Net zero farming now has a new standard method to cover land-related carbon emissions and removals. Net zero farming targets are vital as land-intensive sectors such as food, agriculture and forestry represent nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of global greenhouse gas emissions, the largest emitter after energy. The new Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) Science Based Target Setting Guidance provides businesses in land-intensive sectors with a method to tackle the impact of climate change in key areas that have not been addressed before. The framework has a whole sector approach covering everything...

Climate change has seen 55 vulnerable nations lose one fifth of their wealth over the last twenty years as a result of the costs of climate impacts. Climate change continues to impact countries worldwide while wealthy nations still have not delivered on their promise to deliver $100bn a year in climate finance. The increasing costs of climate impacts along with the issue of a ‘finance facility’ to support developing nations afford losses and damage caused by climate impacts will be central to negotiations – and trust – at COP27 due to...

Indigenous representation is essential in moving world leaders to take immediate action on climate change and the Cultural Survival delegation is joining the Indigenous Peoples’ Caucus and other Indigenous and allied leaders in pushing policymakers for urgent and holistic responses to climate chaos. Cultural Survival is calling for proactive efforts to centre, resource, and respect Indigenous rights, leadership, and stewardship must be prioritised in all layers of decision-making as we engage to combat climate change. To ensure Indigenous Peoples’ rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled in the Just Transition to...

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...

The European Banking Authority has warned of widespread greenwashing in financial services with banks overstating sustainability efforts. As the race to net zero accelerates, the greenwashing in banks’ climate credentials is leading to calls for greater accountability for FS firms’ environmental policies. Steve Round, co-founder of SaaScada, argues that banks can no longer cherry-pick their sustainability credentials – they must build the foundations for comprehensive ESG reporting. Round is an expert in sustainable banking as the Chair of the Governing Board Forum of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values – a network...

Carbon dioxide levels are now more than 50 per cent higher than they were before the onset of the industrial era, scientists say. Carbon dioxide levels measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory peaked at 424 parts per million in May, continuing a steady climb further into territory not seen for millions of years, say scientists from NOAA and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.  Measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) obtained by NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory averaged 424.0 parts per million (ppm) in May, the month when...