAE-based safari company Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC) land to create a wildlife corridor for trophy hunting and elite tourism. Meanwhile, in Liberia, exclusive rights to over 1 million hectares of forest – about 10 per cent of the country’s total land area – could be conceded to a private Emirati company, Blue Carbon, as part of a draft deal. The scheme would see protected forests created in order to generate carbon credits to be sold on voluntary markets or traded between Liberia and other governments, allowing polluting countries or businesses to ‘offset’ their emissions. Blue Carbon has similar deals in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Aissatou Keita, a member of the National Platform of Actors for Climate Justice in Senegal, has described these projects as generating ‘rights to pollute’ for industry. ‘It is clear that carbon projects are put in place by polluters to continue their devastating activities and to restore their image,’ she writes.

[upsettingandunfortunateclasshate]

White working-class males are now recast as the establishment’s salivating attack dogs; the overseers of imperialism, enforcing the bidding of their wealthier masters. Their role in securing most of our human rights — through workplace struggle in the trade unions, strikes, demonstrations, wars and riots — is to be erased from our collective consciousness.

This is what I was saying before about how the white working class man that drives a white van and plasters for a living is the enemy of the liberal left, communists and anarchists. He is definitely racist, homophobic, responsible for emissions, rising sea levels and other bad stuff like swearing. They think he is retarding society because he's thick. He and his partner are blamed for the lack of revolution because they're too busy at the pub or watching Eastenders even though no one does those things anymore. And it's because of all this that we have to write him off and thus any chance of revolution because the working class in the UK are particulatly bad unlike in Chile where they're all left wing lol.

It's a stupid middle class attitude cos it's ignorant to class analysis and labour history.

As Irvin says,

In this bizarre schematic model, working-class football supporters in Liverpool are deemed on the same side as rabid establishment mouthpieces such as The Sun’s Kelvin McKenzie, who demonised, vilified and lied about them. Conversely, black teenagers in inner London estates, continually the victims of harassment by the Metropolitan Police and at the bottom of Britain’s opportunity pile, are ludicrously deigned to have common cause with the privately-educated colonial elites placed strategically in the media and commerce through “equal opportunity” positive discrimination schemes.

[mariacallous]

On Monday, the UK saw the closure of its last operational coal power plant, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, which has been operating since 1968. The closure of the plant, which had a capacity of 2,000 megawatts, brought to an end to the history of the country's coal use, which started with the opening of the first coal-fired power station in 1882. Coal played a central part in the UK's power system in the interim, in some years providing over 90 percent of its total electricity.

But a number of factors combined to place coal in a long-term decline: the growth of natural-gas-powered plants and renewables, pollution controls, carbon pricing, and a government goal to hit net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

From Boom to Bust

It's difficult to overstate the importance of coal to the UK grid. It was providing over 90 percent of the UK's electricity as recently as 1956. The total amount of power generated continued to climb well after that, reaching a peak of 212 terawatt hours of production by 1980. And the construction of new coal plants was under consideration as recently as the late 2000s. According to the organization Carbon Brief's excellent timeline of coal use in the UK, continuing the use of coal with carbon capture was given consideration.

But several factors slowed the use of fuel ahead of any climate goals set out by the UK, some of which have parallels to the situation in the US. The European Union, which included the UK at the time, instituted new rules to address acid rain, which raised the cost of coal plants. In addition, the exploitation of oil and gas deposits in the North Sea provided access to an alternative fuel. Meanwhile, major gains in efficiency and the shift of some heavy industry overseas cut demand in the UK significantly.

Through their effect on coal use, these changes also lowered employment in coal mining. The mining sector has sometimes been a significant force in UK politics, but the decline of coal reduced the number of people employed in the sector, reducing its political influence.

These had all reduced the use of coal even before governments started taking any aggressive steps to limit climate change. But, by 2005, the EU implemented a carbon trading system that put a cost on emissions. By 2008, the UK government adopted national emissions targets, which have been maintained and strengthened since then by both Labour and Conservative governments up until Rishi Sunak, who was voted out of office before he had altered the UK's trajectory. What started as a pledge for a 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 now requires the UK to hit net zero by that date.

