Blog
There are two key realities about ‘net zero’ that we should all have got hold of by now. One is that there is no silver bullet – many kinds of actions are needed on many fronts. The other is that low carbon lives must be better lives, if we are to achieve comprehensive buy-in to what will be an extraordinary transformation.
Over the last (bizarre) year, Drag Race has been my own personal form of escapism – an hour a week of complete joy, drama, and extravagance. Beyond the glitz and glamour, there’s a lot we can learn from drag queens: in particular, about loving our clothes.
A landmark report produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with WRAP has shed a light on the true scale and prevalence on global food waste. Here the co-authors Dr Tom Quested and Hamish Forbes at WRAP and Clementine O’Connor at UNEP talk about the importance of their findings and their optimism for a meaningful solution to a problem we can no longer ignore.
Climate change is bringing with it a host of new, rapidly developing challenges. However, amongst these, the ‘old’ issues persist, and in some cases are even exacerbated by climate change. One of these is gender inequality.
It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly a year since the UK’s first lockdown began, and since then we have all learned a lot – about ourselves, other people, the virus, and our own ability to adapt.
Personally, I’ve learned that I can just about balance working full time with entertaining a toddler and a one-year-old. Professionally, WRAP has learned just how resilient the UK population can be, especially when it comes to managing our food.
It is reasonable to expect that the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may have put public motivation to tackle climate change on the back burner.
Not so, according to a new survey which hit the headlines recently. From over a million respondents, across 50 countries, more than two-thirds agreed that climate change is a global emergency, requiring an urgent response.
If there is anything positive to come out of the struggles forced on us by the pandemic, it is the unprecedented opportunity to recalibrate our global food system so that it is more resilient, more fair, more friendly to the planet. And if ever there was a compelling case for why the Courtauld Commitment needs to exist it is right now - to help realise this ambition.
2020 has been a year like no other. But here at WRAP we believe there is a bright future ahead.
In November 2021 world leaders will gather in Glasgow for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, popularly known as CoP 26. With less than a year to go, attention is turning to how the world can reach net zero carbon emissions, and whether this target is ambitious enough.
Perhaps more than any other industry, the clothing and textiles sector is governed by the public’s insatiable appetite for constant change – what’s this season’s colour, cut, look? But one trend that isn’t going to become ‘last year’ is the growing demand from consumers that their love of fashion doesn’t come with a costly environmental price tag.