BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
The time has come to revisit REDD+ — the UN initiative that attempts to create financial value for the carbon locked in forests — to ensure that it is truly delivering on the momentum from Paris 2015.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The Spring 2016 proxy votes supporting the 2°C stress test resolutions at last week’s Annual General Meetings of ExxonMobil (38.2%) and Chevron (41%) give cause for both celebration - and concern. These votes suggest that key asset managers are recognizing (and others seem to be willfully ignoring) climate risk inherent in the business-as-usual practices of the largest U.S. oil and gas corporations and their downstream value chains.
COLLABORATION -
More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities and this is expected to reach 66 percent by 2050, according to the United Nations, when 2.5 billion people will be added to urban populations — with close to 90 percent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa.
In the fight against climate change, cities represent the greatest challenge and opportunity — while they generate a vast majority (70 percent) of global greenhouse gas emissions, those who live in them actually have smaller carbon footprints than the national averages.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Josh Fox’s latest documentary opens with Fox dancing to The Beatles to celebrate a victory over the gas industry following the production of his startling previous release, Gasland. The new film, entitled How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change, is a journey across 12 countries on 6 continents that highlights the communities that are fighting back against fossil fuel extraction.
CLEANTECH -
As the legal briefings pile up over the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), I’m inspired by the growing number of companies and business organizations standing up for the most significant step in U.S. history toward reducing climate pollution.
The bar continues to rise for companies that want to lead on sustainability, and it’s great to see companies aligning their corporate sustainability strategy and policy advocacy. Today’s corporate-led amicus briefs in support of the Clean Power Plan and smart climate policy are the latest example.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Duke Energy, PG&E, National Grid and TransCanada Pipelines are among the 41 energy companies that have accepted a challenge from the EPA to reduce their methane emissions.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Diamonds may be forever, but they soon could change the way we power electronics by cutting e-waste, conserving water and fighting climate change.
Today, semiconductors usually are made of silicon, which, when disposed of as e-waste, poisons children, pollutes water and releases substances like lead and methane into the jetstream.
CLEANTECH -
When you look through a sustainability lens at Cisco’s supply chain, you see three things clearly: a focus on climate and carbon impacts, a deep concern for the protection of human rights, and an imperative around product take-back opportunities. Cisco’s approach to a responsible supply chain is structured around this impact framework.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
This week, two major banks made changes to their policies regarding coal financing. The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) acknowledged their progress, but asserted that a great deal more must be done to meet the global commitment made at COP21 in December to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
LEADERSHIP -
Across corporate America, there is broad support for action on climate change. Leading businesses and executives vocally supported President Obama on the Paris Agreement. Many companies have committed themselves to getting onto a sustainable path, and many are pushing their commitment out through their supply chains. This is good, and it’s important.But it makes us in Congress feel a little left out. The corporate lobbying presence in Congress is immense. But in my experience, exactly zero of it is dedicated to lobbying for a good, bipartisan climate bill.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Climate change is threatening Sweden’s highest peak. The glacier atop Mount Kebnekaise, the country’s tallest mountain, has been shrinking by an average of a meter a year for the past 15 years due to rising temperatures. As a symbolic gesture, artists Mats Bigert and Lars Bergström installed a reflective blanket to keep the mountain top's snow a little colder and prevent it from melting.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
The largest ever study of climate data from suppliers and their corporate customers, the CDP’s Global Supply Chain Report 2016, found that less than half of suppliers have set a target to reduce their emissions and only one third have lowered their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the past reporting year. What’s worse though, is that half of the suppliers that were asked for information failed to respond at all.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Whether the presidential candidates pay attention to it or not, climate change is a looming threat. Failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation was considered to be the greatest global risk in the World Economic Forum’s newly-released 2016 Global Risks Report. Luckily, researchers are making progress on mitigation and adaptation solutions to combat the changing temperatures, thanks to beetles and adaptive building materials.
NEW METRICS -
The industrial economy is geared towards maximization of wealth. This target has led towards substantial, even amazing, economic growth during the last two centuries. Yet, at the same time this growth has introduced new risks and has caused severe threats and actual damages to the environment and to the social framework.Some risks are environmental: Global climate change; loss of diversity that decreases resilience; damage to delicate food chains; and land, air and water pollution. Others are societal, such as employment security, growing inequality in income and wealth, pressures related to rapid urbanization, and demographic changes that threaten retirement system.
STAKEHOLDER TRENDS AND INSIGHTS -
For the first time, an environmental risk has topped the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Risks Report ranking, with the greatest potential impact since the report was published in 2006.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
More than 60 environmental leaders and organizations have signed The Carbon Levy Project declaration, calling for a tax on fossil fuel extraction that would help pay for damages caused by climate change. The declaration states that fossil fuel companies are accountable for around 70 percent of present day global warming and should be held accountable for the resulting costs to the countries most affected. Signatories include author Naomi Klein, 350.org’s Bill McKibben, and Greenpeace’s Kumi Naidoo.
CLEANTECH -
Earlier this month, 195 nations reached a landmark agreement at COP21 in Paris to fight climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low-carbon, resilient and sustainable future.
COLLABORATION -
As evidenced by the unprecedented private-sector engagement in COP21 earlier this month, businesses globally get that they need to innovate (and improve!) their products, services and business models to combat climate change, resource scarcity and unpredictable futures. Aside from the alignment of 195 nations on a climate-action agreement, what did all the talk at COP21 amount to from a business perspective? A lot of initiatives that push forward change and collaboration. But is it all smoke and mirrors, and toothless pledges, or is there real action brewing?
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
The Conference of the Parties … COP21 … the climate conference … or just “Paris,” as in “What’s going to happen in Paris?”
NEW METRICS -
The Science-Based Targets initiative announced Tuesday that 114 companies have now committed to set emissions-reduction targets in line with what scientists say is necessary to keep global warming below the dangerous threshold of 2 degrees Celsius. The announcement was made at the LPAA Business focus event hosted by Caring for Climate at COP21 in Paris.