The COP26 (Conference of the parties) is currently taking place in Glasgow (31st Oct – 12th Nov) and the main aim is to move from Ambition to Action! We couldn’t agree more that this is sorely needed!
“Turning Ambition into Action”
COP26’s main action point is to secure global net zero by 2050. In order to achieve this, one of the goals at COP26 is to halt deforestation by 2030, accelerate the phase-out of coal, heavily invest in renewable energy and switch to electric vehicles.
The first signed deal of COP26 is a pledge from countries and companies to stop investing in activities that result in deforestation. The countries who have signed it cover around 85% of the world’s forests.
More than 100 countries have also joined the pact to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels. This pact led by the United States and the European Union includes half of the top 30 methane emitters of the world.
Methane is the second greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, and reducing methane emissions could have a big impact on limiting global warming. The countries pledged to reduce methane emissions in all sectors such as oil and gas infrastructure, old coal mines, agriculture and landfill sites.
COP26 should also lead to the promise of developing countries to donate $100 billion to fight against climate change. For now they are $20 billion short of their target. Countries are also expected to finish writing all the rules in the “Paris Rulebook” of the Paris Agreement*.
COP26 is a fundamental step toward lowering greenhouse gas emissions and staying under the 1.5C threshold.
What about Kenya?
Uhuru Kenyatta was the 9th person to speak at the World Leaders Summit at COP26. Kenyatta presented Kenya as a leader in climate change action in East Africa, Kenya having set the example by passing a Climate Change Act back in 2016. Most of the country’s electricity comes from renewable energies (90%) and there are plans for 100% use by 2030.
What we’d love to see is more support for Electric Vehicles, with greater infrastructure around the country to make this happening (charging stations being absolutely key!)
What is Greenspoon doing to reduce its impact on the environment?
We are deeply committed to fighting climate change. How? …
- We only work with responsible suppliers and partners who share our environmental and social commitments.
- We are the only supermarket in Kenya that practices a circular economy, encouraging you to return jars, bottles, and any packaging that could be reused.
- We work closely with our suppliers to help them transition from plastic packaging to environmentally friendly packaging and all the fruit and veggies we sell on our website are packaging free.
- To reduce waste in our warehouse, which is minimal, we work with Taka Taka solutions to ensure that most of our waste is recycled.
- We have also partnered with Eburru Rafiki and have planted 500 trees in 2021.
- Our servers are hosted with one of the world’s top three green hosting companies in the Netherlands.
We make sure every aspect of our company has a positive environmental impact, and we have big ambitions!
What are our next steps?
We are always trying to find new ideas to reduce our carbon footprint. We are planning to move from two electric vehicles to three in the next three months. We are also reducing the number of polystyrene boxes in circulation and introducing environmentally friendly ways of packaging. We will look at investing in a solar powered system which will drastically reduce our carbon footprint. To reduce water use in the warehouse, we are renovating our bathrooms to ensure minimal water usage, and we don’t need lights as the warehouse is bright and airy.
Having said all that, we are always open to your ideas so please share them so that we can work together to make the world a better place!
Notes: The Paris Agreement of 2015 was ratified by 191 countries and the main goal of this treaty was to limit the world’s temperature to below 2C and ideally below 1.5C compared to pre-industrial levels. However, the national targets set in 2015 by the countries involved are not high enough to comply with the Paris Agreement. According to the last IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report published in August, if countries keep their NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) of 2015, the world’s temperature will rise to 1.5C by 2030 which would lead to extremely dangerous consequences. With the revised and newly submitted NDCs from the past year, the world will reduce its emissions by 16% but this number is still very far from the 45% cut needed. NDCs need to be submitted every five years by all Paris Agreement Parties. What is the most at stake for this year’s COP is the level of ambition needed from all countries. * These rules will define common approaches to carbon markets, transparent national reporting on emissions, and common five-year timeframes for submitting updated NDCs
