The Business & Climate Monthly Newsletter (Feb 2023)

Our round up of this month's HOT NEWS on business, sustainability, carbon and climate over the last month

1. Financial firms to be tested for greenwash

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the conduct regulator for financial services firms and financial markets in the UK, has informed asset managers that they will be testing the ESG and sustainable investing claims made in their communications with investors. We say - ABOUT TIME! Read the full article here ESG Today 

2. Less than 1% of large firms have credible climate plans

Perhaps no surprise in CDP’s announcement that less than 1% of 18,600 disclosing companies have credible climate transition plans - but it is still alarming. Potentially just a gap in disclosure, but more likely a symptom of too many PR statements and public commitments, and not enough action with value chains and business model innovation to really drive us towards a decarbonised future. Read more here. 

3. EC green deal industrial plan announced 

The European Commission launched its Green Deal Industrial Plan in February. It is aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of Europe’s Net Zero industries and supporting the EU’s transition to climate neutrality. The plan focuses on creating a simpler regulatory framework to facilitate Net Zero industries, upskilling the European workforce for the green transition, accelerating access to investment and financing, and enhancing global trade cooperation for cleantech and raw materials. Great news! Read more here.

4. Oil majors see unprecedented profits and step back from renewables investments...

Lots of news in February of the oil majors making enormous profits, for example Shell’s $40 billion profit announcement. BP announcing it is backing off from its (relatively humble) renewables activities to double down in the highly profitable Fossil fuel investments. Read more here.

5. ...which leads us to Shell's directors being sued over their climate strategy 

The lawsuit was filed against the 11 directors by environmental lawyers, ClientEarth. It's time for corporate leaders to be held accountable for failing to properly prepare their company for the Net Zero transition. “Shell may be making record profits now, but the writing is on the wall for fossil fuels long term,” said ClientEarth lawyer Paul Benson. “The shift to a low-carbon economy is not just inevitable, it’s already happening. Yet the board is persisting with a transition strategy that is fundamentally flawed, despite the board’s legal duty to manage those risks." More here. 

6. Conscious quitting growing symptom for businesses without values 

A UK and US wide survey on 'conscious quitting' demonstrated whereby employees are willing to walk away from businesses that don't embody strong values. The survey found that the majority (68%) of UK employees aren’t currently satisfied with business efforts to improve environmental impacts and societal wellbeing. Read more here.

Quote of the month

From Paul Polman, former Unilever CEO, commenting on conscious quitting: 

“Forget quiet quitting, we are entering an era of conscious quitting. And the problem with most of the advice being offered to C-Suites on attracting and retaining talent is that it misses the full picture of what employees want and need. Don’t get me wrong: the numerous studies telling us that people want better pay, more flexibility and greater well-being are absolutely right. But, to be candid, shouldn’t this be rather obvious to senior leaders? And what about the fact that, on top of money and flexibility, many people also crave jobs that offer fulfilment, in companies which are trying to fix the world’s problems, rather than create them."

Jargon busters

We're jargon busting to make sure climate impact is accessible and as simple as possible, one topic at a time.

What are Scopes 1, 2 & 3?

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard classifies a company’s greenhouse gas emissions into three ‘scopes’ or areas:

• Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. For many SMEs, this is gas consumed in offices for space heating. For others, it includes other fuels used on site and by vehicles directly operated by the organisation (e.g. for delivery companies).
• Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. For most SMEs, this is simply electricity consumed in offices.
• Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions (not included in scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. For your organisation, this might include employee commuting and working from home, business travel, agencies and professional services used, analytics and data, and anything else you spend time or money doing.

Read more here.

ZeroBees News

Freemium now live!

Want to test-drive the ZeroBees carbon platform for free, and get your Scope 1 and 2 results today?

We've released a free version of our platform to help everyone get started with their climate journey. 

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Partner spotlight

We love what MotherTree are doing for individuals - with their Green Living Service, making it easy for us as individuals to go green and save money. Check them out here.

That's all for this month! Do let us know any feedback, topics you'd like us to cover or visit us at ZeroBees.com