France Bans Fast Food Disposable Items, Top 10 Climate Action Moments of 2022!

FRANCE BAN ON FAST FOOD THROW AWAYS

Happy New Year, everybody!! 

There are roughly 30,000 fast-food outlets in France which serve about 6 billion meals a year. Those meals generate an estimated 200,000 tons of waste. Although single-use plastic had already been banned in France, it had been replaced by large amounts of disposable products like cardboard, wood, bamboo. Now, thanks to a new law in France, as of today, January 1, 2023, takes effect in an effort to combat waste in that country. Under the new rules, any restaurant with more than 20 seats – including work canteens, bakery chains, fast-food and sushi outlets – will have to provide reusable, washable cups, plates, dishes and cutlery for customers eating in. 

The new law means eat-in burgers and sandwiches can no longer be served in a box, only wrapped in paper. All other food – including chips, nuggets, pizzas, ice-creams or cakes – must be served on reusable tableware, and drinks in re-usable cups, washed at 60C as in traditional restaurants. Why does this new law matter to us? The reality is, fast food restaurants aren’t going anywhere. So the best thing we can do is to make them have as low waste a profile as possible. Also, this law provides a template! Said Alice Elfassi, head of legal affairs for the NGO Zero Waste France, “We’re extremely happy that this is finally coming into force. Fast food is a sector that produces a lot of waste.”

DEEPER DIVE: France24, Transcon Times

TOP TEN CLIMATE ACTION MOMENTS OF 2022

Climate Change continued to progress globally in 2022, while climate change positive action seemed to come to a standstill, if not retreat on the big stage. COP27 Climate Change and COP15 Biodiversity, anybody? But that’s not to say things didn’t happen. The great reporters at Bloomberg Green, Leslie Kaufman and Laura Millan Lombraña, compiled six highlights, and we at the Climate Daily bring you an additional four. 

Let’s begin with #10—the world takes methane more seriously. It’s taken too long, but hey! Better late than never. Last year’s COP26 in Glasgow drove home to nations the perils of methane and many have since been signing up to a global pledge to cut those emissions. In fact, COP27 in Egypt brought new nations such as Australia to join the pledge. That brought the total number of countries signed up to over 150. In the US, meanwhile, the Biden administration pushed forward stronger rules that would require energy companies to do more to stifle methane leaks. 

#9, a change in leadership brought progress (?) on climate change. In Brazil,  Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the presidency in part by promising to zero-out deforestation of the Amazon. Pro-climate parties also won big in Australia’s elections. And in November, meanwhile, President Joe Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and reset the relationship that had been suspended by a diplomatic standoff over Taiwan. Cooperation between the top two economies (and emitters of greenhouse gas) has been essential in cementing previous climate breakthroughs like the 2015 Paris Agreement. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was in both nations’ interest to tackle climate change in a cooperative manner.

MORE TOP TEN CLIMATE ACTION MOMENTS OF 2022

Continuing with the top ten climate action moments of 2022, # 8 is the acceptance of Loss and Damage by the Rich nations of the world. The biodiversity breakthrough came one month after another historic moment at a UN-backed conference. Delegates at COP27 in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh reached a last-minute agreement to create a loss-and-damage fund to help developing countries impacted by climate change, a decades-long demand by nations that have contributed the least to warming of the planet.

Another form of climate funding, Just Energy Transition Partnerships, also went into wider use in 2022. The mechanism is meant to help emerging economies heavily dependent on coal move away from the most polluting fossil fuel in a way that doesn’t leave workers and communities behind. South Africa’s $8.5 billion JETP, announced in 2021, became a blueprint for these deals. Additional deals made in 2022 are set to mobilize $20 billion for Indonesia and $15.5 billion for Vietnam.

And hopefully, biodiversity gets a big break. That’s #7. Remember way back in early December when COP15 Biodiversity was happening in Montreal? Well that United Nations Biodiversity Conference delivered a surprise win in the form of a pledge by 195 nations to protect and restore at least 30% of the Earth’s land and water by 2030. Rich nations also committed to pay an estimated $30 billion per year by 2030 to poorer nations in part through a new biodiversity fund.

Whoohoo.