These have included a floor on the price of carbon that ensures fossil-powered plants pay a cost for emissions that's significant enough to promote the transition to renewables, even if prices in the EU's carbon trading scheme are too low for that. And that transition has been rapid, with the total generations by renewables nearly tripling in the decade since 2013, heavily aided by the growth of offshore wind.

How to Clean Up the Power Sector

The trends were significant enough that, in 2015, the UK announced that it would target the end of coal in 2025, despite the fact that the first coal-free day on the grid wouldn't come until two years after. But two years after that landmark, however, the UK was seeing entire weeks where no coal-fired plants were active.

To limit the worst impacts of climate change, it will be critical for other countries to follow the UK's lead. So it's worthwhile to consider how a country that was committed to coal relatively recently could manage such a rapid transition. There are a few UK-specific factors that won't be possible to replicate everywhere. The first is that most of its coal infrastructure was quite old—Ratcliffe-on-Soar dates from the 1960s—and so it required replacement in any case. Part of the reason for its aging coal fleet was the local availability of relatively cheap natural gas, something that might not be true elsewhere, which put economic pressure on coal generation.

Another key factor is that the ever-shrinking number of people employed by coal power didn't exert significant pressure on government policies. Despite the existence of a vocal group of climate contrarians in the UK, the issue never became heavily politicized. Both Labour and Conservative governments maintained a fact-based approach to climate change and set policies accordingly. That's notably not the case in countries like the US and Australia.

But other factors are going to be applicable to a wide variety of countries. As the UK was moving away from coal, renewables became the cheapest way to generate power in much of the world. Coal is also the most polluting source of electrical power, providing ample reasons for regulation that have little to do with climate. Forcing coal users to pay even a fraction of its externalized costs on human health and the environment serve to make it even less economical compared to alternatives.

If these later factors can drive a move away from coal despite government inertia, then it can pay significant dividends in the fight to limit climate change. Inspired in part by the success in moving its grid off coal, the new Labour government in the UK has moved up its timeline for decarbonizing its power sector to 2030 (up from the previous Conservative government's target of 2035).

[dailyanarchistposts]

The Many Faces of Authority

The complicity of nation-states, NGOs and corporations in creating ecological degradation showed itself again recently, when Denmark announced its plans (praised by Greenpeace as a historic event) to phase out oil drilling in the North Sea by 2050.[20] Parallel to their ambitious goals, Denmark builds hundreds of kilometers of new infrastructure for fossil fuels with the European Baltic Pipe project.[21] This project will also connect to Danish sugar factories on Lolland,[22] an industry releasing the second highest Co2 emissions in Denmark,[23] making it clear that Denmark’s ‘green’ ambitions are heavily misrepresented.

Green NGOs like Greenpeace continue to keep inventory on the destruction of nature and bargain the details of destruction with corporations. In 2010 Greenpeace entered an agreement supporting logging companies in the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement[24] and, recently, praised Mærsk – the planet’s largest shipping company and, until 2017,[25] a big player in the oil industry – merely for refusing to ship a specific Antarctic toothfish.[26] NGOs collaborate with state and capital constantly; they are businesses in and of themselves and constantly sell out movements defending forests, rivers and marine ecosystems [R.F. – see Green Capital & Environmental “Leaders” Won’t Save Us].

Promoting a notion of “net zero” emissions and subsequent carbon trading schemes is leading to a major land grab in the Global South. Industrial scale green energies, which increase the total energy market rather than decreasing fossil fuels, also lead to new profits for energy companies and devastate vast sacrifice zones in poor areas. It is no coincidence that all these technocratic solutions proposed by green NGOs are also supported by energy corporations.

The guises of authoritarianism are plenty and its attempts to resolve environmental issues have failed and led to increased degradation. Representative democracy, and other systems based on bureaucratic authority, have taught us change comes through politicians, corporations, NGOs and, of course, personal consumer choice [R.F. – see Return Fire vol.5 pg65]. The underlaying implication of this narrative is that chaotic organizing, viral direct action (and unrestrained) and immediate change in conduct is not the answer.

