Blue & Green Daily: Friday 21 March headlines

Blue & Green Daily finds and summarises the top sustainability stories around the web every morning. We start with our own picks from Blue & Green Tomorrow.

Bringing social investment into the mainstream

‘Happiness and wellbeing’ should be our top priority, not economic growth

Osborne is fiddling while the Earth burns: ‘extracting every drop of oil we can’

City firms to tackle air pollution in London’s Square Mile

EU leaders to set October deadline for 2030 climate goals

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21 March headlines

Green deal plans ‘reduce to a trickle’

The UK government’s flagship home energy efficiency programme, the green deal, has all but ground to a halt, with just 33 plans signed in February. The latest figures for the policy, once vaunted  as the biggest home retrofit since the war aimed at cutting energy bills for 14 million homes, are by far the worst since the scheme began. Guardian.

Banks would take big hit, stress tests find

Federal Reserve stress tests on the biggest US banks found that Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs would suffer massive losses in a financial crisis, threatening their ability to return capital to shareholders. Financial Times.

Tidal lagoon power ‘cheaper than wind’

Three tidal lagoons could be in operation around Britain by 2021 producing large-scale low carbon power at a cheaper price than offshore wind, according to their developer, Tidal Lagoon Power. This month, plans for the world’s first tidal lagoon power plan in Swansea Bay were accepted. Guardian.

Friends of the Earth call for island energy investment

Environmental charity Friends of the Earth has called for the Isle of Man government to invest in renewable energy. The charity said the island has the perfect opportunity to become a “shining beacon to the world”. The government said there were currently no plans to invest in renewable energy although it has a carbon reduction target of 80% by 2050. BBC.

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Interesting picks

A remarkably accurate global warming prediction, made in 1972 – Guardian

Linking storms to climate change a ‘distraction’, says experts – University of Manchester

Is Ireland throwing in the towel on climate change? – Irish Times

How to change minds about climate change: Bloomberg opinion – The Oregonian

Ladders on Everest are just the latest step in our commodification of nature – Guardian