November Sustainability News
- Rodrigo Batalha
- Nov 14
- 5 min read
Here we have some of the news in November around sustainability. Do remember, we are not a news outlet, we only show some of what the new outlets publish.
Global companies push for regulation on plastics reduction, report shows
"Global food and packaging companies, including Nestle (NESN.S), opens new tab, PepsiCo (PEP.O), opens new tab and Unilever (ULVR.L), opens new tab have vowed to collaborate on cutting plastic use and push for regulation after U.N. talks in August collapsed, a report published on Tuesday showed.
The failure to reach a deal at U.N. talks in Geneva dimmed hopes of tackling a key source of pollution and left many advocates of restrictions pessimistic about securing a global deal while U.S. President Donald Trump is in office.Corporate alliances seeking to limit the impact of global warming are under pressure as the Trump administration dismantles a range of climate protection initiatives, and though light on concrete targets, the 2030 Plastics Agenda for Business, published by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, could give sustainability advocates some cause for optimism."
Source: Alexander Marrow/Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/global-companies-push-regulation-plastics-reduction-report-shows-2025-11-04/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Sustainable-Switch&utm_term=110425&lctg=6828bbefa21350068102d0d0)
Norwegian opposition complicates Musk's path to $1 trillion pay deal
"Norway's sovereign wealth fund, Tesla's sixth-largest outside investor, said on Tuesday it would vote against ratifying a proposed pay deal for CEO Elon Musk potentially worth $1 trillion.
Musk's pay package is still seen as likely to win, given broad investor support in the past and the backing Tesla enjoys from its large retail shareholder base. Laws in Texas, where Tesla moved its headquarters last year, allow Musk to vote his own large stake, giving him 15.3% of voting power including restricted stock granted in August."
Source: Terje Solsvik and Ross Kerber / Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/norway-wealth-fund-vote-against-musks-1-trillion-tesla-pay-package-2025-11-04/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Sustainable-Switch&utm_term=110425&lctg=6828bbefa21350068102d0d0)
Afghans dig through rubble after earthquake kills at least 27
"Residents of northern Afghanistan were sifting through rubble and treating their injured on Tuesday after a powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake left at least 27 dead and destroyed hundreds of houses.
The quake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif early on Monday, injuring almost 1,000 and damaging the city's historic Blue Mosque, authorities said. The sparsely populated epicentre meant the death toll was lower than initially feared."
Source: Sayed Hassib/Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/afghans-begin-clean-up-after-powerful-earthquake-that-killed-20-2025-11-04/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Sustainable-Switch&utm_term=110425&lctg=6828bbefa21350068102d0d0)
Missing 1.5C climate target is a moral failure, UN chief tells Cop30 summit
"The failure to limit global heating to 1.5C is a “moral failure and deadly negligence”, the UN secretary general has said at the opening session of the Cop30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.
António Guterres said even a temporary overshoot would have “dramatic consequences. It could push ecosystems past catastrophic tipping points, expose billions to unliveable conditions and amplify threats to peace and security.”
Speaking to heads of state from more than 30 countries, Guterres called the target of limiting global heating to 1.5C above preindustrial levels a “red line” for a habitable planet and urged his audience to bring about a “paradigm shift” so that the effects of the overshoot could be minimised."
Source: Jonathan Watts and Fiona Harvey/The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/06/missing-15c-climate-target-is-a-moral-failure-guterres-tells-cop30-summit?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-11-07&utm_campaign=Daily+Briefing+Leaders+speak+ahead+of+COP30+Norway+s+%243bn+TFFF+boost+UK+to+double-down+on+net-zero)
Philippines declares state of emergency after typhoon Kalmaegi death toll passes 100
"Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has declared a state of emergency after typhoon Kalmaegi left at least 114 people dead and nearly 130 missing in central provinces in the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country this year.
The deaths were mostly from drowning in flash floods, and 127 people were still missing, many in the hard-hit central province of Cebu. The tropical cyclone blew out of the archipelago on Wednesday into the South China Sea.
The typhoon’s onslaught affected nearly 2 million people and displaced more than 560,000 villagers, including nearly 450,000 who were evacuated to emergency shelters, the office of civil defence said."