We need to recognize that authoritarianism and human-centric claims to supremacy over the earth have been and continue to be the root of socio-ecological crisis. This happens via the church, the State, urbanization and modern mechanical science,[27] all of which seek domination and control over the systems of our planet. This is not to say modern science is not useful, but to remember that it comes at a material and energetic cost [R.F. – see Return Fire vol.5 pg33].

[bucketofdeltav]

Are you a New Zealander or currently in New Zealand? Are you aware that cows fart?

You're one ahead of the current government then! They're trying to pass a bill that exempts agricultural activities from our Emissions Trading Scheme. Agriculture is a major industry in New Zealand, and a significant source of emissions. This bill will make it impossible to track, let alone achieve, our obligation to reduce methane emissions by 30% before 2030.

Here's a local news article about this proposed change, with comments from different spokespeople in Parliament: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/520624/law-removing-future-ets-agriculture-obligations-passes-first-reading (for non-kiwis: National, ACT, and NZ First are the parties currently in government. Labour, Greens, and Te Pati Maori are currently in opposition).

The closing date for submissions is 11.59pm on Sunday, 28 July 2024 New Zealand time.

You can make a submission here:

There is no citizenship or geographical requirement for making a submission. Anyone, from anywhere, can submit. If you've seen this kind of thing go badly in your home country, please tell the government that!

[violetsandshrikes]

They are the New Zealand Initiative, who advocate strenuously against all forms of climate action except the Emission Trading Scheme. (Emissions trading schemes are dubiously effective, and at worst are scams designed to allow the worst polluters to pollute indefinitely.) They too are members of the right-wing, Koch-funded Atlas Network. They too published outright climate change denial for years, and are now wrongly portraying all non-ETS-based climate action as ineffective.

The head of the New Zealand Initiative is Oliver Hartwitch. The chief economist for the New Zealand Initiative is Eric Crampton, who hews to the Austrian / Chicago Boys school of freemarketism and is frequently given a platform by New Zealand media. The author of the Initiative's Pretence of Necessity report, economist Matt Burgess, is now Chief Policy Advisor to National Party Leader, Chris Luxon. Luke Malpass, who is Stuff's political editor, formerly worked with the Initiative, helping them right back at their origin — a merger between the New Zealand Institute and the much-loathed Business Roundtable. Here he is working for the Initiative, before he grew his cool hipster moustache and got a job at Stuff sneering at "lockdown lefties".

To anybody living in Aotearoa: here’s a very good article that covers a lot of active political groups linked to our lovely new government + how everyone fits together + who is paying who.

[sydneysageivashkov]

everybody affected by the black summer fires and the 2022 floods should be allowed to kill these people

[earaercircular]

American states are bailing out public transport

The alternative is fare rises and steep service cuts.

Sometimes, it turns out, protests work. On June 3rd, over a hundred San Franciscans mounted a mock funeral for public transport. Walking to city hall in the sun, they carried on their shoulders models of buses and trains like coffins, as musicians played a funeral dirge on trumpets and a saxophone. Their anger was over a proposal by Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, that would have cut $2bn of spending from public transport in an attempt to balance the state’s hefty deficit. MUNI[1], San Francisco’s local transport agency, had suggested it might have to remove the equivalent of 20 bus routes to stay solvent.

Within a week, a deal had been worked out by the state legislature. Assuming it passes (and Mr Newsom signs it), instead of cuts roughly $1.1bn a year will be made available to public transport, raised from the state’s emissions cap-and-trade scheme. California will thus stave off a problem afflicting public-transport systems across America: that of a fiscal cliff, as federal covid-relief money dries up. The Golden State is not alone in creating a financial parachute. In May New York legislators agreed a budget with over $1bn of new funding for the Metropolitan Transit Authority[2], New York City’s system. Minnesota has also introduced a new sales tax to raise $450m a year for the system in Minneapolis and St Paul.

Compared with other countries, public-transport use in America has been slow to recover from the pandemic. The number of bus and train passengers in May was still at only 69% of the pre-pandemic level, according to data from the American Public Transportation Association[3], an industry group. In May New York’s subway was carrying a mere 71% of the passenger total in 2019. Ridership on BART[4], in the San Francisco Bay Area, was at just 37% of the 2019 figure. In London in May, travel on the Underground system was already back to around 87% of pre-pandemic levels.

