Innovation

Your role in leading the fight for sustainability

It is easy to feel hopeless or powerless when reading news about issues of global challenges like climate change and social injustice. Or to feel that our individual roles and capabilities in tackling these crises are unimportant.  However, we all have the power to make change happen.  In fact, it has been argued that a small minority of citizens, 3.5%, “have the…

B Corps explainer – Business as a force for good!

B Corps – they’re popping up everywhere… Increasing numbers of businesses across the world are undergoing certification, but do you really know what a B Corp certified business is? This week, we’re deep-diving into the B Corp certification process and its benefits to people, the planet and profit in order to help you understand exactly what this little logo means! So, what…

Off peak electricity

What’s going on here? The UK’s National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) is reportedly considering schemes that reward consumers for reducing their electricity demand at peak times. What does this mean? National Grid ESO is the transmission system operator responsible for balancing the supply and demand of electricity in the UK. In an effort to reduce the risk of blackouts this winter…

3 ways that fungi could help us combat our waste and climate crises

A group of small, light brown mushrooms growing up a mossy log in a woodland setting.

From plastic waste to intensive fossil-fuel practices polluting natural environments, we humans have created a lot of mess on our planet. Innovative scientific research has been experimenting with fungi as a potential method of cleaning up our waste. Specifically, mycelium has the potential to help us eat-away at some of the waste we’re leaving behind.   What is mycelium?  Mycelium is essentially the…

Bitcoin: A bit bad for the environment?

It’s been in the news for a while, but over the past few months, coverage of Bitcoin has gone a bit crazy. With high levels of investment, including some high-profile backers, the value of Bitcoin has increased 6x in the past year! But what is not widely publicised are the environmental implications of this craze – are Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a…

U.K. Government is forcing corporations to make climate-related disclosures…enter Spherics

What’s Going On Here? Currently, there’s no legislation forcing UK businesses to measure and disclose their environmental impact. But an announcement by a government taskforce set up to review how businesses should report their environmental impact shows is changing this. According to the roadmap released by the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), large finance and listed companies will be the first…

Record breaking reusable rockets – exploring the sustainability of space missions

What’s Going On Here? This week SpaceX successfully launched its 100th mission, and the Falcon 9 rocket saw it’s sixth reuse, breaking the world record for the number of times a rocket has been recycled. But with space travel on the increase, and every rocket launch producing 150 times as much CO2 as a transatlantic flight, are we witnessing the rise of another deadly…