Iceland Declares Potential Collapse of Atlantic Ocean Current a Security Threat
"Iceland has, for the first time, classified a climate-related phenomenon as a national security threat, following warnings that a key Atlantic Ocean current system may be approaching collapse.
The government confirmed that the potential failure of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)—a deep-sea conveyor that carries warm water north towards Europe—has been added to the agenda of the National Security Council.
The move allows authorities to coordinate response plans across ministries, covering food and energy supplies, infrastructure, and transport resilience.
“It is a direct threat to our national resilience and security,” said Climate Minister Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, speaking to Reuters. In an email to the news agency, he described the decision as the first time a specific climate process has been treated as a potential “existential risk” to Iceland."
Source: Michael Chapman/Iceland Review (https://www.icelandreview.com/news/iceland-declares-potential-collapse-of-atlantic-ocean-current-a-security-threat/?srsltid=AfmBOoov1Pc_VXe9MQ4qKnqV4XVvXaRGhZVsCIHCuO2T8wOX8DsrVXnb)
Prosecutors probe Italy's Tod's, seek six-month ad ban over labour abuse
"Italian prosecutors have placed luxury group Tod's and three of its executives under investigation for suspected labour abuses and are seeking a temporary ban on some company advertising, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.
This marks the first time an Italian fashion house and its managers have been directly targeted over alleged labour exploitation, and follows a series of cases that have tarnished the reputation of some of the industry's biggest names."
Source: Emilio Parodi/Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/prosecutors-probe-italys-tods-seek-six-month-ad-ban-over-labour-abuse-2025-11-20/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Sustainable-Switch&utm_term=112025&lctg=6828bbefa21350068102d0d0)
IEA: Fossil-fuel use will peak before 2030 – unless ‘stated policies’ are abandoned
"The world’s fossil-fuel use is still on track to peak before 2030, despite a surge in political support for coal, oil and gas, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The IEA’s latest World Energy Outlook 2025, published during the opening days of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, shows coal at or close to a peak, with oil set to follow around 2030 and gas by 2035, based on the stated policy intentions of the world’s governments.
Under the same assumptions, the IEA says that clean-energy use will surge, as nuclear power rises 39% by 2035, solar by 344% and wind by 178%.
Still, the outlook has some notable shifts since last year, with coal use revised up by around 6% in the near term, oil seeing a shallower post-peak decline and gas plateauing at higher levels."
Source: Simon Evans, Ho Woo Nam/Carbon Brief (https://www.carbonbrief.org/iea-fossil-fuel-use-will-peak-before-2030-unless-stated-policies-are-abandoned/?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2025-11-29&utm_campaign=COP30+DeBriefed+Finance+and+1+5C+loom+large+at+talks+China+s+emissions+dip+Negotiations+explained)
Environmental impact and net-zero pathways for sustainable artificial intelligence servers in the USA
"The rapidly increasing demand for generative artificial intelligence (AI) models requires extensive server installation with sustainability implications in terms of the compound energy–water–climate impacts. Here we show that the deployment of AI servers across the United States could generate an annual water footprint ranging from 731 to 1,125 million m3 and additional annual carbon emissions from 24 to 44 Mt CO2-equivalent between 2024 and 2030, depending on the scale of expansion. Other factors, such as industry efficiency initiatives, grid decarbonization rates and the spatial distribution of server locations within the United States, drive deep uncertainties in the estimated water and carbon footprints."
COP30: Key outcomes agreed at the UN climate talks in Belém
"A voluntary plan to curb fossil fuels, a goal to triple adaptation finance and new efforts to “strengthen” climate targets have been launched at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
After all-night negotiations in the Amazonian city of Belém, the Brazilian presidency released a final package termed the “global mutirão” – a name meaning “collective efforts”.
It was an attempt to draw together controversial issues that had divided the fortnight of talks, including finance, trade policies and meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C temperature goal.
A “mechanism” to help ensure a “just transition” globally and a set of measures to track climate-adaptation efforts were also among COP30’s notable outcomes.
Scores of nations that had backed plans to “transition away” from fossil fuels and “reverse deforestation” instead accepted COP30 president André Corrêa do Lago’s compromise proposal of “roadmaps” outside the formal UN regime."
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