In Between Times 9-22-2022
Kelp forests sequester as much carbon as rain forests?, Green bonds, The Patagonia sale and taxes, How politically polarized are you?
TAKE ACTION!
Union Pacific Railroad, one of largest freight-haulers in the USA, has floated $600 billion in green bonds on the open market with the goal of financing projects that will reduce the company's carbon footprint.
Let's encourage more.
(From UP.com)
Projects will include:
New battery-electric locomotives,
Locomotive modernizations that reduce GHG emissions and increase fuel efficiency,
Expansion of intermodal facilities, which can promote modal shift of freight to lower-carbon alternatives such as rail,
New sidings and siding extensions, which increase train length and reduce dwell time,
Investment in and/or development of onsite or offsite generation and distribution of renewable energy from solar or wind sources.
Click here to sign the petition!
Our philosophy on “Take Action” petitions
You may have noticed that each week in the “TAKE ACTION” section we highlight a petition where we encourage positive steps that corporations are taking to increase sustainability.
There are many organizations out there that seek to shame corporations or governments into environmentally friendly action. This has its place. But we believe we can do the most good by encouraging actors when they engage in good work. And there are many companies across the globe that are doing legitimate, non-greenwashed, positive work. These efforts deserve to be identified and encouraged.
Just in case you were wondering.
We live in an era of political polarization and vitriol of the ugliest kind. We at In Between Times seek to provide a place of sanity and discussion.
Where issues of import can be discussed with temperance and respect.
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What Are green bonds? Are they the same as climate bonds?
Climate bonds and “green bonds” are not exactly the same thing. (All climate bonds can be called green but not all green bonds can be called climate bonds.) Climate bonds must be earmarked to focus directly on carbon emissions and climate oriented goals. Other green bonds can finance things like a hydroelectric dam in India or a solar farm for a corporation.
(From Investopedia)
A green bond is a type of fixed-income instrument that is specifically earmarked to raise money for climate and environmental projects. These bonds are typically asset-linked and backed by the issuing entity's balance sheet, so they usually carry the same credit rating as their issuers' other debt obligations.
Dating back to the first decade of the 21st century, green bonds are sometimes referred to as climate bonds, but the two terms are not always synonymous. Whereas climate bonds specifically finance projects that reduce carbon emissions or alleviate the effects of climate change, green bonds represent a broader category of instruments related to projects with a positive environmental impact.
Click here for the article.
Green bonds grow into big business
As we move forward into a more sustainable world there will be a need for capital for sustainable projects. One of the ways this capital can be raised is through “green bonds”. This is a more “sustainable” method for raising capital than simply relying on taxpayer/government funding for projects. It is arguably a more ethical way to raise capital for green projects also as it is the investor that is taking on the risk with the bond and not taxpayers or governments. Additionally a bond must be underwritten so the return on the bond adequately reflects the risk of a particular project. This encourages wiser and more sustainable choices which in turn are more likely to drive valuable innovation.
Green bonds, generally speaking, can encourage the best kind of sustainability, the kind that makes sense from both a profitability and an ecological standpoint.
(From Politico)
The financial system needs to shift trillions of dollars into green, sustainable and energy-transition investments in the global effort to combat climate change. The $100 trillion bond market can play a key role by helping businesses attract sustainability-minded investors…
But there are still kinks to be worked out.
For a sustainability-linked bond or loan, where borrower performance is in part judged by the ability to meet ESG targets, determining whether a key performance indicator is material or the related target is ambitious enough is often a sophisticated process.
“These structures are still new and evolving. Setting targets is more of an art than an exact science yet,” said Tess Virmani, head of ESG at the Loan Syndications and Trading Association.
Click here for the article.
Green bonds explained
Allsides: What is the state of polarization today? Take this quiz to find out
Are you a deep-bluer or a MAGA believer. Or are you, like the vast majority of the United States somewhere in between or neither of these things at all.
In a time when diversity generally is celebrated, our deep and complex political diversity is almost never talked about. The world is not “blue” or “red”. (By the way Republicans have historically been the “blue” party in the USA until relatively recent times.) We are not JUST Democrats or Republicans. We are moderates, independents, greens, libertarians, social conservatives with fiscally liberal dispositions, social liberals that are fiscally conservative, and thousands of other things beside. The political system as it is currently constructed thrives in a binary environment. You either drink Coke or Pepsi. (GOP or Dem). That’s it. But many of us prefer root beer or ginger ale, or perhaps no soda at all. This makes things more complicated and tougher for the people who are fully vested in the current system however.