If it persists, lower ridership means less revenue from fares. For example, the ticket take on the Chicago Transit Authority[5] was almost $300m lower last year than in 2019. Awkwardly, those agencies which were considered to be doing the best job pre-pandemic—because they raised lots of fare revenue, and so were subsidised less—are now the ones most in trouble, notes Yonah Freemark of the Urban Institute, a think-tank in Washington, DC.

In 2008, when the Great Recession created similar deficits, the result was often steep service cuts and fare rises. That could happen again. “We have some very serious fiscal challenges,” admits Leanne Redden, the director of Chicago’s Regional Transportation Authority, an umbrella agency for the region’s three transport agencies. She projects a $730m deficit by 2026. The transport systems of Boston and Philadelphia also face funding shortfalls that have yet to be tackled. Seattle’s has already announced cuts.

Yet even if states put up money, other changes will be needed to encourage ridership. Rising crime and disorder have kept some passengers off the subway in New York, says Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute[6], a think-tank. In Los Angeles, where homelessness has become an extreme problem, 22 people died in the year to March on buses and trains, most from drug overdoses. Crime also makes holding onto employees trickier, says Kam Buckner, a state representative in Illinois. Drivers he knows “have walked away because they don’t feel safe”. Staff shortages mean service is already shoddier even as the money still flows.

Yet good public transport is needed in America’s cities more than ever. Ted Egan, the chief economist of San Francisco, says the city’s economy will struggle to recover without it. “You can’t have everyone drive in,” he says. Without decent buses and trains, building more housing while lessening punishing congestion will be tricky. Yet the benefits, while immense, are also diffuse. By contrast, cliffs, fiscal or otherwise, are difficult to miss.■

Source

Weekly Economist, American states are bailing out public transport, in: The Economist, 17-06-2023, https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/06/15/american-states-are-bailing-out-public-transport

[1] The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni), is the public transit system for the City and County of San Francisco. It operates a system of bus routes (including trolleybuses), the Muni Metro light rail system, three historic cable car lines, and two historic streetcar lines. Previously an independent agency, the San Francisco Municipal Railway merged with two other agencies in 1999 to become the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). In 2018, Muni served 121 km2 with an operating budget of about $1.2 billion. Muni is the seventh-highest-ridership transit system in the United States, with 114,721,200 rides in 2022, and the second-highest in California after the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

[2] The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in the United States, serving 12 counties in Downstate New York, along with two counties in southwestern Connecticut under contract to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, carrying over 11 million passengers on an average weekday systemwide, and over 850,000 vehicles on its seven toll bridges and two tunnels per weekday.

[3] The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit international association of more than 1,500 public and private sector member organizations.  Benefits to our members include advocacy for federal funding and policies, research, technical expertise and consulting services, workforce development programs, educational conferences and seminars, and 135 subject-matter working committees. APTA is the only association in North America that represents all modes of public transportation, including bus, paratransit, light rail, commuter rail, subways, waterborne services, and intercity and high-speed passenger rail. More than 90 percent of the people using public transportation in the United States and Canada ride APTA member systems.

[4] Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes and 211 kilometres of track, including a 14 km spur line running to Antioch, which uses diesel multiple-unit vehicles, and a 4.8 km automated guideway transit line serving the Oakland International Airport. With an average of 146,500 weekday passengers as of the fourth quarter of 2022 and 41,286,400 annual passengers in 2022, BART is the fifth-busiest heavy rail rapid transit system in the United States.

[5] The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago "L" and CTA bus service. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 243,538,700, or about 800,600 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2022.  The CTA is an Illinois independent governmental agency.

[6] The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (renamed in 1981 from the International Centre for Economic Policy Studies) is a conservative American think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs, established in Manhattan in 1978 by Antony Fisher and William J. Casey, a tax lawyer and Republican civil servant who would later go on to become Director of the CIA.The institute has produced books, articles, interviews, speeches, op-eds, and the quarterly publication City Journal. Reihan Salam is the current president of the organization, which he has led since 2019.

