Equilibrium is a newsletter from The Hill that follows the unfolding global war over the long-term sustainability. Register in the box below or online here.
cerca
Thank you for registering!
Subscribe to newsletters here
Politics and politics. Straight to your inbox. Subscribe to the Balance newsletter
Pizza Domino’s is experimenting this month with a new high-tech strategy for recruiting delivery people: offering them electric vehicles.
Domino franchisees will begin receiving a total of 800 new Chevy Bolts, all bearing the store’s logo, through December, according to the company.
The new cars are meant for franchisees to attract and retain delivery drivers, especially those who don’t have their own car, Domino CEO Russell Weiner told The Wall Street Journal.
The driver shortage, which corresponded to a backlog in delivery times and canceled orders, led to a spiral of lost profits for Domino’s in the early years of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Journal.
The corporate hires a car rental department of the corporate company to acquire the vehicles, perform maintenance of the machinery and even install chargers for franchisees.
“We still have a long way to go, but we’re going to have the largest fleet of electric cars in the pizza industry, period,” Weiner said.
He added that new cars pay for themselves temporarily by restricting fuel and maintenance costs.
Welcome to Equilibrium, we are Saul Elbein and Sharon Udasin. Send us your feedback.
Today we’re going to take a look at the unprecedented language of the UN’s new climate update agreement, and why many say it doesn’t go far enough. Also: why a railway strike could take place just before Christmas and a foreign race to space junk.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) concluded this weekend with an agreement to compensate the next countries for what they have suffered as a result of climate change.
However, while the agreement establishes a fund to deal with the “loss and damage” those countries have suffered, several main points remain unclear, our colleague Rachel Frazin told The Hill.
What’s in the agreement? A transition committee composed of 24 countries will be guilty of identifying investment resources and a governance design for the fund.
Members will be appointed until December 15 and will come with 10 evolved countries and 14 emerging countries.
Broader perspectives: Nations also followed a broader agreement, called the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, in reference to the Egyptian city that hosted COP27.
The plan calls on developed countries to “urgently and specifically increase” aid to emerging countries, while emphasizing the need for early emissions reductions.
The document supports “accelerating efforts to phase out coal-fired power and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. “
Take advantage of external funding: The new loss-and-damage fund differs from other UN-sponsored projects in that it will seek cash from a variety of sources, adding progression banks and imaginable taxes on fossil fuels or airlines, Reuters reported.
Governments with classic donor structures, such as the EU and the United States, have insisted on the measure, according to Reuters.
An open invitation: The particular agreement comprises a provision to “invite” global monetary establishments to contribute to such financial arrangements.
This provision mentions in particular the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund as potential donors.
How are banks reacting? A World Bank spokesman said “there is great popularity of the need to accumulate financing for global public goods, climate action” at recent meetings of the group.
“This message resonated with others at COP27, with recommendations to multilateral development banks to particularly develop climate finance,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“These calls are welcome, as successful climate action will require a concerted global effort,” he added.
Equilibrium has reached out to the International Monetary Fund for comment.
A CRITICAL STEP, BUT NOT ENOUGH
U. N. Secretary-General António Guterres described the agreements as “a step toward justice” in a video message broadcast from Egypt.
“Obviously, this will be enough, but it is an indispensable political signal to rebuild broken trust,” he added.
It’s not enough: While officials applauded the loss and the hurt deal as a breakthrough in supporting nations, others lamented the lack of adaptation of more ambitious emissions relief plans, the Washington Post reported.
Attempts to insert a deal to phase out fossil fuels altogether have failed in the face of opposition from China, Saudi Arabia and other countries, according to CNN.
“What we have before us is not a sufficient step forward for other people and the planet,” European Commission President Frans Timmermans said at the final plenary session of COP27.
“This brings enough additional efforts from primary emitters to build and increase their emissions reductions. “
What went wrong? COP27 takes a stand amid several major challenges, adding to the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The two largest emitters, the U. S. The U. S. and China were on good terms at the start of the summit.
Meanwhile, many countries have used the convention to publicize their fossil fuel supplies, with COP27 President Sameh Shoukry in the past calling herbal fuel a “transitional energy source. “
Fill the bucket: While COP27 delegates approved a loss and damage fund, it remains to be seen if and how this fund will be with genuine money.
“A loss and damage fund has been created and that’s vital in itself, but it’s an empty vessel,” Morgan Bazilian, a professor of public policy at the Colorado School of Mines, told Equilibrium.
COP27 provided a forum for civil society actors to make their voices heard, according to Bazilian, who was a former energy specialist at the World Bank.
