Teaching kids about climate change
Ahead of Earth Day on 22 April, Ørsted published a children’s e-book, Is this my home?, to help parents talk to their children about climate change.
In the book, a young girl is woken by a mouse making a hole in her bedroom wall, and protests: "You can’t live here. This is my home." But the intruder replies: "No, this is your house. Your home is much bigger."
Puzzled, the girl embarks on a journey to find her "home". She meets sheep shearing themselves to combat the heat, a snow leopard trying to hide in the last of the snow, and a whale swimming through plastic waste. When the girl returns to her house at the end of her journey, her mouse companion finally reveals that the whole world is her — and everybody’s — home.
The moral of the story is that it is up to all of us "to be kind to it". Ørsted has launched a website for the book (orsted.com/en/explore/is-this-my-home), with tips on how parents can make a difference.
Ørsted’s senior director of sustainability, Filip Engel, explains: "There are signs all around us that the global climate is changing, be it more frequent wildfires and floods, or retreating Arctic glaciers. "Parents can help their children understand why their world is changing in this way."
Adults have a lot to learn, too
As “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç went to press, more than 1,000 people had been arrested over eight days of Extinction Rebellion’s demonstrations in London.
The protests had pushed the lack of political action on climate change up the national news agenda while the UK parliament was away for the week.
But are vague demands for the government to "tell the truth" and disrupting the city’s public-transport system likely to raise much public sympathy for this worthwhile cause?
After all, greater use of public transport would actually reduce emissions if it results in less private car use.
In contrast, weekly demonstrations against political inaction on climate change by schoolchildren around the world have not targeted infrastructure needed to reduce emissions.
European investment figures and facts
€1.4m/MW Capex in new onshore wind capacity in Europe in 2018 — down 30% from €2.5million per megawatt in 2015
€2.5m/MW Capex in new offshore wind capacity in Europe, 2018 — down 44% compared with €4.5 m/MW in 2015
€26.7bn Amount invested in new wind capacity in Europe in 2018 — up 20% from €22.3 billion in 2017
16.7GW New capacity financed in Europe in 2018 – up 46% from 11.4GW in 2017
Source: WindEurope, Financing and Investment Trends 2018
Quote of the month
"Carbon emissions have to decline by 45% from 2010 levels over the next decade to reach net zero by 2050. This requires a massive reallocation of capital. If some companies and industries fail to adjust to this new world, they will fail to exist"
Mark Carney, governor of the bank of England, and others, in an open letter on climate-related financial risks
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