Hello,
For lack of getting on with current business, let's get on with this Breaking (RE)NEWS more than ever marked by the seal of transition. Transition in the European Parliament, whose new actors are meeting this week for their first plenary session, searching for a findable majority (the same as the previous one), transition in the French Parliament, in the throes of forming new groups around an unfindable majority (which could not have surprised attentive readers of Breaking (RE)NEWS!), transition in government, with a team thus tasked with handling current affairs, Olympic transition, with the arrival of the flame in Paris, … And above all our transition, the only one not shrouded in an aura of ephemerality: the environmental and economic transition! Because as Géraldine Poivert, co-founder of (RE)SET, reminds us on LinkedIn : "At the risk of repeating ourselves, the challenges posed by the transition don't care about political uncertainties. The resource revolution is upon us today, and will be even more so tomorrow. The transition is no longer an option. It must be at the heart of political thinking, as its consequences are multiple (economic, industrial, social, cultural, …). So what could be more natural than for it to appear in current debates? Each party should have skills on these subjects."
Our weekly sections naturally begin with some meteorological considerations. The best possible way to remember that climate and "current affairs" do not necessarily mix well! June 2024 was thus the hottest June ever recorded in the world, announced the European observatory Copernicus, beating the already exceptional record of June 2023. After more than a year of uninterrupted monthly records, "the average global temperature over the past twelve months, from July 2023 to June 2024, is the highest ever recorded," i.e., "1.64°C above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900," when humanity's greenhouse gas emissions had not yet warmed the planet, Le Mondereminds us. This may be surprising at our latitudes because, in fact, the thermometer was close to or below seasonal norms (1991-2020) in Western Europe and particularly in France. But this would be forgetting that elsewhere, a large part of humanity has suffered exceptional temperatures. Thousands of people had to be evacuated in California after devastating fires, while populations in the Balkans, Pakistan, or Egypt suffered power outages, suspending the activity of essential fans, air conditioners, or refrigerators – which themselves contribute to warming…
Proof in the image, as they say:
Climate still, La Croix offers a focus on Pakistan, decidedly on the front line facing the consequences of warming, with this series of key figures, which say it all:
– Pakistan is home to 7,000 glaciers and 3,044 glacial lakes, 36 of which threaten to burst at any time.
– According to the World Bank, climate change has affected 75 million Pakistanis in three decades. Losses in agriculture and biodiversity would cost 1 billion euros each year.
– The death toll from the 2022 floods amounted to 1,700 dead, over 1 million head of livestock killed, 2 million homes destroyed, and 13,000 kilometers of road devastated.
– The total cost of these destructions is estimated at 16 billion euros. The 10 billion euros promised to Pakistan by the international community have not been received. Only 5% of the destroyed houses have been rebuilt.
Finally, on climate, a photo illustrating the fatalism that can seize California firefighters faced with the scale of fires during extreme heatwaves:
The report of the week is offered to us by the General Secretariat for Ecological Planning (SGPE), with an update on the biomass part of the Plan, which sheds light on the sources and current uses of this flagship resource of the transition. Readers of Breaking (RE)NEWS know well that biomass is an essential resource for the ecological transition, as a source of energy, sustainable material, food for humans and our ecosystems. Produced by photosynthesis in our forests, meadows, cultivated soils, green spaces, biomass is carbon-neutral and renewable but in limited quantity and constrained by soil and climate conditions. Hence the closure challenges highlighted by ecological planning in the first publication of the plan. This new edition "updates and specifies the gaps between available resources and our uses. We also take stock of the ongoing work to align our public policies with the necessary prioritization of biomass uses," specifies Faustine Gaymard, Program Director at the SGPE, on her LinkedInpage. Like any rare resource, even if it is renewable, biomass will be increasingly sought after, which requires carefully choosing its priority uses…
The PFAS of the week goes by the gentle name TFA, or trifluoroacetic acid. It is the "forever chemical" most present in European drinking water and is little subject to monitoring in Europe, as it is not regulated. TFA nevertheless represents 98% of PFAS present in water, reveals a study by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Europe, published on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. TFA comes overwhelmingly from the degradation of certain pesticides and refrigerant gases. After an initial study in May 2024 revealing its presence in waterways, associations conducted tests on 36 tap water samples and 19 bottled mineral waters in eleven European countries, including France, Austria, Germany, and Spain… In total, TFA was detected in 94% of tap water samples, and in 63% of mineral waters. The Paris tap water sample showed a concentration of 2,100 nanograms per liter (ng/l), one of the highest in the study. The lack of studies makes it difficult to assess its toxicity, denounces PAN Europe. However, a study conducted by the pesticide manufacturer Bayer demonstrated that exposure to TFA caused fetal malformations in rabbits. The German authorities have therefore asked to classify this PFAS as a "reprotoxic" substance, i.e., harmful to reproduction. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has begun its evaluation, but it will take time, La Croixreminds us. Which specifies that current filtration techniques do not capture TFA. The only technique considered effective is "reverse osmosis," a very fine filtration system that only lets water molecules through. But it is very expensive and energy-intensive. Another request from PAN Europe: to apply "the polluter-pays principle when water purification is necessary due to chemical contamination," to avoid the cost falling on taxpayers.