But while those voices helped create the fund, “they usually don’t have any genuine cash or strength associated with them,” he said.
More than words: Another step, according to Bazilian, is to make sure that all the accumulated budget is well distributed if promises lead to real money.
“Words are smart for society and will make a difference over time,” Bazilian said. “But they’re not going to feed anyone or build infrastructure. “
Visit The Hill for an in-depth look at the outcomes of COP27.
Members of one of the U. S. railroad unionsThe U. S. government rejected a wage contract with rail carriers, the union announced Monday.
The deal was narrowly rejected through the shipping department of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transport Workers (SMART-TD).
The Committee of the National Conference of Carriers, which represents the railroads, said it had “no intention of entering into negotiations on those issues. “
Big implications: No deal, the option of a strike in the middle of the holiday shopping season, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Fears of such a disruption of the chain of origin led the White House to negotiate the deal it just rejected in September, as we have reported.
Workers from 8 unions have ratified the deal negotiated through Biden, according to the Journal.
Three others joined SMART-TD in rejecting it.
Why did he refuse? Anger persists against railroads over poor licensing and health care policies, the Washington Post reported.
“This vote is about the frustration the railroads have created with [their passenger policies] and the deteriorating quality of life for our drivers,” SMART-TD National Legislative Director Jared Cassity told the Post.
“Care policies, leave for health problems, fatigue and lack of time in the circle of family members . . . they destroy [members’] livelihoods,” Cassity said.
Will there be a strike? The union says it is not, if rail carriers return to the negotiating table.
“SMART-TD members with their votes have spoken, now it’s back at the negotiating table,” SMART-TD President Jeremy Ferguson said in a statement.
“All of this can be resolved through negotiations and a strike,” Ferguson added.
Otherwise, staff can simply strike on December 9.
Chinese researchers on Sunday unveiled a new “navigation” area for flooring equipment to destroy aging satellites before they become harmful orbital debris.
The new device was unveiled the week after a Chinese rocket exploded and sent debris over China’s International Space Station, China’s Tiangong Station and a constellation of SpaceX satellites.
The new device is part of a bid across China to identify itself as a world leader in waste disposal, according to Chinese state news firm Xinhua.
New Area Race: Around the world, countries and companies are struggling to find tactics to blank or leave garbage in orbit, the Washington Post reported.
For example, Japan will expand its waste disposal functions ahead of China’s debris cleanup festival, the Post reported.
A malfunction caused a Chinese Long March rocket to break into more than 50 pieces last week, according to technical news reports The Register.
Incidents like those are one explanation for why “the biggest need for [space] cleanup could soon be China,” the Post reported.
Navigation solution: China’s new sail can be deployed at the end of the life of a satellite or rocket, deploying as a parachute to lift a spacecraft out of orbit, Xinhua reported.
The sail, which levels from a palm-sized package to 25 square meters (about 270 square feet), traps the faint air of the atmosphere, creating resistance.
Eventually, the spacecraft slows down enough for its orbit to disintegrate and burn up.
How effective is it? Using the sail reduces the orbit time of an abandoned satellite from years to less than 10 years, according to Xinhua.
Facing a developing problem: The area’s pollutants are emerging as the near-orbital economy grows, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The number of satellites may succeed in 58,000 by 2030, according to one estimate.
This represents a serious risk for an area industry that is expected to reach profits of $1 trillion through 2040.
The climate update is piling up: As the level of carbon dioxide in the environment rises, space junk will remain in the air longer, according to a statement released Friday by the American Geophysical Union.
By speeding up the structure of blank power installations, Saudi Arabia says it will prevent the sale of oil and New Jersey offers the (temporary) green light for bear hunters.
Accelerating blank energy production can only generate related emissions
The structure of wind and solar farms comes at a price: the intake of the very fossil fuels they replace. But the immediate expansion of those services may only generate particularly related emissions, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. . To read Hill’s full story, click here.
Saudi Arabia plans to oil for decades, regardless of climate impacts
Saudi Arabia is temporarily looking to green its national economy, while opting to sell more oil in the coming decades and defying calls from meteorologists, the New York Times reported. This strategy aims to keep the world “addicted” to oil. sowing doubt about electric cars and helping to block any mention of the end of “fossil fuels” in the COP27 final declaration, according to the Times.
New Jersey Black Bear Hunting Season
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has signed an executive order giving black bear hunters a six-day season next month, the Wall Street Journal reported. -human interactions, according to the Diary.
Check out The Hill’s Sustainability segment online for the online edition of this newsletter and more stories. See you tomorrow.
For news, weather, sports, and video streaming, head to The Hill.
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.