Many of us still prefer bottled water, even though it is at least 100 times more expensive than tap water, and has 450 times the environmental impact, according to a Swiss study. And the million plastic bottles sold every minute around the world contaminate our oceans and their inhabitants, who either die of suffocation or ingest micro-plastics that end up in our stomachs.

Schiphol is Europe’s third-largest airport, and the first to take the plunge by deciding to reduce its flights by 11% from the 2019 pre-pandemic level, starting in 2023. For years, climate experts have been advocating limiting air traffic rather than flying empty, planting trees or buying carbon credits. Let’s hope this world first inspires many other airports.

Kate Raworth, the economist behind the theory of the donut economy, spoke at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s annual summit and called on companies interested in the circular economy to go beyond just redesigning their products, creating a global change that involves rethinking their operations and principles at every level of the business.

The Green Taxonomy proposed by the European Commission is a sustainable finance classification designed to steer member countries’ investments towards sustainable activities in order to meet their carbon neutrality targets. Opponents see the inclusion of nuclear power and gas as a contradictory message from the European Union, going against its climate commitments.

Countries that have signed up to the Paris Agreement must carry out inventories of their greenhouse gas emissions in order to verify compliance with their commitments under the agreement. These inventories take into account the so-called anthropogenic emissions that result from human activities and are responsible for global warming. What are greenhouse gases and how are their emissions measured?

The Nairobi talks on biodiversity reached an impasse, leading to an open letter to world leaders calling for action before the Montreal conference. And on June 29, the twenty-seven member states of the European Union adopted the five texts of the climate package: the end of combustion-powered cars by 2035, 59 billion euros for the Social Fund for Climate…

According to this study, the burgeoning space tourism industry could soon be contributing to significant global warming, while depleting the protective ozone layer essential to sustaining life on Earth. The results, published Saturday in Earth’s Future, also raise concerns about the “billionaire space race” fueled by some of the world’s richest men.

The global waste problem is getting worse. The World Bank estimates that if no urgent action is taken, the quantity of items thrown away by humans will increase by 73% by 2050. Experts claim that the transition to a more circular economy can reduce waste and save oceans and ecosystems from plastic contamination. Companies rely on these principles to innovate.

Illegal artisanal gold mining contributes to deforestation in the Amazon, pollutes soils with mercury and encroaches on traditional indigenous lands. Switzerland, a hub of the global gold trade, seems to be the country where most of this gold is channeled or at least transits. The Swiss gold industry giants have pledged not to use it.

The new “Swiss LGBTI” label already includes 50 companies in Switzerland and certifies “good practice” in terms of the rights of people from the queer community. Organizations have to answer a questionnaire comprising 100 criteria. They are awarded the label if they meet at least 50 of these criteria, with supporting evidence. SBB is one of the first companies to achieve this in 2019.