[beardedmrbean]

1. EU citizens and businesses will have to pay more for CO2 emissions

On Sunday the EU came to an agreement to step up the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in a move that will oblige European citizens and companies to pay more often for the CO2 they emit. Read more.

2. Belgians borrow en masse in rush for energy-saving renovations

Driven by the surge in energy prices a record number of Belgian homeowners have decided that now is the time to make renovations that they expect to pay off even more quickly, given the high price of gas and electricity. Read more.

3. 'Historic agreement' at biodiversity COP: 30% of all land and water protected by 2030

At the UN biodiversity conference in Montreal (Canada), a "historic agreement" has been reached to protect 30% of all land and water area by 2030, and also to release additional funds to help protect biodiversity in developing countries. Read more.

4. Argentina beats France to be crowned World Cup Champions

The final of the 22nd FIFA World Cup brought together two footballing giants France and Argentina on Sunday evening brought as much thrill and heartbreak as any fan could hope for. Read more.

5. How Belgium moved on from the bombings

The bombings made many Belgians face up to questions about the nature of their society. Six and a half years on, Belgium is certainly less innocent and probably less liberal. Read more.

6. Saturday night was the coldest of the year

After more than a week of consistent sub-zero temperatures, Belgium officially recorded its coldest night on Saturday, with the mercury dropping to -6.8°C at the monitoring station of the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) in Uccle. Read more.

7. Hidden Belgium: The Scott

It used to be the Pantone Hotel. A cool, colourful concept. But its new owners have revamped this Brussels hotel on the quiet Place Loix. Read more.

[nets2050]

Unlock Sustainable Prosperity: Join Montreal's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme

Embark on a transformative journey with  Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Montreal, a groundbreaking initiative that harmonizes economic growth with environmental responsibility. This visionary movement empowers you to balance profit with purpose, contributing to a cleaner planet while fostering prosperity. Join Montreal in shaping a brighter, greener future by embracing this unique opportunity to trade for tomorrow.

[kp777]

By Oliver Milman and Nina Lakhani

The Guardian

Nov. 9, 2022

The US government has unveiled a new voluntary carbon trading market scheme with the aim of boosting private investment in clean energy projects in developing countries.

John Kerry, the US’s climate envoy, said the new initiative, called the energy transition accelerator, will be created in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund to help deliver the trillions of dollars of investment needed to help poorer countries transition to renewables and stave off disastrous climate impacts.

Nigeria and Chile are already interested in the plan, Kerry said, which could be operational from next year and will involve the buying and selling of credits that represent carbon pollution. This market, which will not be open to fossil fuel companies, is designed to bolster investment in renewables and help slash emissions.

Annual investment in clean energy needs to triple to more than $4tn (£3.5tn) by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency, to avoid dangerous global heating, but Kerry said leaders of developing countries struggle to raise enough money, requiring new ways to grow private investment.

“We have to win the battle against the climate crisis, not give in to business as usual,” Kerry said. “I’ve been doing this [talking about climate change] since 1988 and I don’t know about you but I’m tired about talking about the same stuff – we have to break the mould. If we don’t come up with creative ways to mobilise money, we are going to blow through 1.5C [of global heating].”

Carbon markets have proved controversial, however, with critics pointing out they often lead to minimal emissions reductions while burnishing the green reputations of large companies. Kerry acknowledged that “mistakes of the past” had damaged the reputation of carbon markets, but vowed that strong safeguards would ensure only “high-quality” credits would be used. Some environmental groups were not convinced, however.

“The private sector can and must play an important role in tackling the climate crisis,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “However, a voluntary carbon credit program won’t guarantee deep, real cuts in emissions; it’s tantamount to rearranging the deck chairs as the climate ship is going down.”

Read more.

[mariacallous]

What would you want to tell the next U.S. president? FP asked nine thinkers from around the world to write a letter with their advice for him or her.

Dear Americans,

You will soon go to the polls to elect your next president. And once again, the rest of the world will be holding its breath. I will be following the vote count with a mix of admiration, expectation, and concern: admiration for your democracy and its ability to reinvent itself even when faced with serious challenges; expectation because the United States is a model that we all want to follow; concern about your temptation to isolationism. In a nutshell, your choice matters to you and your future but also to millions of people around the world, including in Europe. I hope, therefore, you will not mind me humbly providing unsolicited advice.

