Friday in Five from Unibloom
Hot on the heels of NY Climate Week comes your bi-weekly update on what’s happening in the climate action and business sector from Unibloom.? This week, although we weren’t there in NY this year there has been a lot written and we share a few of the headlines, along with new research looking at the role cows play in soil health and the necessity for sustainability and business strategy to go hand in hand.?
Welcome to our bi-weekly newsletter where we intend to inspire you with real life business action on climate, biodiversity, nature, circularity and social justice through the lens of driving business value.? Coming to you every other Friday, we want to celebrate the wins, draw attention to the challenges and occasionally even mythbust and we guarantee to do it in under five minutes.??
Summary
NY Climate Week?
There was one key message coming out of NY Climate Week and that was again a reinforcement that we need business to move from reporting into action.? The counterpoint to that message from large businesses was that they are continuing to focus resources on meeting the growing regulatory requirements from CSRD through to CSDDD and that this will continue to take up a vast amount of corporate bandwidth to ensure compliance, with the first businesses reporting from next year.??
The role of technology and most notably AI was a key feature of the week, from everything from optimising product formulations, to targeting reforestation initiatives.? This, of course, goes hand in hand with the challenges that a number of businesses have seen with carbon emissions booming from AI growth.? The excitement behind the role that AI can play in targeting interventions is clear but it goes hand in hand with the need for deeper strategic relationships and embedded knowledge and processes across businesses to truly bring the potential to life.?
Focusing on the S within ESG, the launch of the Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures was significant.? This new Taskforce follows the success of similar initiatives focused on climate and nature - the Task Forces for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).? The remit of the TISFD is to ‘develop recommendations and guidance for businesses and financial institutions to understand and report on impacts, dependencies, risks, and opportunities related to people.? The need for comparable social impact data is desperately needed and the intersection between social and environmental targets needs greater clarity and so we’ll be watching on, to see if TISFD can drive this clarity.??
New study shows role that cows play in healthy soils
A new study led by the Soil Association Exchange has found that, ‘farms with a mixture of arable crops and livestock have about a third more carbon stored within their soil than those with only arable crops, thanks to the animals’ manure’. ? Although this level of carbon storage doesn’t balance out the methane emissions from livestock it does provide fertile ground (excuse the pun) for further exploration of the role that livestock can play in soil health and biodiversity.??
Competitive sustainability
Interim Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) CEO, Lindsay Hooper, argues for a shift in the way we think about corporate sustainability.? In a powerful argument for businesses to centralise sustainability within business strategy, Hooper and her co-author Paul Gilding states, ‘Businesses need to recognise that the imperative for action on environmental issues is one not of morality or consumer sentiment but the laws of nature. Climate change and biodiversity loss are not abstract threats but real and measurable factors that will undermine business as usual. Rather than asking “How much sustainability can we afford?” companies must ask “How do we accelerate, navigate and benefit from the transition?”?
They go on to state that, ‘The team must recognize that sustainability is not just about corporate responsibility or moral obligation but is a critical factor for long-term business viability. The focus should be on integrating sustainability into core business strategies rather than treating it as a separate or secondary concern. This means moving beyond mere compliance or reputation enhancement and instead driving effective structural changes that align with economic self-interest and natural imperatives.’
We couldn’t agree more and without it, we will continue to see sustainability investments the first on the cut line, despite the reality being that they should be underpinning business and operational strategy.????
The full paper is available here - https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/files/from_esg_to_competitive_sustainability.pdf??
Free target setting workshop
Not sure how to get started on your climate action plan?? Have us run a target setting workshop for your team to get teams across the business engaged and begin to digitise your climate action plan.? Get in touch with our Climate Action Lead @ [email protected]?