This month’s sustainability highlights, from big business news to rewilding wins.
Patagonia owners give multi-billion-dollar company ‘to Earth’
The owners of outdoor gear and apparel company Patagonia – valued at US$3 billion – have transferred 100% of its stocks to two nonprofits. Founder Yvon Chouinard wrote, “Instead of ‘going public’, you could say we’re ‘going purpose’.” From now on, all money made after reinvesting in the business will go to the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective, which supports projects fighting the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. Patagonia remains a for-profit business.
Source: Patagonia
South African communities win legal battle against Shell
Shell has been banned from looking for oil and gas along South Africa’s eastern coast, following a legal battle fought by the Wild Coast communities. The court found that Shell had not adequately consulted the communities before it started its seismic surveys and that people’s cultural and spiritual rights, as well as the environmental impacts of exploration, hadn’t been properly considered.
Source: GroundUp
Vertical shrimp farming looks to open first commercial site
Singapore-based startup Vertical Oceans is planning to open its first commercial site next year. The company has developed a land-based vertical tank system that reduces pollution, ecosystem degradation and mangrove deforestation often caused by shrimp farming along coastlines. So far, the company has produced roughly one ton of shrimp in Singapore, selling to individual consumers and restaurants.
Source: Bloomberg
Ospreys successfully returning to the UK
Osprey chicks have hatched in Leicestershire, UK – the first the county has seen in two centuries. Ospreys are raptors with a roughly five-foot wingspan. They became extinct as breeding birds in 1840 in England and in 1916 in Scotland, largely due to hunting, industrial developments and their eggs being collected. Ospreys have since slowly returned to Britain, with the first pair successfully breeding in Scotland in 1959, while in England, the first chick hatched in 2001. Osprey numbers across the UK continue to steadily grow.
Source: The Guardian
Swiss shoe brand launches resale site
Swiss athletic brand On has launched a resale site to help tackle waste issues in the fashion and sports apparel industries. The new site, Onward, allows customers to send lightly used shoes back to the company and receive a US$35 gift card in return. If the shoes aren’t in good enough condition to resell, they’ll be recycled. On joins brands such as Patagonia, REI and Lululemon that also have resale sites to reduce waste and encourage reuse.
Source: Bloomberg
