My blog

Tag: Environmental Impact

  • Opportunities in the Coffee Sector: An Interview with Dr. Claudia Araujo

     

    Finito World caught up with Dr. Ana Claudia Araujo of the Natural History Museum to ask her about possible careers in the coffee sector

     

    I was really surprised when I went to the exhibition last year to see what a big climate impact the coffee sector makes. Can you explain to our young readers why we need to take coffee seriously if we’re serious about climate change and biodiversity?

    I believe the starting point is to understand how plants work and how they interact within the ecosystem (or vegetation) to which they belong and have evolved, alongside other organisms. It is also paramount to bear in mind that living organisms are always evolving!

    Plants interact in many ways with other plants, animals, fungi and bacteria. They exchange favours in order to survive. When we extract portions of a natural ecosystem, we are not only putting at risk the future of the species directly affected, we are jeopardizing the system that they have built over millions of years, which works well because it is balanced.

    At first, we won’t notice the difference much because nature is resilient, it tries to reinvent itself, cure itself, forms a scar.  However, in nature everything is linked, like in an engine, and once we remove one key player the rest may fall apart. Imagine if you built a tower of flats and right in the middle someone decides to make an open space in their flat removing an entire wall? If several people decide to do similar thing then at some point the building will collapse.

    Humans clear vast areas of the planet for crops. In doing so it is eliminating the system that regulates the ecological functions of the area. It is not just the ‘green’ that is disappearing, it is everything else that we cannot name because we don’t see or even know it exists or how it functions and affects our ecological ‘engine’.

    We know plants purify the air while producing ‘sugars’ (energy), capturing carbon dioxide and returning oxygen. Plants also breathe and transpire. In performing these processes of photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration, plants bring water from the soil to the air, which accumulates, travels and falls as rain elsewhere. But water is becoming scarce. Forests are a mass of plants, of different sizes and shapes, each producing a network of roots that act like a sponge when it is the rainy season.

    Branches delay the fall of rain to the soil, roots above the ground trap water and roots below ground help the plant to absorb water efficiently and the excess travels to the water table. Saturated with water, plants transpire and the cycle is maintained. But in the dry season the plants have the reserve of a full water table. In this process plants help regulate the weather over the short term and the climate over the long term. Also important is the nutrient level of the soil, which comes from bark, leaves, flowers and fruits falling to the ground and being decomposed by fungi, worms and bacteria.

    Now, coffee like any other crop needs to have natural vegetation cleared to create the space for it to be grown – that is the first issue. Because it is a small tree, like other trees such as avocados and almond, coffee demands large areas of rich soil and regular rainfall. Here the issue gets worse.

    The biodiverse area that previously had many species was supplanted by a crop that demands too much of what the area can no longer provide. To start with the coffee grows well, but the more coffee we plant, the poorer the soil becomes, and the poorer the soil is, the greater the need to advance into areas where remnants of forest still stand, and thus more forest is felled. Eventually there will be nowhere suitable to plant coffee.

    What are the current obstacles to reform of the coffee sector?

    Coffee is the world’s second largest traded commodity by volume after petroleum. But the plant takes about five years to bear its first full crop of beans and will be productive for only fifteen years. Harvest is picking by hand because this is selective. Between collecting and preparing the ground coffee there is a long process: the wet method requires reliable pulping equipment and adequate supply of clean water – that is another issue; the dry method involves freshly harvested fruits being spread on clean drying yards and ridged once every hour, which takes 12–15 days under bright weather conditions – and the weather pattern is changing.

    So, the nature of this crop makes it an expensive one. It needs financial investment in certain areas to protect the industry. But the fear is that for the industry this investment will be wrongly read as ‘losing’ money, instead of investing. The price of producing coffee would be higher and will be sent straight to consumers instead of the increase being shared between producers, the industry and consumers. So, in my view, the major obstacle is changing perceptions within the industry. I might be wrong; I hope I am and find there is someone out there trying to make the necessary changes.

    What does the coffee sector need to do to change?

    Invest in creating and maintaining prime natural vegetation in an untouched state, particularly where the wild species of the genus Coffea (Rubiaceae) are found. Wild varieties can be a source of new cultivars that can produce crops quicker, demanding less resources. I am not advocating that the industry should own natural vegetation for their own advantage but support the maintenance of existent protected areas and advocate for new ones to be created.

