In the past, sending old clothes to the third world was a charitable act, but now it has become an environmental and social problem. France, Sweden and Denmark proposed to ban the export of second-hand clothes from the EU, and the proposal was discussed at the EU Environment Council on March 25. The African Second-Hand Clothes Organization said that the ban would affect the livelihoods of millions of people and lobbied EU countries not to support the proposal. Clean up your own garbage. With the rise of fast fashion, the speed of throwing away clothes has also increased. Where do the discarded clothes go? According to the analysis of the European Environment Agency (EEA) in 2023, the EU's waste textile exports have increased by 2 times in 20 years, reaching 1.7 million tons in 2019, of which 46% were sold to Africa and 41% to Asia. Some used clothing can be resold, some are downgraded to industrial rags or stuffing, and some end up in open landfills or discarded. On the 25th, at a meeting of the EU Environment Council, France, Denmark, and Sweden jointly proposed using the Basel Convention to regulate the import and export of used clothing, requiring the importing country's consent before export. The Basel Convention is a United Nations convention regulating the transnational movement of hazardous waste, specifically targeting developed countries transferring waste to the developing world. The French Ministry of the Environment stated, "Africa should not become a dumping ground for fast fashion." Reuters reported that Soren Jacobsen, Denmark's deputy permanent representative to the EU, pointed out at the meeting that the export of textile waste to developing countries would harm the local environment, society and health, and the EU should stop this behavior. The French representative also said that the ban would help strengthen the EU itself.

A research team from the Faculty of Engineering at Shinshu University in Japan recently successfully extracted mycelium fibers from the fruiting bodies of mushrooms, the sexual, spore-producing structures of the fungi, without destroying the microhyphae. This fiber is expected to be converted into a sustainable raw material for leather and packaging. The Japanese research team extracted mycelium fibers from Enoki mushrooms and the inedible Ganoderma lucidum. According to the US news website ScienceDaily, Shinshu University published their experimental results in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering on October 21, 2023, titled "Preparation of Mycelium Pulp from Mushroom Fruiting Bodies." The research details how the mycelium fibers were easily obtained while preserving the intact structure of the mushrooms. According to the online science news media EurekAlert!, the fruiting body is the multicellular spore structure of mushrooms. The size, shape and color of the fruiting bodies of different fungi are usually different. The large umbrella-shaped fungal bodies that people usually see in soil, rotten wood, trees and other substrates are the fruiting bodies of mushrooms.

Story Wear, a zero-waste fashion brand specializing in revitalizing recycled jeans, and Tomorrow Productions, the art curation team of the Zhongtai Group, known for revitalizing unused spaces in numerous cities, have partnered to present "Recreating Stories," a special exhibition. This exhibition, which interprets the life of recycled objects through an artistic lens, features artwork by two contemporary Taiwanese artists, Yao Ruizhong and Liu Wenxuan. The exhibition will be on view in the curatorial space on the third floor of the "NOKE Zhongtai Life" section of Dazhi Department Store until April 7th. This sustainable and "eternally" zero-waste exhibition addresses the pollution issues of the fashion industry. "The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world," a fact Story Wear has repeatedly emphasized since its inception. In his opening remarks, founder Chen Guanbai stated that the production process of a single garment involves issues such as ocean pollution, land destruction, and labor rights. This exhibition aims to convey this message in a straightforward yet unpretentious manner. At the opening press conference, artist Feng Shaofeng performed live. In his speech, Feng Shaofeng mentioned that when he was a child, he and his family went to second-hand clothing factories to pick up clothes to wear. On this day, he also wore a handmade denim lapel jacket designed by Story Wear for the exhibition, calling on the public to pay attention to the problem of chemical pollution that may exist on the fabric. The jacket worn by Feng Shaofeng is made of laser denim patchwork jeans. The raw materials are all recycled fabrics or factory leftovers, and it is 100% handmade. There is a product "ID card" on the inside of the jacket, which records the identity of the producer and the production process, and strives to be open and transparent. Artist Feng Shaofeng

