Work with Purpose

The 2025 QS Sustainability University rankings: which of the world's universities are leading the way in social and environmental sustainability with the QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025? University of Toronto hits first place, followed by ETH Zurich, Lund University, University of California, Berkeley, UCL, and University of British Columbia.

Car tyres shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment. Every year, billions of vehicles worldwide shed an estimated 6 million tonnes of tyre fragments. These tiny flakes of plastic, generated by the wear and tear of normal driving, eventually accumulate in the soil, in rivers and lakes, and even in our food. Researchers in South China recently found tyre-derived chemicals in most human urine samples. An average tyre loses 4kg during its lifetime. The emissions from car tyres (100%) are substantially higher than those of other sources of microplastics, e.g., airplane tyres (2%), artificial turf (12–50%), brake wear (8%) and road markings (5%) (Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2017 Oct 20;14(10):1265. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14101265) Tyre particles tend to be made from a complex mix of synthetic and natural rubbers, along with hundreds of chemical additives. This means the consequences of tyre pollution can be unexpected and far reaching. For instance, zinc oxide accounts for around 0.7% of a tyre’s weight. Though it is essential for making tyres more durable, zinc oxide is highly toxic for fish and other aquatic life and disrupts ecosystems even in trace amounts. Another harmful additive is a chemical known as 6PPD, which protects tyres from cracking. When exposed to air and water, it transforms into 6PPD-quinone, a compound linked to mass fish die-offs in the US.

Europe set to breach 2030 climate goals based on current policies. The European Union (EU) looks set to overshoot its climate goals for 2030 unless new policy interventions can address “bottlenecks” regarding sector electrification, renewables deployment and carbon capture utilisation. New policy interventions are required across the bloc and in the UK if 2030 climate goals are to be delivered.The research found that despite making the strongest progress in reducing energy-related emissions among major economies to date, Europe will need to more than double investment efforts to an average of $1trn annually up to 2030. Based on current policies and “real-world bottlenecks”, Europe looks set to overshoot its climate goals by 200 metric million tonnes of carbon emissions – a 9% difference that could potentially rise to almost 30%.

Asset owners with $9.5trn urge mandatory Scope 3 emissions disclosures. The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZOA) has stated that investors continue to grapple with poor Scope 3 emissions data from companies, largely due to a proliferation of inconsistent accounting frameworks – most of which are voluntary. In a new paper (4 December), the NZOA has stated that top-down regulatory mandates are key to overcoming data and disclosure challenges relating to Scope 3 emissions. The paper argues that policymakers need to act “decisively” to ensure that standards across the world do not significantly diverge.

UK FCA’s ‘naming and marketing’ rules for sustainable investments enter into force. The Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) new 'naming and marketing' rules for investment products have officially come into force this week, aiming to improve transparency and reduce greenwashing within the financial sector. These rules form part of the broader Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime and aim to enhance transparency, ensure accurate representation of sustainability claims, and curb the growing problem of greenwashing in the financial sector. The SDR regime, introduced in stages throughout 2024, began on 31 May with the enforcement of anti-greenwashing rules. This was followed by the rollout of investment labels on 31 July. As of 02 December, new regulations on the naming and promotion of sustainable investment products came into force, requiring firms to meet strict standards in labelling, advertising and disclosures.

Feeding grazing cattle seaweed cuts methane emissions by almost 40%. This is the first study to test seaweed on grazing beef cattle in the world. It follows previous studies that showed seaweed cut methane emissions 82% in feedlot cattle and over 50% in dairy cows. Seaweed is once again showing promise for making cattle farming more sustainable. The new study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that feeding grazing beef cattle a seaweed supplement in pellet form reduced their methane emissions by almost 40% without affecting their health or weight. Livestock account for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the largest portion coming from methane that cattle release when they burp. Grazing cattle also produce more methane than feedlot cattle or dairy cows because they eat more fiber from grass. In the U.S., there are 9 million dairy cows and over 64 million beef cattle.

Random interesting (known) facts: About 60% of fast-fashion items are made from synthetic textiles derived from plastics and chemicals that start their life as fossil fuels. When this synthetic clothing is laundered or thrown in landfills to decompose, it can release microplastics into the environment. Microplastics contain chemicals including phthalates and bisphenol A that can affect the health of humans and animals. A 2005 United Nations-led report on cotton’s water use estimated that, on average, a single cotton T-shirt requires about 700 gallons (2,650 liters) of water from crop to clothing rack, with about 300 gallons (1,135 liters) of that water used for irrigation. Global clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2014. Shein, for example, adds up to 2,000 new items to its website daily. Meanwhile, more than 90 million tons of textile waste ends up in landfills globally each year, by one estimate, adding to greenhouse gases as it slowly decomposes. Only a small percentage of discarded clothing is recycled. new research explores what happens to clothes and other textiles after we don’t want them across nine cities in Europe, North America and Australia. The pattern was the same in most cities. The sheer volume is overwhelming many shops. In Geneva, donations to charity shops have surged 1,200% in three decades, from 250 tonnes in 1990 to 3,000 tonnes in 2021. Worldwide, we now dump 92 million tonnes of clothes and textiles a year, double the figure of 20 years earlier. There’s less and less value in managing these clothes locally. As a result, charities are forced to send more clothes to landfill – or sell bale after bale of clothing to resellers, who ship them to nations in the Global South. But shipping container loads of secondhand clothes and textiles can do real damage environmentally. Clothing that can’t be sold becomes waste. In Ghana, there are now 20-metre-high hills made of clothing waste. Synthetic clothes clog up rivers, trap animals and spread plastics as they break apart. This practice has been dubbed “waste colonialism”.

Green jobs growth: A 9.2% increase in the number of green job postings made in the UK year-on-year, despite a 22.5% contraction in the overall job market. These are some of the headline findings of the ‘Big Four’ firm’s latest annual Green Jobs Barometer, which tracks job creations and losses as well as worker sentiment. It covers all UK regions and major sectors. A green job is classed as one in which the staff member is directly involved in the production of environmentally-friendly products or services; directly involved in adapting existing products, services and infrastructure; or indirectly supporting the transition to a more sustainable economy. Looking at the roles advertised, the professional, scientific and technical sector continues to lead the way with the most roles advertised – 92,000, around 8% of the total. Energy comes in a close second. PwC additionally tracked a significant year-on-year increase in green job postings in the retail sector (71.8% increase) and in construction (62.8% increase). PwC’s chief markets officer Carl Sizer said: “The surge in green job openings in a contracting job market underscores the increasing demand for green skills, most pressingly in the energy sector where nearly half of all job adverts are now classified as green."

We did not post about COP29 because in our opinon (shared by many it would seem!) it is now a compromised platform ... well, see the outcomes. But a summary from Carbon Brief for anyone interested:

UK companies need to do more to address modern slavery finds latest CCLA benchmark. This year, 30 of the 110 companies assessed in the CCLA Modern Slavery Benchmark either found evidence of modern slavery in their supply chains, or indicators that some sort of forced labour was taking place. In 2023, 17,004 potential victims of modern slavery were identified in the UK. There are an estimated 122,000 people subject to modern slavery in the country.