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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...

Reducing the carbon footprint of websites and IT systems is the latest initiative of content management system company Umbraco. The company, the largest open-source .Net CMS in the world, is supported by more than 250,000 software contributors, implemented by 1,500 digital agency partners and used to develop more than a million websites. It is among the top three CMS platforms used by UK local authorities. As such, the company is committed to leading positive net zero change in the CMS industry. The Umbraco Impact Report 2022 details how the company...

The $100bn per annum problem of plastic pollution shows no sign of abatement but proven policy approaches in the EU, Japan and Chile can serve as a starting point for countries seeking to curb plastic pollution as well as providing a baseline for the upcoming plastics treaty negotiations. Efforts to tackle plastic pollution are still highly uncoordinated, hampered by data gaps and focused on downstream solutions, including clean-ups which consume significant resources that would be better invested in proven policy solutions, waste management, and recycling infrastructure, finds a paper by...

The EU has doubled the number of firefighting resources across Europe in preparation for expected extreme summer heatwaves. The rescEU firefighting aircraft reserve includes 24 airplanes and 4 helicopters from 10 Member States. In addition, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia will be sending almost 450 firefighters to be pre-positioned in France, Greece, and Portugal. Following the calls from EU Ministers and the European Parliament, in 2022 the Commission developed also a Wildfire Prevention Action Plan. This action plan aims to improve administrative capacity; improve knowledge; and increase...

A new range of financial instruments is needed to pay for annual cost of nature restoration in Southeast Asia, a new report says. Well structured capital market instruments – including sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) – can play a role in scaling up investments in nature restoration projects in Southeast Asia, a new report from Imperial College Business School finds. Recent extreme temperatures in the region demonstrate the ongoing climate and nature crisis in Southeast Asia. The report is published at a time of both ecological and economic uncertainty for the region,...

Environmental risk impacts all industries that rely on a supply chain and risk is now a key driver of green finance and regulation with volatile climate conditions and complex just-in-time supply chain operations increasing the vulnerability of companies to disruption. Increasing supply chain resilience is now a top strategic priority as raw materials, products, services, transport and food production can all be disrupted by the increasing effects of climate change. There are a range of sector-related risk impacts but all involve business continuity interruption related to extreme environmental events. Problems...

The UK Government’s new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is set to have major impact on businesses. The new regulation aims to support industrial decarbonisation without disproportionately harming domestic firms but it will also impact costs, supply chains and reporting requirements. In March, the UK Government’s new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero launched a consultation to explore new climate policies that could have significant implications for businesses importing or exporting to the UK. These measures will seek to address carbon leakage, which occurs when companies shift their business abroad to...

Wales has the highest uptake of small-scale renewable installations in homes and businesses across the UK. Scotland has previously held the top spot as the UK nation with the highest proportion of installations per household. As Welsh homeowners continue to invest heavily in greener energy they have overtaken Scotland in the league tables for the first time since 2021, according to latest data from MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme). Scotland has roughly double the number of households as Wales, so although Wales has a smaller total installation count, there are more...

An upgraded power grid will enable installation of heat pumps and EV chargers and also fuel investment and business growth. But network companies will need to make significant investments to transition to low-marginal cost renewables, a move that will enable electrification of heat and transport and see a fall in long-term network costs per unit of energy delivered.  That’s according to a new report, ‘Building an Electricity Network for Net Zero’, that evaluates existing initiatives from the UK Government, OFGEM and network operators to develop grid capacity and ease access to...