archiveJune 10, 2023

COP27 promised to make world leaders progress from setting net zero goals to implementing them. Have they lived up to their promise, and what has COP27 achieved since the event six-months ago? Some of the key discussions and decisions made over the two-week climate conference included a new funding arrangement for the loss and damage for some of the most affected and often vulnerable nations, Tom McLeish, TEAM Energy’s energy consultant, explains. “The UK government announced that it would invest £65 million to speed up the development of new green...

Yorkshire Water has incorporated biodiversity net gain as collaboration between finance, sustainability and asset management. The biodiversity net gain initiative, as part of the company’s decision-making framework, has the capability to inform decisions across the whole asset management portfolio so that optimal decisions to manage risk and deliver affordable services can be made. The UK Environment Act 2021 introduced more prescriptive requirements for biodiversity net gain which impact capital delivery programmes. The requirements include: Securing a minimum ten per cent gain, calculated using a defined biodiversity metric; Protecting biodiversity net...

Climate change adaptation is one six core objectives of the EU Taxonomy regulation that is set to change the way business and industry operates. The new regulation is aimed at altering behaviour, systems and ways of life to protect the environment from the impacts of climate change caused by human activity. What is business and industry doing to adapt their commercial activities, operations and objectives to comply with the new EU taxonomy? And if it hasn’t already started, what can a company do to make the required adaptations? The EU taxonomy,...

Chief financial officers (CFOs) say sustainability is now a key part of their role and it is an important driver of business growth. New research finds that over half of UK CFOs surveyed believe sustainability is very important to their role while 44 per cent see the finance department as the most important business function in driving sustainability. The research also finds that overhead costs, financial risk and complex renewable technologies are the main barriers to sustainability investment with the top reasons for delayed decisions being lack of cost-effective renewables;...

Corporate sustainability is growing in importance, day by day. Businesses are regularly being called out for greenwashing and consumers increasingly want to only associate themselves with companies that take sustainability seriously, so the need for senior leadership teams and the C-suite to consider environmental footprints has substantially grown. But, of course, businesses are struggling. Although 90 per cent of business leaders think sustainability is important, only 60% of companies have a sustainability strategy. With the world already on the road to net zero, some businesses have begun hiring sustainability managers...