The healthcare industry's social responsibility goes beyond just workplace and supply chain issues; it's about its impact on society and what its real goals are. Trials and prevention efforts often overlook certain groups. Politics and money regularly determine who gets treated, in function of political agendas in some jurisdictions. And: Using the GDP to measure health isn't necessarily helpful as it incentives fixing problems rather then preventing them early on.
JoinedJanuary 28, 2020
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Governments as well as legal persons such as companies are undoubtedly important players in this whole societal shift towards climate mitigation and adaption. When it comes to corporates though, and notably stock quoted companies, there is a group of people that is most prominently exposed in regards to the legality and societal ‘license to operate’ of a company: the Board of Directors (BoD). The question hence for this blog post is: How is this climate litigation business shaping up to affect the Board of Directors of publicly listed companies?
Governments are undoubtedly important players in this whole societal shift towards climate mitigation and adaption. Equally important though, and by the argument of some possibly even more important: companies, the corporate world.
The largest number of cases on a global level are brought forward against governments. But about a forth of all cases are filed against corporations. This is not negligible - and, maybe more importantly, a number on a brisk raising trajectory.
The question hence for this blog post is: How is this climate litigation business shaping up to affect corporate players?
After some results at the COP in Vancouver, as well as efforts by the TNFD (Task Force for nature-based financial disclosure) – we finally (!) got the first ever Science -Based Targets for Nature (SBTN).
It is a first release, however. So the question obviously is, how do these targets address the 5 key drivers of biodiversity erosion? Are the SBTNs worth their salt?
This manual was originally drafted when I was astonished by the way how ‘doublespeak’ is being used in organisations to prevent change. Any change. Including – but not limited to – sustainability related ones.
It is a cynic-sarcastic-semi-realistic manual on how to be reasonably successful in disempowering an organisation. It is applicable to all areas that encompass change including innovation, sustainability, internationalisation, digitalisation and so forth.
Large companies and institutional players are challenged to assess and calculate their carbon footprint. But they typically have the means to hire experts – in-house or consultants – and buy licenses of useful tools.This applies similarly to larger-sized SMEs. But what about distinctly small companies or indeed even individuals? How can they get a guesstimate on their carbon footprint, and possibly even some pointers how to do better going forward? Hence, here a short list of such calculators, both for individuals as well as for small companies.
Overconsumption or ‘simply’ consumption?
Fair resource use, or resource depletion?
Fair share, equal share or acquired share of resources?
Those are questions that pop up when the Planetary Boundaries are being discussed.
“Is Europe living within the limits of our planet?: An assessment of Europe's environmental footprints in relation to planetary boundaries”, published in April 2020 does exactly that: it evaluates and calculates the European performance for planetary boundaries by taking a consumption-based (footprint-based) perspective. This is turn is interesting as it relates environmental pressures to final demands for goods and services.
And the results are ... shall we say: a stark call to action.
COP28 yielded mixed results, featuring some historic 'firsts' such as a fossil fuel phase-out commitment, a $700 million loss and damage fund, the recognition of nuclear energy, and (this is huge!) a pointed spotlight on food systems' role in adaption.
Most of the old challenges though remain: It's all carrots and no sticks. Which shows in the continued absence of enforcement of Climate Targets or their stringency, and the eye-level conversation with Global South nations.
After some results at the COP in Vancouver, as well as the release of the first ever Science -Based Targets for Nature (SBTN) – finally (!) the recommendations by the TNFD (Task Force for nature-based financial disclosure) have been released. So the question obviously is, how do these targets address the 5 key drivers of biodiversity erosion eventhough it is only about reporting? Are the TNDF recommendations worth their salt?
Litigation, going to court, is by definition not a fun business. And yet, in this 2023 several Climate Litigation cases have already caught the headline – and many more are in the makes.
Among all the court cases, one particular case sticks out like – depending on the political viewpoint – either a lighthouse of hope, or a sore thumb: Urgenda vs Government of the Netherlands.
In this blog post we dig deeper into this case:
Who was going to court against whom? And why exactly? How come the plaintiffs won? And: is this just a one off local phenomenon in the Netherlands?
More and more people call themselves 'sustainability experts'. Just -we do not need more of them. Instead we need people who are extremely good at what they do, apply their skill in a context to create change and that nourishes them for years to come. That's the Sweet Spot.
How did you find your 'Sweet Spot'? And how did you transition?
It’s that time of the year again when plans and aspirations are big, time capacity is scarce, budgets already set – and the old routine is just about to take over again.
It is also the time of the year where there is that untypical window of opportunity. THE window of opportunity one could argue: introduce a small change. Small enough not to be overly tough to uphold. But big enough that, if repeated times and over again, at the very least 365 times a year, starts to make a difference.
The journey starts with the first step. Here a few ideas.
As companies and countries around the world pursue net zero targets, one big question is: How do you ensure the carbon removal technologies we will need 20 to 30 years down the road are available, affordable and easily scaled?
S&P Global recently published a podcast mini-series on emerging climate technology.
The series not only introduces a range of much hyped about, CO2 saving or CO2 removing technology, but also looks at scaling, the truth of potential impact, and financial viability.It is for this reason that I would like to list the three episodes in this post – and invite everyone to spend the 3 x 20 minutes to wrap their head around these insights.
The “new normal’ everyone talks about. What is it supposed to look like? As with many things: being clear about what you do NOT want is easy to describe.
Explain and outline what it is that you really (really!) want, is considerably harder.
Here a try – my try - at exactly that.