After decades of misinformation & procrastination, will the global fossil fuel industry come clean?An oil baron, Sultan Al Jabar is the President for this year's UAE-based conference starting Thursday 30th Nov. If, as Al Jabar argues, it takes someone from the fossil fuel world to make change, the world will be watching his key Cop28 initiative - the Global Decarbonization Alliance - involving oil and gas companies signing up to firm climate pledges.The UN has recently warned the world is on track for a “hellish” 3C of global heating, so we badly need this initiative. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/15/cop28-host-uae-oil-plans-data?  

A paint that could help prevent the spread of bushfires has come from a partnership between the University of NSW (Prof Guan Yeoh) and Flame Security International.The paint, FSA Firecoat, which is now on sale at selected Bunnings stores, achieved the Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) 40 standard which assesses the bushfire resistance of buildings and construction materialsFSA FirecoatBAL-40 indicates that a building or material has been tested and approved to withstand higher levels of radiant heat (up to 40kW/m²) and ember attack during a bushfire, providing increased protection in areas prone to extreme fire conditions.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmuUng2yaFg  

Countries are to meet in Kenya  from 13-17 November to thrash out a global plastic pollution treaty to be in place by the end of 2024. These talks are the third round and will mark the halfway point to a Plastics Treaty. From the international negotiating committee (INC) a “zero draft” version of previous discussions outlines 3 options relating to virgin plastic production and  a reduction of primary plastic: 1. Agreed Global reduction targets 2. Agreed production targets and and 3. individual National reduction targets.All eyes are on the US to soften their objections to these developments. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/nov/12/countries-meeting-nairobi-kenya-global-plastic-pollution-treaty