Cool down, August

Welcome to the sixth edition of The Green Guild, Zero-Point Partners’ newsletter, where you get a quick rundown of how the earth is doing.

Your chance to contribute

This month, we are giving you an exclusive chance to facilitate climate research in Pakistan! Zero-Point Partners, along with GIZ Pakistan and the Pakistan Business Council, is conducting a Climate Change Readiness Survey to gauge the readiness of businesses based in Pakistan to tackle climate-related risks. You can access the survey here to let us know how your organization is contributing to climate action in the country.

August Round-up: How’s the Earth doing?

Your Local Dose of Climate Happenings

• Deaths, displacements and destruction: Pakistan floods return with a promise to exacerbate the damages of 2022. As the country reels from last year's floods, this year another round of floods has displaced over 100,000 people, especially in Punjab. Several hundred villages and thousands of acres of land were submerged when the Sutlej River burst its banks last Sunday. Monsoon rains prompted Indian authorities to release excess reservoir water into Sutlej which led to flooding downstream on the Pakistan side of the border.??
• Online climate services dashboard launched in Pakistan. Pakistan celebrated a significant milestone with the launch of the country's first Agricultural Production and Climate Dashboard developed by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC). The dashboard provides an integrated platform to aid evidence-based decision making and planning processes for actvities such as drought mitigation and management. The weather monitoring and forecast data supports agro-advisory services locally as well as nationally.

• Program launched to boost social ventures led by women in the country. Women-led social entrepreneurship received a significant boost this month when Jazz Pakistan and UNDP joined forces to launch the Women Initiative in Social Entrepreneurship (WISE). This program aims to promote social innovation led by women within Pakistan. Bootcamps for the program will be organized to provide essential business knowledge and skills for management of sustainable social enterprises to 400 female entrepreneurs across twelve cities.
• Twelve dialogue series focused on sustainable development within Pakistan launched by United Nations. The United Nations (UN) conducted its second dialogue to gain insight into sustainable development issues faced by local leaders outside the federal and provincial capitals. The twelve dialogues are organized in partnership with district authorities and will cater to 1,000 leaders across the country.?The first talk focused on accessibility of basic social services like water, hygiene and sanitation, education, youth skill enhancement, and inclusive governance. The second discussion was centered around food insecurity, youth employment and gender-based violence.
• Solar powered water station constructed in Sindh for flood victims by Qatar Charity. Sahar Chanhiyan, one of the villages in Sindh’s Sanghar district severely affected by last year's floods, has been chosen as a site for a solar-powered water station. The project, executed by Qatar Charity, is one of the organization's several water, sanitation and hygiene endeavors within Pakistan. The Sahar Chanhiyan project is expected to benefit around 1000 individuals.
• Report outlining opportunities for a sustainable energy sector for Pakistan published by Green Finance & Development Center. The Green Finance & Development Centre published a report discussing opportunities for accelerated coal phase-down and green energy expansion in Pakistan. The document analyzes the economic and political scenario of the nation to identify barriers, influences and drivers associated with the prospective phase out of coal along with the development of the renewable energy sector.

Your Global Dose of Climate Happenings

• Eurostats has reported GHG emissions of the European Union (EU) declining by 3% despite economic growth. From January to March 2023, the EU noted 1.2% year-on-year economic growth while its GHG emissions declined by 2.9% in comparison to the previous year. Emissions declined in 21 out of the 27 countries that make up the region, with the majority of decline noted in Estonia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. These figures are reflective of the EU's efforts to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
• EU adopts rules imposing product emission reporting requirements upon importers as part of its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). These rules will require companies to initiate data collection of embedded emissions in their imported products from October 2023. To facilitate this process, the EU Commission has published implementation guidance for importers and third-country producers.
• S&P Global introduces service allowing assessment of nature and biodiversity risks for portfolios. Sustainable1, S&P Global's sustainability arm, launched a service for investors to assess risks related to nature and biodiversity in their portfolios. This service will be aided by the organization's Nature & Biodiversity Risk dataset.
• Global fund launched for delivery of COP 15’s biodiversity goals. A Global Biodiversity Framework Fund has been established by the Seventh Global Environment Facility (GEF) with the purpose of extending support to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework which was agreed upon at COP 15. The fund is further expected to scale financing to ensure timely implementation and monitoring of the framework.
• Multiple regions across the world experience record breaking heat waves. Intense heat waves have shattered records across the globe. Despite it being winter season in the Southern Hemisphere, regions within experienced severe hot weather. Additionally, heat bursts in Europe, multiple heat records breaking in Japan, France recording its hottest day, a broiling Southern Europe, and Asia noting an alarming 2°C rise in temperature are a few examples of extreme heat in countries around the world.

Events to Enhance the Environment – EEE

Local Calendar

Global Calendar

Our Efforts

Our team members participated in the following events in August:

• Zero-Point Partners, in collaboration with the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG) delivered a C-Suite level training as part of the Advanced Risk Governance program for banks.
• We also delivered a second full-day training in collaboration with PICG on ‘Driving ESG from the Boardroom.'
• Zero-Point Partners partnered with Joyn-Coop to deliver the ‘Advancing Access to International Climate Finance’ training organized by GIZ Pakistan. The transformative event was also attended by provincial and federal level government practitioners.
• We collaborated with GIZ Pakistan and Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB) to deliver a webinar on Climate Risk Awareness for Businesses in Pakistan. Our CEO, Maha Qasim, was among the key speakers at the event.
• Our Research Analyst, Noor Fatima Anwar, was shortlisted for the final round of?the ISETS Youth Voice Competition for Just Energy Transition where she presented her research on achieving energy security, economic growth, and climate sustainability in Pakistan.

Green your socials!

We recommend following these local environmental experts this month:

1. Fauzia Viqar - Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace & Senior Gender & Inclusion Adviser at UN Women
2. Zoha Shahid - Environmental Rights Analyst at UNDP Pakistan

Let's connect! If you’re a sustainability professional, check out our?LinkedIn?and?Twitter?for the latest climate updates.

Want to collaborate with us? Email?[email protected].