The Procurement Bill 2022 can be the lever for change if we can ensure that it’s amended to legally enshrine environmental obligations onto the Public Sector to make environmentally friendly procurement decisions. As it stands, there are no environmental obligations, we’re actively encouraging procurement professionals, stakeholders and the wider community to sign the petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/621955

This will ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent in an environmental and climate friendly manner.

I am currently attempting to use my estate to help address the climate crisis and I aim to make the governance democratic. To that end I am requesting feedback of strangers and communities of common interests. I would very much appreciate the feedback you have, to help insure I miss as little as possible as I try to implement this, Thanks.

https://youtu.be/WBVBD7ctI4Y (Short 4m summary)

https://youtu.be/SVR-uuxPjBA (42m discussion on governance and strategy)

Confirmation that UK government will not appeal against the High Court ruling that its netzero strategy is illegal. https://goodlawproject.org/news/nz\_update/

There is a legal, moral and economic necessity for UK government to use all of its capabilities and resources to establish a credible strategy to address climate change and look for areas that can accelerate positive environmental impact.

Climate Change Committee recent report highlighted a number of serious gaps in Governments strategy to combat climate change to the extent that 61% of the planned emission reducing activities have some risk or significant risk to meet targets or NO credible plan. There is virtually no meaningful mention of procurement or supplychains or any specific and related plans to use procurement as a lever to drive change within the public sector.

In the news:

Living Planet Report 2022 - 'an average 69% decrease in monitored wildlife populations between 1970 and 2018' and 'freshwater species populations have seen the greatest overall global decline (83%)'

House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee - 'The machinery of government through which climate and environment policy, including behaviour change, is designed and delivered lacks transparency and clarity. The current system relies on a muddle of groups, boards and committees whose remits and relationships with one another are opaque.'

World Weather Attribution - 'human-induced climate change made the observed soil moisture drought much more likely, by a factor of at least 20 for the root zone soil moisture and at least 5 for the surface soil moisture'

Every week more and more evidence comes to light with regards to a lack of progress and competence in addressing fundamental concerns, last week it was progress against #sdgs this week the living planet. Many are inter-linked like climate change and inequality and the living planet / biodiversity there needs to be a radical change.

Please sign the petition below. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/621955

This is my first time with an in person event with the climate reality. It's been fantastic so far! I don't normally go out and join communities like this or go to in person events, but I've really liked this one so far. It's been full of information, good people and a great experience.

I would suggest anyone else who's interested in learning more to sign up for any future training events! I joined because of an email sign up notification. I also learned about the climate action app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.climateactionnow

Which is the first I've heard of something like this. Just thought I'd share!

UK government Procurement Bill 2022 has commenced its journey to become legislation and is currently at the Committee stage in the House of Lords. There is time to amend the Bill!

The hearing and review process so far and as documented in Transforming Government Procurement, environmental / climate change perspective in so far as it relates to procurement legislation and processes will be managed via policy, guidance and best practice.

This may not have the impact of addressing climate change with the urgency, focus and pace that is required. We have already seen this. It is not sufficient to leave such an existential threat to our country, current citizens, future generations and frankly the world to shifting policy priorities over time from government to government.

From a Departmental, Contracting Authority and a supplier perspective creating binding legal obligations on all parties to absolutely enshrine climate change in designing requirements for service, goods and works and assessing suppliers suitability to contract with the public sector is a minimum requirement. It will enable all parties to invest with confidence, build capability, build expertise and skills to make a positive difference.

If this obligation is enshrined in the Procurement Bill this will require a fundamental and critical shift in behaviour and obligations for all parties involved in public sector procurement and the relevant supply chain. This approach will help ensure that no public spend (taxpayers money) is used in a manner that does not either contribute to positive climate impact or as a minimum stops further contribution to climate change.

Please sign the petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/621955

This highlights the sheer scale of changing how any organisation operates and that decarbonisation is not about passing the problem on but about tackling the problem in absolute terms. This is an earth system issue and needs a cohesive country-wide, Government-wide and a world-wide response using all of the change levers available.

https://www.corporateknights.com/rankings/other-rankings-reports/2022-carbon-reduction-20/carbon-reduction-20/

The Procurement Bill is a £300B opportunity to positively impact the environment and climate. To do this we need to change what and how we procure and the UK Government can be the lever for change required to implement this into policy and mandate this across the Public Sector. Sign the petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/621955

Anthropocene denotes a period of time where humans have had a clear and distinct impact on the Earth System that is distinct from the previous epoch known as the Holocene. The 4 minute video below demonstrates why climate change is now accelerating so quickly and just why thinking in terms of 2050 and beyond is just too late.

