Arsenal FC Signs UN Climate Action Plan, UK PM Reveals Britain’s Climate Action Plan, Norwegian Youth Sue Norway Over Oil, Philippine Community Restore Mangrove Forest!

PREMIER LEAGUE CLUB ARSENAL FIRST SPORTS TEAM TO SIGN ONTO THE UN CLIMATE ACTION PLAN

The UK premier soccer club Arsenal believes it can inspire fans across the globe to be more sustainable after signing up to a United Nations plan to help tackle climate change.The club are the first in the Premier League to join the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework. The UN Climate Action Framework is a pledge to help fight climate change while also helping others do the same.

Signing up to the framework commits the club and their staff to five key principles aimed at reducing their climate impact as part of attempts to limit global warming: 

• Undertake systematic efforts to promote greater environmental responsibility
• Reduce overall climate impact
• Educate on climate action
• Promote sustainable and responsible consumption
• Advocate for climate action through communication.

In 2019 Arsenal finished joint-top in a BBC Sport Premier League sustainability table – produced in partnership with UN-backed Sport Positive Summit.

“One year on, we are proud to build on the work we are already doing in this area and encourage positive climate action to our millions of supporters around the world,” the club said in a statement. “SOCCER inspires so many of us around the world and there is a remarkable potential for the game to become greener, more climate-resilient and lead by example for millions of global fans,” added a UN representative.

DEEPER DIVE: BBC, UNFCCC

NEWS ON UK MOVEMENT TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY 

Speaking of the United Kingdom … 

The UK now has one of the world’s most ambitious plans for reducing petrol and diesel vehicles. Prime minister Boris Johnson unveiled the Ten-Point Plan to expand a green industrial revolution and MOST CONTROVERSIALLY, ANNOUNCED a ban on purchases of new gas and diesel cars by 2030.

The plan promises to advance offshore wind, build greener transportation, protect natural environments, drive sustainable shipping, and invest in carbon capture, usage, and storage. It will also initiate planting of 30,000 hectares of trees a year by 2025 to absorb carbon and restore the natural lands.

The Ten Point Plan is backed by 12 billion POUNDS of government investment, and potentially three times as much from the private sector, an estimated 42 billion POUNDS. The plan would create up to 250,000 green jobs. While electric energy and climate groups across the UK applauded the new plan, some environmental groups criticized it’s lack of ambition. The Financial Times also CALLED the Ten Point Plan a “far cry” from reaching the UK’s net zero targets.

Deeper Dive: UK Government, Financial Times

YOUNG NORWEGIANS TAKE THEIR COUNTRY TO COURT OVER OIL

Oil is a sensitive subject in Norway. The petroleum industry, majority-owned by the state, is credited with transforming the country from a poor fishing nation to the owner of the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. If all its citizens stopped working, they could live off the oil money for three years. 

And yet Norway also has impressive green credentials. It was the first industrialized nation to ratify the Paris climate change agreement. It is also a major donor to the Green Climate Fund, which finances environmental initiatives in developing countries, and has pledged that its oil fund money will never be invested in companies it judges particularly harmful to the environment. Norway also has the highest per capita use of electrical cars of all countries in the world – 42,4% of cars sold in 2019 were electric.

Norway’s oil production is estimated to account for approximately 0.7% of global emissions from fossil fuels, making the country the source of roughly 100 times the greenhouse gas emissions per capita of the world average. That’s why Norwegian youth are challenging what they describe as a double standard, in court.

 In the People vs. Arctic oil climate lawsuit, the Norwegian State was sued for violating the Norwegian Constitution’s environmental Article § 112 for opening up a vast new area for oil and gas drilling in the Norwegian Arctic. [1] Norway’s Nature and Youth and Greenpeace recently lost their case at the lower courts, but were able to take the legal battle directly to Norway’s Supreme Court.

Swedish Climate activist Greta Thunberg recently won the 2019 Fritt Ord Prize from the Fritt Ord Foundation—seeking to promote freedom of expression public debate and culture. She donated half of  the $55K USD prize money from this Norwegian institution to help fight the cause to sue Norway and stop arctic exploration. Around 90 countries have constitutions which explicitly recognize the right to a healthy environment. Norway being one of them.

 DEEPER DIVE: Greenpeace, BBC

PHILLIPINE COMMUNITY RESTORES MANGROVES 

For over three decades, one community in the central Philippines has been working to restore and protect a mangrove site. Today, the community’s work has successfully transformed a once-barren mudflat into one of the few remaining mangrove forests in the Philippines.

Reported by Mongabay, the community’s replanting efforts expanded from the initial 124 acres to 544 acres of reforestation. In addition to restoring the natural lands, replanting the mangrove forests helps shield the community from the impacts of extreme weather, including typhoons. The restored ecosystems have also helped nearby economies with further abundance of fish and seashells.

While this mangrove forest has been restored, the community is still working to protect the forests from illegal fishing, deforestation of the mangrove, and climate change. The community is actively involved in caring for mangrove seedlings and lobbying to become a provider of these seedlings WHICH would require parents and graduating students to plant 10 trees each.

DEEPER DIVE: Mongabay