    Support local communities alongside local scientists to supervise the collection of surplus seeds from natural vegetation and try to re-create or boost natural vegetation in areas that have long been deprived of it. Again, I am not suggesting planting coffee trees in forest remnants but rather to let the forest retake the areas of crop and try to keep both at bay.

    Invest in scientific research that focuses on alternatives, and plant conservation work such as the Plants Under Pressure program of the Natural History Museum.

    Can you talk about your research, how it came about and how it’s funded and what you hope the end results to be?

    I am a plant scientist that has dedicated most of my professional life to teaching and researching taxonomy (the science of what things are) and systematics (how they are related to one another).  I worked in universities and organizations keeping an herbarium, so for a long period my taxonomic knowledge was invested curating plants specimens. Currently, I apply this knowledge to identify plants at risk of extinction, where they are, what threatens them and what this means to the vegetation where they are found, to the local community and also the effects of climate change on such losses.

    This is to help policy makers know where, how, and when to act. I work on the Plants Under Pressure program, with a team currently comprising 11 people: four members of staff, four volunteers and three Master’s students. This program runs almost entirely on short-term grants, from research-funding bodies or from charities, and three of our four staff members are temporary researchers, including myself.

    Part of my time is dedicated to finding new funding opportunities to keep the research programme active. I am forever grateful to our volunteers that give part of their time to our research for free because they believe in what we are doing. Of course, it would be far better if we were a bigger team able to employ scientists for much longer and have more time to dedicate entirely to the work we are trying to do!

    The long-term aim of our research is to provide the scientific basis of what plants are more at risk of extinction, where and why, and what can be done to help preserve them. This information helps to inform international agreements such as the UN Convention on Biological Diversity which sets targets to achieve not only a reduction in biodiversity loss but also its restoration, something that also helps society to withstand the impact of future climate change.

    What would you advise young people who are interested in going into the coffee sector but also mindful of the environment?

    Get involved! Have an open mind. Do your research. Maintain a healthy scepticism: don’t take everything at face value. The 21st century gives the young mind the privilege of global communication, so use it wisely. Also, you may be in the crop production industry or hospitality sector or be a farmer and became a volunteer for a scientific group like ours or become a ranger in a protected area or national park that you know of.

    Give yourself the opportunity to hear what the ‘other side’ has to say, try to have empathy, listen to a different opinion – you don’t have to accept it but give yourself the opportunity to improve/boost your knowledge on the subject. Knowledge is power. When you know the different sides of the same truth you are closer to finding a reasonable solution. It is all about knowledge and compromise.

     

    To visit the Natural History website go to:

    https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/our-work/biodiversity/plants-under-pressure.html

     

     

  • Promoting Community Relations to Advance Net-Zero: An Interview with Marjorie Neasham Glasgow

    Marjorie Neasham, Promoting Community Relations to advance Net Zero, Glasgow

     

    Sir Keir Starmer swept to power and is proposing a ‘mission driven government.’ He is making clean energy one of Labour’s top missions. Vowing to make the UK a ‘clean energy superpower,’ Labour have set bold targets to double onshore wind, treble solar and quadruple offshore wind by 2030.

     

    Their dedication to decarbonising society is welcome. Labour has also made welcome signals they are committed to translating ambitious targets into action through necessary planning reform.

     

    To attract the level of investment required for us to achieve net zero – especially in the timeframe Labour have suggested – and for renewables to meet their economic potential, we need a more efficient planning process. In her first major speech as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves lifted the de-facto ban on onshore wind. This overturns planning rules that have made it almost impossible to secure planning consent for onshore wind in England in the last decade.

     

    The UK can yet become a global leader in renewables innovation, enabling a rollout of onshore projects that make environmental and financial sense amid a world without consensus on climate change. In fact, the UK is making more progress than many think in the transition to a more renewables-based energy sector.

     

    For the first time ever, renewables accounted for more than 40% total UK electricity demand in the second half of 2023. Analyses by Drax Electric Insights showed that in the 12 months leading into October 2023, coal supplied less than 1% of the UK’s electricity use for the first time.

     

    The UK is also the first major economy to cut its emissions by half since 1990, compared to the EU, who have cut emissions by 30%, the US not at all, while China’s emissions are up by 300% according to the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in a 12 March 2024 statement on reinforcing energy supply.

