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What do the finance, aviation and auto industries have in common? Well, each sector is in the hot seat in today’s newsletter as they face hurdles maintaining sustainability targets amid rising climate-based regulatory rollbacks and pressure from lobby groups.
The Net-Zero Banking Alliance, set up in 2021 ahead of global climate talks in Glasgow, has proposed changing from being a "membership-based alliance" to a "framework initiative".
Many large banks left the group after pressure from some U.S. Republican politicians who said membership could be regarded as a breach of antitrust rules.
Swiss lender UBS became the latest to leave earlier in August, shortly after UK peers Barclays and HSBC, and several months after the largest U.S., Canadian, Australian and Japanese banks.
Membership obligations have included making a commitment to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, setting interim emission-reduction targets for carbon-intensive sectors by 2030, and annual progress reports. Also on my radar today: |
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A Delta Airlines passenger jet approaches to land at LAX during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Los Angeles, California, U.S. REUTERS/Mike Blake |
Sustainability in aviation ‘dying a death’ |
Over in the aviation sector, this week Delta Air Lines agreed to pay $78.75 million to resolve a class action lawsuit over a 2020 fuel dump that doused tens of thousands of properties, including homes and schools, in Los Angeles and Orange counties in California.
The case stemmed from a January 14, 2020 incident in which Delta Flight 89 to Shanghai from Los Angeles, carrying 167 passengers and crew, lost thrust soon after takeoff.
Property owners said the pilots unnecessarily dumped fuel at a low altitude over densely-populated areas, instead of dumping fuel over the Pacific Ocean or at a high altitude so it would dissipate or by burning fuel by flying in a holding pattern. They demanded that Delta clean up the mess. Delta denied wrongdoing and said it settled to avoid the uncertainty, distraction and cost of litigation. Meanwhile, Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary has said sustainability targets for aviation are "dying a death", with the sector set to miss both 2030 targets for sustainable aviation fuel and a 2050 net zero mandate.
"I don't believe SAF is a good thing – I think it's nonsense," O'Leary told journalists in London. "Over the next 10 years, I believe oil prices will fall materially," he added. Click here for a Reuters graphics report on the industry’s clean jet fuel failures. |
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Auto’s net-zero targets lobbying |
And finally in autos, the heads of the European automobile manufacturers' and automotive suppliers' associations said European Union targets to cut CO2 emissions from vehicles, including a 100% reduction for cars by 2035, are no longer feasible.
In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the associations said EU manufacturers now faced near-total dependency on Asia for batteries, as well as uneven charging infrastructure, higher manufacturing costs and U.S. tariffs.
The bloc needed to go beyond new-vehicle targets, they argued, such as 55% CO2 emissions reduction from 2021 levels for cars and 50% for vans by 2030 and of 100% for both by 2035. CO2 regulation for heavy-duty trucks and buses must also be reviewed, the two association chiefs said.
Members of von der Leyen's centre-right grouping have also called for the EU to withdraw its 2035 ban on combustion engines. |
Mourners react during the funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli fire, according to medics, at Al-Shifa hospital, in Gaza City. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa |
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Gaza U.N. taskforce: A team of United Nations investigators tasked with researching cases of violence by Israeli settlers and the transfer of arms to Israel for use in the Gaza war cannot complete their work because of financial constraints, a document showed. Navi Pillay who heads the inquiry told Geneva-based Human Rights Council president in an August 6 letter that a lack of funds meant it was unable to hire staff.
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Storm Kajiki: Tropical storm Kajiki killed at least five people and seven remain missing after heavy rains and landslides swept across northern Thailand, the Thai disaster agency said Thursday. Kajiki made landfall as a typhoon in Vietnam earlier this week, killing seven people, inundating more than 10,000 homes and offices, as well as 86 hectares of rice and cash crops, the Vietnam government said on Wednesday.
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England anti-migration: The red and white St George's Cross and the Union Jack flags have proliferated along streets across England in recent weeks in what supporters say is a campaign to show national pride, but others fear is part of growing anti-immigration sentiment. In the 1970s, the Union flag was adopted as a symbol by the far-right National Front party, which openly promoted white supremacist views, while the Cross of St George, the patron saint of England, likewise was associated with English soccer hooligans and extreme right-wing groups.
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France’s colonial legacy: France returned three colonial-era skulls held in a Paris museum to Madagascar 128 years after they were taken to France, including one believed to be that of a Malagasy king killed by French troops. The skull, presumed to be that of King Toera and two others from the Sakalava ethnic group, were formally handed over at a ceremony held at the French Culture Ministry. France has sought to confront its colonial past by returning artifacts and human remains from its museums to their countries of origin.
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Trump and Intel: The U.S. government's new 9.9% equity stake in Intel is making some investors nervous that President Donald Trump's deal heralds an era of government meddling in private industry, particularly as the arrangement followed Trump's call for the resignation of the computer chip maker's CEO. One large institutional investor, speaking on condition of anonymity, cautioned that if the U.S. government keeps taking stakes in other companies, that could be a worrisome step toward state capitalism.
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Reuters journalist Hussam al-Masri, who was killed by an Israeli strike on Nasser Hospital in Gaza on August 25, 2025, works at the hospital in Khan Younis. REUTERS/Stringer |
Today’s spotlight honours the life of Reuters colleague Hussam al-Masri, the journalist killed by Israeli fire on Monday while operating a live video feed at Gaza's Nasser Hospital. He was reporting on the war's civilian suffering while living in a tent and struggling to find food for his family.
"Tomorrow will be better," he would say, even as conditions in the Palestinian enclave descended further into hunger and desperation in the months leading up to his death.
That was how he ended his last conversation with Mohamed Salem, a senior visual journalist for Reuters who had known Masri since 2003 and worked alongside him in Rafah, in the south of Gaza, last year. Masri, 49, was an experienced cameraman whose positive approach in the most dangerous situations made him popular among Gaza's tight-knit community of reporters, journalist colleagues said. |
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Sustainable Switch was edited by Elaine Hardcastle. |
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