The Ministry of Environment (MOE) plans to implement the draft carbon trading regulations for domestic carbon credits in the first half of the year. At a public hearing on the 8th, industry insiders argued that the MOE's 5% handling fee per transaction was too high. The Climate Agency stated that the carbon trading fee is not a standard fee, reflecting the industry's responsibility to reduce carbon emissions and not comparable to a financial product. To prevent speculation, the draft does not allow for the resale of carbon credits, and each credit can only be traded once. Industry insiders complain that the 5% carbon trading fee is too high. The Climate Agency stated that it is not a standard fee. In December 2023, the MOE released the draft "Measures for the Auction and Transfer of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Credits" (referred to as the Carbon Trading Regulations). A public hearing on the 8th invited representatives from government agencies, civil society groups, and industry to discuss the matter. Deputy Director of the Climate Agency, Huang Weiming, stated that the regulations will be implemented in the first half of this year. The draft stipulates three trading methods for domestic carbon credits: fixed-price trading, negotiated trading, and auctioning. Regardless of the trading method, the MOE will charge the buyer a 5% handling fee. A representative of the China Petrochemical Corporation pointed out that the general securities transaction fees are usually below 1%, and the carbon trading fees are too high; the Iron and Steel Association believes that "agreement transactions" do not use the carbon trading platform at all, and charging a 5% fee is unreasonable. Huang Weiming, deputy director of the Climate Agency, said that carbon trading fees are not general fees or platform service fees, and should not be understood from the perspective of financial products. Huang Weiming added in an interview that businesses purchasing carbon rights to offset emissions are not actually fulfilling their reduction obligations. Foreign countries usually use fees to impose additional responsibilities on businesses and contribute to national carbon reduction funds; using the carbon trading system

The Agency of Energy (ANE) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs officially announced the 2024 renewable energy bulk purchase rates on the 5th. Most renewable energy rates remain the same or see a slight increase compared to last year, with only the solar photovoltaic category experiencing a rate reduction. Furthermore, the ANE has added a minimum rooftop photovoltaic capacity of less than 10 kilowatts to encourage the development of micro-rooftop photovoltaics. Compared to last year, only the solar photovoltaic category saw a slight overall decrease in renewable energy bulk purchase rates. Most other renewable energy categories remained the same, with slight increases for geothermal and biomass power generation. The first phase of the solar photovoltaic bulk purchase rate ranges from NT$3.7635 to NT$5.7848 per kilowatt-hour, while the second phase will range from NT$3.7236 to NT$5.7055 per kilowatt-hour. Among them, in order to encourage citizen power plants and micro, small and medium-sized households to install solar photovoltaics on their rooftops, the Energy Agency will further subdivide rooftop solar photovoltaics below 100 kW into four levels, namely below 10 kW, 10-20 kW, 20-50 kW, and 50-100 kW. Based on the approximately 30 pings of an average household rooftop, the most suitable installation capacity is 10 kW. Zheng Taijun, a researcher at the Earth Citizen Foundation, said that he affirmed the addition of micro-rooftop photovoltaic levels. Although the rates are still not high enough, the clear division of levels is an incentive to attract more small households to implement them, and bulk purchase subsidies can also be more convincing to builders. Zheng Taijun called for the mandatory area threshold of the rooftop photovoltaic law to be lowered to 90 pings (equivalent to approximately 15 kW) in conjunction with the bulk purchase levels, and for citizens' energy education to be strengthened at the same time, so as to further popularize rooftop photovoltaics. In order to encourage citizens to

Do you feel helpless when stuck in traffic and wish your car could fly? The flying vehicles in science fiction movies are about to become a reality. Germany's Volocopter is going to launch air taxis at the Paris Olympics in July despite all difficulties. The new generation prototypes of Hyundai Group and Airbus of South Korea were unveiled at the beginning of this year. The dream of air taxis is not far away, but consumers want to know how much a ride will cost? Airbus prototype debuts Electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) are on the rise, and aircraft manufacturers, car manufacturers, and start-ups have invested in them. The prototype of the eVTOL "CityAirbus NextGen" developed by Airbus debuted yesterday (7) and announced that it will test fly this year. Airbus's CityAirbus NextGen will debut in March 2024. Airbus launched CityAirbus in 2019. The new generation CityAirbus is an all-electric aircraft that can carry four people, has a range of 80 kilometers, and can fly at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour. It emphasizes low noise and is an eVTOL designed specifically for the transportation needs of large cities. The Associated Press reported that Eve Air Mobility, a subsidiary of Embraer, the world's third-largest aircraft manufacturer, is also developing an eVTOL, which is expected to be launched in 2026 and will be able to carry four to six passengers. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing completed the test flight of the "PAV" prototype in 2019, but the plan was interrupted. Boeing will launch the eVTOL in 2023.

