Sustainability stats: This week in numbers

As it is Budget week, funding pledges fill this week's news, but there are also savings to be made in the European food and agriculture industry and news of Scottish wind support.


Funding pledges from the Chancellors’ Budget on Wednesday included £60m to for energy innovation in the Midlands such as the Energy Systems Catapult in Birmingham.

Another £140m worth of flood defences announced by the Government in December will be brought forward so some projects can start up to three years earlier than expected. This is the kind of action insurers have called on governments to do this week as they report that natural disasters have caused $1.9trn worth of economic losses in the last decade.

Another project announced this week is the £51.6m renewable energy power plant which will provide the equivalent of 17,000 homes with electricity generated from waste wood diverted from landfill.

A new report by Rabobank revealed this week that companies in the European food and agriculture (F&A) industry could save more than £7bn by adopting new food-waste strategies. According to the report the industry loses £43bn (€60bn) of value each year due to food wastage in the supply chain.

At the other end of the supply chain Tetra Pak is well on track to hit its 2020 sustainability targets by recycling 651,000 tonnes of used beverage carton globally.

Finally great news for the wind industry as a survey reveals that support for wind power in Scotland is rising, reaching 71% in February this year, despite capacity continuing to increase.

As ever, click the pic for the full story…

Lucinda Dann

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