     

    Further, a growing proportion of new jobs in the UK are ‘green jobs’, defined by the Office for National Statistics as ‘employment in an activity that contributes to protecting or restoring the environment, including those that mitigate or adapt to climate change’. Recent PwC data indicates that 2.2% of new UK jobs are classified as ‘green,’ green jobs growing four times faster than jobs in the wider UK market. And research by the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources indicates UK green jobs could increased by 150,000 by 2030.

     

    Yet, while the data shows we are making progress, we are still some way off bringing local communities on board with the transition. To deliver on decarbonisation, we don’t just need political will and investment.

     

    Many people see the value and importance of transitioning to renewable energy. For instance, they are aware that producing and burning fossil fuels creates air pollution that harms our health and generates toxic emissions that drive climate change. Imperial College research finds that air pollution is the largest single environmental risk factor in the UK, associated with the premature deaths of 28,000-36,000 people each year and affecting the poorest in society the most. The transition to renewable energy will help address these health concerns.

     

    However, people understandably also want to know what tangible economic, cultural and social benefits the transition will bring to their daily lives and their communities. Right now, the renewables industry is struggling to convince people that we can genuinely deliver a green energy transition with respect for landscapes, livelihoods and heritage.

     

    Sir Keir Starmer vowed to make public trust a central theme of his government. That must be the foundation of all our work across the renewables sector too. In my 30 years in this sector, I have learned that trust is the cornerstone for driving meaningful change in the renewable industry.

     

    Without communities onboard, in a way that engages them based on their local needs, concerns and aspirations, it is difficult to develop the trust that is so vital to seizing the opportunities in front of the UK.

     

    Trust fosters collaboration, ensuring that local needs, concerns, and aspirations are addressed. This engagement not only facilitates smoother project implementation but also enhances public support and acceptance.

     

    Trust can only be developed gradually through relationships between real people, not corporate language or platitudes. This process takes time – there are no shortcuts. A recent King’s College London study found that 98% of the UK population say they trust people they know personally – joint top out of 24 countries with Sweden and Norway – showing that trust can only be built through relationships between real people rather than conglomerates and brands.

     

    For responsible developers, months if not years of investment in community relations are necessary to understand who they are and what they care about. Consultation processes must not be tick-box exercises. They must be proactive and truly collaborative, with developers actively approaching community members at the onset of every project.

     

    Developers need to demonstrate to local communities that a green energy transition is worthwhile for them socially, culturally and economically as well as being sustainable.

     

    Communities must be consulted and allowed to shape projects from the start, considering the potential impacts on their lives. That includes listening and learning about their specific needs as well as generating local jobs and creating cleaner, more sustainable energy sources.

     

    Developers have so many assets and areas of expertise they can offer communities, should both sides be open to a genuine, real relationship.

     

    At Ridge Clean Energy we look beyond our renewable energy projects when partnering with local communities, and use our resources and expertise to advance community initiatives that are important to them. In some cases, communities may seek investment for local initiatives that are not at all directly related to energy. That doesn’t preclude a developer from helping, they just need to think creatively.

     

    For example, we recently lent our fundraising and development expertise to one community in Scotland that wanted help to restore its much-loved local pier, an important point of cultural pride. We worked with community leaders and groups in the town of Inveraray near one of our development sites.

     

    Our team helped the community to apply for and secure £244,000 in funding to take ownership of the pier and restore it, finally seeing it open to the public for the first time in a decade. We supported local community negotiations with the previous pier owner, helping to provide the confidence that a repurchasing was possible. This was all undertaken years before we submitted a planning permission application for our site.

     

    We are also in the process of establishing a Climate Care Awards scheme for primary schools in the vicinity of our projects, to help contribute to their academic growth and foster a sense of ownership and responsibility towards their community and the planet.

     

    As part of the Awards, children will be encouraged first to work together with their classmates and their families to calculate their carbon footprint, and second to take small steps to reduce it, by, for example, turning off lights, shopping second-hand and planting their own vegetables.

     

    We are excited about the project’s potential, and would like to share the programme with other renewables companies who could take it to the schools in the communities they serve.

     

    American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett once said ‘trust is like the air we breathe. When it’s present nobody really notices. But when it’s absent, everyone notices.’ As we navigate the complexities of the green energy transition, trust cannot simply be a buzzword.

     

    There is a profound importance to fostering genuine long-term trust among communities. Developers and politicians alike must acknowledge that will only happen through real actions, not just words, one genuine relationship at a time.

     

    Marjorie Neasham Glasgow is CEO of Ridge Clean Energy