The first trial reporting period for the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) ends at the end of February 2024. According to the Financial Times, the European Commission provided statistics on initial reporting, showing that China reported more than twice as many carbon-intensive products as any other country. Taiwan also ranked in the top five, slightly surpassing India. Why? The CBAM began its pilot program in October 2023. Originally scheduled for January 2024, the EU delayed the initial carbon data collection by 30 days due to technical issues, completing it at the end of last month. However, due to the initial reporting period, issues such as difficulty logging into the system and a generally low reporting completion rate were noted, pending further adjustments by the CBAM implementing agency. With the implementation of the CBAM, EU importers submitted their first reporting period for products in the fourth quarter of 2023. According to reporting data obtained by the Financial Times through interviews with the European Commission, Taiwan ranked in the top five for carbon-intensive products, slightly surpassing India. Of the 13,000 reports submitted by EU manufacturers, approximately 5,000 entries indicated Taiwan as the source. Unsurprisingly, China leads the way in exports of carbon-intensive products, with approximately 25,000 items. The United States follows closely behind with approximately 10,000 items, more than half the number of items China exports. The United Kingdom, Turkey, Taiwan, and India all report between 5,000 and 10,000 items. South Korea and Japan report far fewer than 5,000 items. Looking at the export value of each of the six industries covered by CBAM to the EU, China also leads, followed by Turkey, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, India, and South Korea.

New Zealand-based CarbonScape converts waste wood chips into synthetic graphite for use in electric vehicle batteries. The material, manufactured in the EU and the US, could reduce reliance on Chinese graphite supplies. The company creates "biographite" by heating forestry byproducts using a process called thermal catalytic graphitization. This produces charcoal that can be catalyzed and purified into battery anode-quality graphite. The startup says its alternative graphite is a more sustainable option that could help Europe reduce its reliance on Chinese lithium-ion batteries. What is biographite and why is it important? Currently, the graphite crucial for making electric vehicle batteries comes from mined natural graphite or synthetic graphite extracted from petroleum products. According to CEO Ivan Williams, CarbonScape's biographite is friendlier to the planet. “The production of ‘traditional’ synthetic graphite uses fossil fuel-based feedstocks, such as coal tar pitch and petroleum coke, and fossil fuel-driven processes,” the CEO said. “As a result, every ton of graphite produced emits 35 tons of CO2e.” Naturally mined graphite takes a heavy toll on communities, animals, and the environment, with the extraction and production processes required to produce 1 ton of anode-grade graphite from this raw material leaving a 15-ton carbon footprint. In contrast, biographite is made from forestry byproducts, such as wood chips. “Utilizing these widely available sustainable feedstocks allows our products to capture carbon that would otherwise be wasted,” said Williams.

The 2024 Paris Olympics will officially begin on July 26th. To reduce the carbon footprint of this world's largest sporting event, nearly 11,000 seats in the spectator seating at two venues, including those for aquatics events, will be made entirely from recycled plastic from trash, promoting and practicing sustainable environmental practices. To reduce the carbon footprint of the Paris Olympics, a French startup founded in 2018 partnered with an eco-friendly construction and recycling company to transform 100 tons of recycled waste plastic into 11,000 seats. The goal is to make the 2024 Paris Olympics a green olympics. Benjamin Saint-Mard, business director of a French startup, explained, "We have more than 50 recycling companies that we cooperate with. They come to recycle plastics, collect the recyclables packed in yellow recycling bins, and then sort them into different types of plastics. After we get the various forms of plastic, especially those that will be incinerated or landfilled, they are our raw materials." These recycled plastics will be cleaned, crushed into particles, and then sorted. They can be made into high-density and hard panels using heat compression technology, and then made into various types of furniture, including spectator seats for the Paris Olympics. These 11,000 spectator seats made of recycled plastic were installed in the Adidas Arena, where badminton and rhythmic gymnastics events will be held, and in the Paris Olympic Aquatics Center, where diving, water ballet, water polo and other events will be held. Benjamin said, "I

