BIGGEST SUSTAINABILITY WINS OF 2024
We often hear about climate change in the news, and it is often very distressing as it can feel like we, as individuals can’t do anything about it. Although many companies and countries around the world have tried to implement changes to positively effect the planet, global greenhouse gas emissions were still at an all-time high for the year 2024 at 58 gigatonnes. This has had a devastating effect on the climate with the extreme temperature we’ve seen in Europe and Australia and the devastating floods in Pakistan that saw one third of the countries surface covered by water.
However, there were still some great achievements made in the name of sustainability during 2024, here are the top 5 that we at KEEPR Denim are excited about:
- UN PLASTICS TREATY
Back in March, over 160 UN member-states endorsed a resolution to end plastic pollution. This will be done by addressing the lifecycle of plastic waste by 2025. Negotiations have begun and there are some differences of opinion between various countries, as some such as Switzerland and Ghana would like a treaty base don mandatory measures that all countries would have to comply to, however other countries such as the US and Saudi Arabia would like the measures to be decided by each country. This is still a great step in the right direction, as it shows that world leaders are taking the plastic waste problem seriously and are wiling to put measure sin place to solve the problem.
- THE FOUNDER OF PATAGONIA GAVE AWAY HIS COMPANY
Yvone Chouinard founded Patagonia, an outdoor clothing retail company in 1973. He was recently named in the Forbe’s billionaire list, which motivated him to give away his company for environmental causes. In August, he established a new trust called the Patagonia Purpose Trust, which will be overseen by Yvone’s family members to ensure that all the company’s profits (approx. $100 million per year) will be donated to environmental causes to help fight against climate change.
- BRAZIL UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP
Jair Bolsonaro is the former President of Brazil. He was in power for three years, during this time his administration caused a huge amount of damage to the environment. They reduced environmental legislation and budgets for environmental agencies, which also resulted in 34,000 square kilometres of the Amazon rainforest being destroyed, that’s an area larger than the size of Belgium. In October, Bolsonaro lost the election to the opposition leader – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has a strong stance against deforestation.