CSO Connect
Trusted by 500k+ CSOs globally
● DEC 20, 2024
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Hello!
Welcome to the final edition of the year, featuring a special annual list... Here's what's in today's CSO Connect:
✋ The worst Green Tech flops of 2024
🔢 75% of UK universities divest from fossil fuels
🙃 The anti-renewable energy narrative
🏦 The enigma of Scope 4
And of course: The CSO Connection, our curated picks and events of the year…
The Greenly team
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MIT's worst tech failures of the year
Every year, American media loves to highlight the biggest tech flops.
In 2023, the infamous Humain AI Pin took the crown for sheer uselessness.
But in 2024, Green Tech steals the show with a spectacular lineup of failures.
And here are MIT's worst fails of 2024:
Vertical farming
The concept sounded brilliant: grow lettuce in high-tech buildings run by robots, hydroponic systems, and ultra-modern LEDs.
Bowery, the rising star of vertical farming, raised over $700 million, promising farms “100 times more productive” than their traditional counterparts.
The result? Not a single head of lettuce was ever produced. In November, the startup shut down, earning the title of biggest failure of the year.
Voluntary carbon markets
Offset your emissions by planting trees and claiming a net-zero carbon footprint—sounds great, right?
Yet, this year, the house of cards collapsed. Nori (focusing on soil carbon sequestration) and Running Tide (targeting oceanic CO2 capture) both went bankrupt.
The reasons, according to MIT? Weak corporate demand (voluntary doesn’t pay), dubious technologies, questionable credits, and even outright fraud.
AI slops
“Slops” refers to food scraps given to pigs. “AI slops,” on the other hand, are AI-generated texts and images—from Shrimp Jesus to “the Girl in the Boat”.
The catch? Their disastrous environmental impact.
Here’s hoping for better in 2025!
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Good news to end the year: over 75% of UK universities have committed to excluding fossil fuel companies from their investment portfolios, according to The Guardian.
In numbers, this means 115 out of 149 institutions have officially divested, freeing £17.7 billion from the grip of the fossil fuel industry. Well done!
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- 📚 Your complete guide to Sustainable Procurement: a step-by-step guide on how supply chain managers can implement sustainable procurement systems effectively.
- 🔩 The RoHS Directive: The evolution of the Directive, its goals, and its impact on the electronics industry.
- 🇬🇧 UK Regulation Guide: This guide covers essentials like sustainability reporting, carbon disclosures, and compliance with upcoming standards, helping companies stay compliant and competitive in a changing regulatory landscape.
- 🇺🇸 US Regulation Guide: Greenly's Regulation Guide is a concise resource for businesses to navigate key sustainability regulations across the US.
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Phony Quote of the Day 🗑️
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“We denounce the forced development of renewable energies.”
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This climatoskeptic column, published in French weekly magazine Le Point and co-signed by several prominent figures (including a notorious climate denier), argues against the dangers of wind and solar power. (Seriously?)
While its claims are quickly debunked here and here
, the damage is done: it plants seeds of doubt.
Ultimately, this article raises an essential question: why embrace the future when we can cling to the past?
A bold strategy for tackling 21st-century climate challenges...
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The Unknown Benefits of...
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Still struggling to understand Scopes 1, 2, and 3? Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered here.
But let’s go one step further with Scope 4: the emissions your company avoids.
Scope 4 includes:
- creating low-carbon products or services,
- projects aimed at reducing emissions within the value chain,
- funding low-carbon initiatives.
Click here to learn more!
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Events you can’t miss!
- Cool Climate Wine Summit, Copenhagen, January 19-20th, 2025
- Greenly Summit 2025, New-York, January 30th
- Climate Chance Europe Africa 2025 Summit, Marseille, March 31st and April 1st
- GreenBiz, Phoenix, February 10-12, 2025
- Sustainability Week, London, March 10-12
- World Impact Summit, Bordeaux, March 25-26, 2025
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We're counting on you!
Tell us what you thought about this first edition. We always welcome your feedback, suggestions, critics, questions… See you soon !
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