To achieve the 2050 net-zero transition goal and effectively promote a zero-carbon energy system, the international community has recently placed increasing emphasis on the development of electric vehicles. Governments around the world have also stepped up subsidies for the electric vehicle market and provided related tax incentives. The United States even pledged to increase subsidies for electric vehicles through the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in August 2022, a move that has led to a rapid increase in demand for electric vehicles in the United States. However, amid the booming popularity of electric vehicles, firefighters around the world have noticed that electric vehicle fires are not only difficult to extinguish, but firefighters often require significantly more water than conventional gasoline vehicles to contain them. Effectively extinguishing fires caused by electric vehicles appears to be a growing concern for firefighters. Canadian news channel CTV News noted that firefighters require an average of 40 times more water than conventional gasoline vehicles to extinguish electric vehicle fires, with each fire requiring up to 40,000 gallons (approximately 151,400 liters). Fire trucks are often unable to carry such a large volume of water. Without adequate water sources or fire hydrants, electric vehicles can burn for days. "Electric vehicle fires in areas with limited firefighting equipment are definitely a challenge for us, which is why fire departments are now developing new technologies to combat electric vehicle fires," said the fire chief and head of Perth County, Ontario, Canada.

Just after Valentine's Day, TikTok reveals what young Americans are most interested in. At 4 a.m., crowds began gathering outside Target. As soon as store hours arrived, the crowds poured in, and within 20 seconds, the shelves were completely empty. These were Stanley's "Valentine's Day Message" mugs, a collaboration between Starbucks and the company. Videos of the frenzied rush for Stanley's new mugs went viral on American social media, with some stores even experiencing physical altercations. CBS, Fox, and local TV stations reported on the event, with a New York Times reporter advising everyone to wear a hard hat next time they enter a Target. Sustainable mugs have become both a fashion accessory and a collectible. Stanley, a long-standing American mug brand, has long been known for its durability. A mug in hand exudes a "tough guy" vibe, making it a favorite among outdoor adventurers. However, Stanley has undergone a significant shift in style in recent years, transforming its mugs into a social media favorite and a fashionable accessory for young people. With its stainless steel body, simple handle, and colorful designs, the Stanley Adventure Series Quencher mug is a staple for TikTok users. Some people display hundreds of unused mugs; others display their daily outfits in the same color scheme as their mugs. Last November, a woman filmed her car on fire, charred black, while the Stanley thermos in the front seat remained intact, with ice still inside. The video has garnered 95 million views on TikTok, adding to its legendary appeal. Even Stanley has become a household name.

Minister of Environment Xue Fusheng said today (20) that a carbon fee review committee will be formed at the end of this month, with a total of 21 members, including six representatives of civic groups, and a draft carbon fee rate will be launched at the end of March. He revealed that if businesses adopt the SBTi EU carbon reduction standards in the future, it is not ruled out that they can enjoy a "very, very large" discount rate of more than half, which will be quite attractive to the industry. Taiwan's major carbon emitters will pay carbon fees starting next year (2025), and the draft rates and preferential measures have not yet been made public. The Ministry of Environment held a media dinner this afternoon. Xue Fusheng said in a joint interview with the media that the Ministry of Environment is currently selecting members for the "Carbon Fee Review Committee". The total number of members is 21, including six representatives of civic groups. Xue Fusheng said that the balance of private roles will be considered and public associations will be invited to join the discussion. "It should not be limited to only environmental groups." The members of the review committee will be selected at the end of February and two review meetings will be held. The draft carbon fee rate and preferential rates will be launched at the end of March and announced after a two-month discussion period. Regarding the controversy over the "25,000 tons exemption" in the "Carbon Fee Designated Reduction Target and Voluntary Reduction Plan Review Method" (hereinafter referred to as the Preferential Rate Draft), Xue Fusheng said that the original intention was to avoid the unfair situation of "24,900 tons not having to pay and 25,100 tons having to pay in full". The Ministry of Environment believes that this is very reasonable and has been agreed by the majority. When asked about the objections of civil groups, he changed the subject and said, "This part (draft) has not been finalized yet and is only in the stage of collecting opinions." Xue Fusheng further explained that if the industry adopts the preferential rate draft,