5. FedEx makes CO2 pledge and stakes Yale center
Package giant FedEx this morning said it hopes to become carbon-neutral across operations by 2040 and pledged $2 billion of "initial investments" toward the goal.
Why it matters: Flying and driving heavy stuff all over the place — FedEx says it's the world's largest cargo airline — has a substantial carbon footprint.
Amazon, which overlaps with FedEx in some ways, announced a target of net-zero by 2040 in 2019.
How it works: FedEx said one focus will be electric vehicles.
It hopes to have its parcel pickup and delivery fleet fully electrified by 2040, with interim goals like making 50% of new vehicle purchases electric by 2025.
Elsewhere, it's emphasizing less polluting aviation fuels, more efficient planes, making its thousands of buildings more efficient and buying more renewable power.
The intrigue: FedEx is also looking to expand the use of natural carbon sequestration systems.
It's giving Yale University $100 million to launch the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture that the school unveiled this morning.
The center aims to "develop interventions that enhance the Earth’s abilities to store carbon and other methods that model natural processes," the announcement states.
How it works: Natural carbon sequestration means a lot of things. The announcement notes areas like...
Increasing CO2 update via practices like protecting growing new forests, more efficient photosynthesis, soil and farm management techniques, boosting earth's natural CO2 absorption in rock formations, and more.