The EPR of the week, or Extended Producer Responsibility, is that for the food service trades. Adelphe, the subsidiary of Citeo in charge of food service, notably, the General Confederation of Food Retail (CGAD), and the confederations of bakery-pastry (CNBPF), butchery-charcuterie (CFBCT), and cheese-dairy (FFF) have just announced a partnership to support the entry of their members into the EPR system. According to L'Usine Nouvelle, through a specific mechanism, Adelphe commits, with these professions, to simplifying the procedures for declaring packaging placed on the market by the sector so that it can be recycled, reused, and reduced, and thus to helping professionals in these sectors comply with regulatory obligations.
The little critter of the week , very useful to biodiversity, is the beaver! Reintroduced in France fifty years ago, the beaver gnaws at tree plantations and causes floods, triggering the anger of local residents. But the benefits of its presence are countless, explains Libération. Hairy, webbed, nocturnal, the beaver proves terribly effective against the effects of climate change. Virtually extinct at the beginning of the 20th century – only about a hundred remained in France – the animal was saved by reintroduction measures and drastic protection. There are now over a million in Europe. Proof that living beings can thrive alongside us, when humans deign to pay attention to them. Sometimes unloved, often misunderstood, the beaver and its structures are formidable allies for rivers. "It is an engineer species that has a very strong impact on the functioning of its ecosystem," explains Jean-Pierre Jollivet, a naturalist for the association Loir-et-Cher Nature, who participated in the reintroduction of thirteen of these rodents in the department from 1974 to 1976. "The beaver can slow down the flow of watercourses and mitigate floods, even during intense rainy episodes. Its dams are not watertight, which allows water to be supplied to rivers downstream. These reservoirs improve groundwater recharge and water quality," the specialist details. And the positive effects on biodiversity are "mind-blowing," asserts Libération: the dams retain nutrients. Plants develop massively, improving invertebrate and fish populations. Strengthened, these wetlands store more carbon, the main driver of climate change.
Our swim of the week, that of the Mayor of Paris, experienced a rapid development, after many postponements related to weather events (rain) and political events (election stuttering). Yes, you read that right: Anne Hidalgo swam in the Seine, honoring a promise made by Jacques Chirac forty years earlier! And rather beautifully, one might add, with a smooth front crawl regarding the toxicological analyses of the Parisian river. The Mayor crossed the river swimming, accompanied by Tony Estanguet, the president of the Organizing Committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Marc Guillaume, the prefect of the Île-de-France region, just a few days before the various events that will take place in the Seine during the Olympic Games. Sunny weather, water at 20°C, bacteria and flow decreasing: the conditions were finally right for the historic dive of three key figures of the Paris Olympic Games. Proof that the 1.4 billion euros invested in recent years to clean up the Seine were not wasted. Once again, the evidence on video and in images:
The seminar of the week concerns us directly, at (RE)SET, since it brought our teams together on the Seine riverbanks, in joy and good humor. When (RE)SET, champion of the transition and thus of the resource revolution, recharges its… resources! This green (naturally!) and sporty (always) seminar allowed us to celebrate a year of successes, challenges met, and changes for the better. Rousing team building, a top-level escape game for the inveterate gamers that we are, all kinds of sports – dubbed the "Olympiad" – reminded us (we already knew) that it is no coincidence that (RE)SET has always promoted collective effort and consortia: together we go further! Another highlight: magic, with a talented speaker who amazed us with his prowess. Too bad that, as we often repeat here, the circular economy and the transition are anything but magical; our lives would be easier. But "vision without execution is just hallucination," as Thomas Edison precisely said… Now more recharged and mobilized than ever, the (RE)SET team is ready to continue the adventure!
The riddle from our previous edition was not easy, and we apologize in advance. So what does this photo represent? The clue was that it has a connection to metallic pollution.
What are these small black dots? They are actually insect larvae, placed in a lake and used as sentinels to alert of possible metallic pollution, as explained in a fascinating article in The Conversation titled "The energy transition requires a lot of minerals and metals; this could have an impact on our lakes."
This week's riddle is also a photo. Clarification: any resemblance to a well-known toy would be… partially misleading! So what is it?
Happy reading, good weekend, and happy voting!
[As a reminder, (RE)SET, founded in 2019, is the first independent consulting firm dedicated to economic and environmental transition and built for action. "(RE)SET: resources to win environmental and economic battles!" Inevitably partial, sometimes biased, always committed, this media review with its often spirited, even impertinent tone, in no way commits (RE)SET in its consulting activities, but it paints a picture we find interesting of the state of the transition as it appears in the press and research. A snapshot of the debate, of the forces at play, the oppositions, the convergences, which we hope is useful for your decisions and for building your transition strategies.]Breaking (RE)NEWS of July 19, 2024