Your biggest asset is trust: the faith you have in yourselves and your ability to overcome and the confidence that your friends and allies around the world place in you—the dynamism of your economy, your capacity to innovate and develop cutting-edge technologies, the strength of your defense sector, the checks and balances of your democracy, and your support for international cooperation to address collective challenges, from nuclear proliferation to climate change and from poverty eradication to pandemics.

But that trust has been severely dented in recent years. At home, some of you depict a nation in decline, portraying a scared mouse where we see a roaring lion. And these last years have seen a serious erosion in the trust that many around the world have in the United States, too. We have seen unilateralism and economic protectionism and have been confronted with a purely transactional approach from some of you, including in the sacrosanct sector of defense in NATO. We have seen the United States undermining the same multilateral system that it helped build.

It is time you double down on regaining the trust of your friends and allies. They will make you stronger and safer. Investing in developing the European pillar within NATO and cooperating on the defense industry with European nations will not only ensure that Europe takes responsibility for its defense, but it will also strengthen the United States to project its power globally, particularly in the Asia-Pacific. Joining hands in the decarbonization of the trans-Atlantic economy, as opposed to deploying unfair schemes against European companies, will help us all reduce our carbon emissions faster and provide greater benefits to our companies. Helping to craft global rules on digital trade at the World Trade Organization stands to benefit, first and foremost, U.S. tech giants operating worldwide. Taxing and regulating the tech sector as well as building guardrails for artificial intelligence will be more effective if done in concert and will also be fairer. Leading in the United Nations or in international institutions on issues such as financing the green transition in developing countries will help stabilize the economies of many of your friends and neighbors. When they do better, the United States benefits, too. In a world more intertwined than ever before, isolationism doesn’t protect. Disengaging from Ukraine sends a message not just to Russia; China reads it, too. Disengaging from NATO is heard not just in Brussels; it is felt in the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan as well as the Middle East.

And the denting of U.S. democracy is not just an issue in Washington; it resonates across Europe, too. Your biggest weakness is your democracy and open society. I say weakness not because I would wish for an authoritarian America but because openness makes you—as well as us—more susceptible to disinformation and manipulation. As in much of Europe, democracy in the United States faces challenges of election interference, growing polarization, threats against journalists, and the spread of manipulative information. AI has helped magnify this challenge with the exponential capacity to develop lifelike fakes aimed at misleading citizens. The enemy is within, and it is very good at finding like-minded allies across Europe. But foreign interference abounds as well.

It is worth investing in a shield that would protect and preserve democracy for future generations. This will require a combination of measures including bolstering cybersecurity; regulating social media platforms and introducing transparency in algorithms; providing warnings and counterarguments for misinformation before citizens face it; and strengthening U.S. election systems, including election certification processes and protecting the right to vote. Ultimately, it is about empowering each and every citizen to serve as a custodian of democracy. Democratic forces in Europe and in the United States could benefit from joining hands and sharing experiences.

You have in your hands the decision about who will be the next president of the United States. As you prepare to vote, Europeans will start a new political cycle, too, with a recently elected European Parliament voting on the program of work to be led by the European Commission. The uncertainty around us has made us realize that our destiny will be shaped by what we do next. We are determined to protect our democracy, step up our defense, and bolster our prosperity for the benefit of all citizens. We know the task is daunting, and we will have to show strong determination and unity to meet it. I am confident we will. But I also know that we will both be stronger if we trust and respect each other, if we work hand in hand to protect our democracies, and if we can still count on the United States as our ally.

Arancha González is the dean of Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs and a former Spanish foreign minister.

[floorinsite]

Recofloor celebrates 15 years of vinyl recycling success

Leading vinyl take back scheme, Recofloor, has been celebrating 15 years of successful recycling. Launched in 2009 as a collaborative initiated by manufacturers Altro and Polyflor, Recofloor collects both offcuts and uplifted vinyl for recycling. Material collected is used in new flooring and traffic products such as traffic cones. So far, the scheme has diverted a stunning total volume of nearly 7,500 tonnes of waste from landfill or incineration.