Attached is nice little tool from our friends at AllSides.com which calculates your personal level of polarization.
Check it out.
Is Patagonia’s sale to a non-profit shameless exploitation of a tax loophole? Maybe, but so what?
Let your editor be very clear that he is a fan of Patagonia and has been for a very long time. Their products are ultra high quality that last and last and last. I say this as someone who spends a significant amount of time outdoors in often inclement weather. Patagonia stuff is perhaps the best there is for battling the elements. Heck, in 40 years there will likely be kids wearing hand-me-down hand-me-down Patagonia jackets. We like Patagonia.
So do many other people, and generally the initial stories surrounding the recent sale of the company were almost exclusively laudatory. Interestingly, as people have pulled back the deal a bit there are some who see the whole thing as a way to reduce tax exposure. For some this is somehow bad.
It is not.
What Patagonia is doing is entirely legal first off and secondly it releases $3 billion in capital for environmental efforts that are outside the endless bureaucracy of governments (mostly speaking.) Why would anyone see this as a bad thing?
Attached is an article that we think sums up the situation nicely. So the sale shelters the money from taxes. So what? That just means that money can go to valuable projects. The sale of Patagonia in many respects reflects truly sustainable sustainability.
(From KIRO Seattle)
…it could be a great demonstration of the ingenuity of the private sector.
With the number of billionaires we’ve spawned, I can see social welfare organizations solving so many social problems that government welfare programs– and the bureaucracy that goes with them – would no longer be necessary.
Housing for the homeless would appear on privately-purchased land donated by Patagonia. Drug treatment centers would sprout up courtesy of Tripp Lite.
These profit-funded non-profits could remove graffiti, powerwash the sidewalks, build sterilized and supervised public bathrooms – and we would reward them by purchasing their products, and posting hearts on Twitter.
And yes, if these organizations promote something you hate, you should be free to boycott their products.
Click here for the article.
Australia’s ocean kelp forest is growing at light speed–rivaling the mighty Amazon for absorbing CO2
The Amazon it is said is one of “the lungs of the planet”, and it certainly is the largest. But thankfully the planet has multiple “lungs”. The equatorial forests of Africa. The rain forests of Indonesia and southeast Asia are another. But the vast kelp forests off of southern Africa and Australia are increasingly understood as vital to the health of the planet. They grow at an amazing rate and sequester untold tons of carbon. Maybe mush more than we ever thought.
(From The Good News Network)
As well as assisting in human flourishing, these forests play a critical role in the global carbon cycle by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Much like their productivity being much higher than terrestrial counterparts, the rate at which they absorb CO2 has been measured at 30x faster than trees on land.
Scientists from the non-profit Great Southern Reef estimate that if just 0.001% of the ocean’s surface was cultivated with these productive forests, it would offset the emissions of the entire global aquaculture industry.
Click here for the article.
EVENT
September 28 @ 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm EDT
Speaking Rationally With Steven Pinker
Network for Responsible Public Policy
Location: Online
Although Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker enjoyed teaching his students about the interesting puzzles that cause humans to behave irrationally, he realized that as interesting as those puzzles were, they did not explain some of the deeper and more destructive tendencies at work today. “Why do people believe that Hillary Clinton ran a child sex ring out of a pizzeria or that jet contrails are mind-altering drugs dispersed by a secret government program?” How is it possible, he asks, that a species could develop a Covid 19 vaccine in less than a year while at the same time producing so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theories? “We face deadly threats to our health, our democracy, and the livability of our planet … yet among our most fierce problems today is convincing people to accept the solutions when we do find them.”
On September 28th, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Pinker will join the Network for Responsible Public Policy (NFRPP) to discuss his latest book “Rationality: What it is, Why it seems scarce, Why it matters.” His book and presentation contain his unique blend of scientific rigor, thoughtful analysis, and humor (including an excellent sample of Jewish humor) to explain why humans behave the way they do and what we can do to enable ourselves to make better choices, both as individuals and as a society. The book, recently issued in paperback, is available from Amazon, other booksellers, or a local bookstore or library near you. Please consider reading Pinker’s book. You will be able to discuss your questions with him at the Zoom event. This is a rare opportunity to engage Steven Pinker himself.