The John Lewis Partnership has launched a £1 million fund to be administered by environmental charity Hubbub that will provide grants of up to £300,000 for innovative projects that can help deliver a circular economy, reports Business Green. The Circular Future Fund is open to charities, start-ups, academic bodies, social enterprises, and Community Interest Companies working on schemes that rethink waste streams, shift consumer mindsets, or develop new business models that can enable circular resource flows. Full story here

Can you fix Smogtown? A new online game from Bloomberg CityLab asks players to take on the role of mayor of the fictitious city and bring carbon emissions to zero within eight years. “Just how hard is it for an elected official to get to net zero, and at what cost? What steps truly make an impact? Will you go down in history as the most popular carbon-neutral leader of all time, or will you choke on a cloud of smog?” Play the game here

The UN Environment Programme’s Resilience podcast series “brings you inspiring stories from people all over the world who are adapting to climate change in practical, creative and innovative ways. Each episode explores a different theme in building climate resilience - from cities to coasts and small islands, nature-based solutions, recovering from the Covid pandemic, and the race for climate-proof food.” The complete series is available here

If you’d like to catch up on the side events happening at COP26, the EU’s Climate Action YouTube channel has gathered together recordings into a playlist organised by topic. See them all here

Design Week looks at the clichés of sustainable product branding and how to avoid them, including using humour: “You can put a very sad orangutan on the product. Or you can do it with a smile and a wink.” Story here

The Guardian reports that the New South Wales government announced this week it would move to ban ‘dark roofs’ as part of environmental planning rules to help the state achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Mandating the use of light-coloured roofing materials or materials which reflect solar energy, could reduce inside temperatures considerably and reduce the so-called ‘urban heat island effect’ in Sydney. Story here

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