1950 is the key date, this is when human impact on earth and the environment accelerated at rates never seen in the previous 4.5 billion years, and not just in terms of earths ocean and atmosphere, but also the biosphere (the living world).

What it shows is human intervention has been driving climate change but practically for only 70 years, so to bend the curve of that change is the emergency and the timescales are critical. Right now climate change is accelerating and the impact is becoming more extreme.

I am not a scientist but hopefully can do some basics math's, if we look at the trajectory of these graphs we are already going to see dramatic changes to the environment in the coming years, not decades and the way we consume and live is not substantially changing, so the rate and severity of change will continue to grow.

We cannot wait for change to happen we need to take action, and as procurement and the public sector could play a critical and leading role in helping the fight against climate change we need to ensure this issue is taken seriously. Please sign the petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/621955

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https://reddit.com/link/y3arvs/video/wigf55pd4nt91/player

This is what 1.5C looks like in the right context of earths timescale. We are currently on a trajectory of global warming between 2.0C and 2.5C. The change started in 1950, accelerated from 1970's and 1980's onwards. Just think about that, about 40 years in the context of 4.5B years of earths existence.

The rate of change is extraordinary. This is climate change and the major global tipping points such as the melting of Alpine Glaziers, melting of Greenland Ice Sheets and the loss of the Coral Reef are happening and it may already be too late to reverse their impact. It is not clear what the global impact will be of these tipping points, i.e. we don't know what will happen and whether they set off a further warming and acceleration of extreme climate events.

Can we wait for 2050 looking at the chart?

We need to design in sustainability and innovation into our procurement function and we need to ensure UK Government uses all of its levers for change available to address climate change with urgency. One element of this is changing what we buy, how we buy the goods and services the public pay for and who we buy from within the public sector.

Please sign the petition below: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/621955

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https://preview.redd.it/41jdp7o596t91.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=142c5d477bc1f3a5ba5c57a3d8c614cf2a4131bf

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https://preview.redd.it/mt810jb696t91.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=004e4c5f8a0a58e456bca6a52e09a76ed34d58bc

greeningweb.com - A widget that makes your website traffic green has finished all testing and is ready to take on PRODUCTHUNT! If you care about the environment and want to see sustainability become a part of your digital experience l Let's make the web sustainable!

The Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights (CHR) released on Friday, May 6, its report on the world’s first National Inquiry on Climate Change (NICC), where it declared climate change as a human rights issue.

Any “neglect in climate change mitigation may be considered human rights violation.”

CHR's recommendations:

1. The government to provide legal protection for environmental defenders
2. The government to establish a finance mechanism for loss and damage
3. Hold both private and state-owned carbon majors liable for producing greenhouse gas emissions
4. Polluters to "desist from all activities that undermine climate science” and stop taking part in climate denial propaganda
5. Banks to stop financing these companies’ operations

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https://www.rappler.com/environment/chr-landmark-case-climate-change-human-rights-issue/

Left Voice is running a six week Study Circle to discuss revolutionary strategies in the age of climate crisis. The climate emergency is upon us. Extreme weather events that previously occurred once in a lifetime now take place regularly around the globe. People of the Global South and communities of color have felt the heaviest blows. Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies continue to rake in billion-dollar profits annually, and the policies of Biden, like Trump and Obama before him, fail to substantively address the crisis; instead, they punish workers, migrants, and the poor.

So, what's the way out? How can we build an internationalist and anti-racist climate movement? What does Marxism offer for our understanding of this historic crisis?

Join Left Voice for a six-week Study Circle beginning TOMORROW, February 1st, to discuss these questions and others. Meetings will be held on alternate Tuesdays at 7:30pm EST. Please fill out this form to sign up!

A syllabus with readings can be found here.

Learn more about Left Voice: https://www.leftvoice.org/who-we-are/