Over the years, Recofloor has won multiple awards, with 2024 being a particularly good year for industry recognition. The scheme won both the prestigious Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice and the Better Society Circular Economy Award, and was highly commended in the Awards for Excellence in Recycling Contribution to Net Zero category. In addition, the team was shortlisted for a further 8 awards. These include 3 category shortlistings in the MRW National Recycling Awards (results to be announced on November 26).

One of the keys to the scheme’s success has been the development of strong relationships with main contractors looking for opportunities to help them reach waste reduction and net zero goals. Increasingly, main contractors are sharing information about the scheme with sub-contractors and requesting that Recofloor be used on specific projects. 

A recent example of this was the Dixons Newall Green Academy, a school remodelling project in Manchester. Here, main contractor Morgan Sindall asked demolition contractor Rhodar to use the scheme for vinyl being uplifted from the buildings to be demolished. Morgan Sindall actively promotes Recofloor across the company’s construction business and supply chain as one of several best-practice take-back initiatives. 

“Recycling and reuse are top priorities for us,” says Morgan Sindall Construction Supply Chain Sustainability Manager, Kane Greenough. “Recofloor complements our other take-back schemes, such as The Pallet LOOP for timber pallets and the Proplex Closed Loop Re-manufacturing Scheme for plastic temporary protection sheeting.”

As part of Morgan Sindall’s policy of sharing best practice, Recofloor was invited to the firm’s 2024 supply chain event to talk to suppliers about the scheme.

Digital Camera

Another supportive main contractor is BAM Construct, who were introduced to Recofloor during the building of the Weldon Village Academy project in Corby in 2023. With 3,000 square metres of flooring to be fitted, co-ordinated action between BAM, Recofloor and flooring contractor Hillside Contracts – an existing Recofloor member – resulted in approximately 1.6 tonnes of offcut material being sent for recycling. This saved around 1.88 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

At every stage, the support and involvement of flooring contractors has been crucial to the scheme’s growth. From local fitters to national flooring firms, more and more contractors now see the scheme as their primary vinyl waste disposal option. 

For larger quantities of waste, Recofloor will collect from both project sites and contractor premises.  Using Recofloor in this way can save up to 70% on waste disposal costs such as skip hire and gate fees. 

“Joining Recofloor has boosted my company enormously…recycling offcuts saves on skips and helps reduce material going to landfill, and we can show customers on our website what we do, which has brought us in so much work,” says Tim Brown at Commercial Flooring Bristol. “It’s a great scheme and everyone in flooring should become a member.” 

For the disposal of smaller day-to-day quantities, flooring distributors play an important role. Thanks to a network of Recofloor drop-off points set up by distributor members across the UK, contractors can drop off day-to-day amounts at no charge.

“By providing Recofloor bins at both our northern and southern trade counters, we offer local flooring contractors a convenient and eco-friendly solution for disposing of their excess and waste vinyl products,” explains SASGO’s Eoghan Herriot. “This partnership not only helps us reduce the environmental impact of flooring waste but also reinforces our role as a responsible business that actively contributes to a greener industry.”

Whichever the collection method chosen, Recofloor provides members with evidence of volumes collected and estimated CO2 savings. This evidence can then be used to apply for industry environmental awards, certificates and BREAM points. 

On reaching the 15-year milestone, Recofloor Scheme Manager Carla Eslava commented: “Since the start, our take-back scheme has led the way in terms of vinyl resource recovery and circularity. The scheme has provided major environmental and economic benefits both in diverting waste vinyl flooring from landfill and saving on disposal costs for our members. “Our achievements over the last decade and a half are due in no small part to the efforts and enthusiasm of all our members – we couldn’t be prouder of their commitment to responsible waste management practices.”

To celebrate the anniversary, thank you care packages were sent to all members who had collected more than 50 tonnes over the 15 years. In addition, a prize draw open to all members rewarded the winners with useful prizes such as Altro and Polyflor training courses. 

Recofloor is the UK’s leading vinyl take back scheme. It is free to join and simple to use. To find out more, go to www.recofloor.org or contact Recofloor on 0161 355 7618 or at info@recofloor.org.