Three Sustainability Priorities Stemming from Climate Week

Last week, businesses, governments, academic institutions and nonprofits alike gathered in the city that never sleeps for the 15th annual New York City Climate Week. The 2023 theme — “We can. We will.” — underscored the urgent need for decisive action to mitigate the damage of climate change.

The window for meaningful change, however, grows smaller by the day. Over the past few months, nearly every week brought a new historic climate-related event with impacts felt around the world. The Earth clocked its hottest month in recorded history. Canadian wildfires burned record amounts of land and sent smoke into cities across North America. Communities in Asia weathered unprecedented flooding. Plus, oceans warmed to previously unseen degrees, damaging delicate coral reef ecosystems and disrupting weather patterns. The planet is offering a preview of our climate future, and it is neither pretty nor cheap.?

If there was ever a time to recognize its severity and act, it is now while everything is top of mind for both the public and private sectors. In order to create actionable and long-lasting solutions, we must focus on these three critical topics coming out of this year’s Climate Week.?

First, and most importantly, we must prioritize water. Water and nature—and inevitably, climate change—are inherently linked. You cannot address one without impacting the others. Additionally, as our planet warms, water will become more and more scarce—impacting everything from agricultural and food systems, to wildlife, and even population growth.

A recent World Resources Institute report estimated that a quarter of the world’s population currently faces “extremely high water stress.” This is partially because demand for water has more than doubled since 1960, and it shows no sign of slowing. Yet, water remains a finite resource. The amount of freshwater from all our lakes and rivers combined would only fill a 35-mile-wide bubble—a bubble that would fit within the Los Angeles metro area.

At the same time, nearly 90% of climate impacts are related to water. This means that the water crisis must be a central part of any climate conversation. As we’ve been witnessing, water is a global issue that is the underlying current of climate change, and the effects of the water crisis are more personal than ever before. Our recently released Ecolab Watermark Study: The State of Water Stewardship showed that water impacts more individuals around the world than almost any other climate-related issue. More than two-thirds of respondents in the United States, Europe, Latin America and China even listed clean and safe water as a significant environmental concern.?

Second, any action must consider and integrate biodiversity, which often plays second fiddle in climate discussions. An August CDP report?found that financial institutions are failing to account for nature in decision making, instead only focusing on climate change. Without considering the impacts of deforestation, water scarcity or pollution, organizations will be ill-prepared to meet rapid environmental changes. In fact, 85% of the S&P 1000 have a significant dependency on nature in their operations and half of the global GDP—roughly $44 trillion—relies directly on nature. As such, nature degradation has the potential to wreak havoc on the world’s largest businesses, whether through loss of access to critical resources, the disruption of ecosystems or the destabilization of erosion forces. It is imperative for organizations to think outward and consider how they operate in their local ecosystems to build more resilient and sustainable operations.?

Not only will this help them meet their climate goals, but it will also protect their businesses. As climate disasters become more common, companies may find themselves unable to operate at full-scale due to disruption or damage to manufacturing sites, infrastructure or supply chains—all of which impact the bottom line. In response, actions such as pursuing nature-based solutions, regenerating forests or restoring wetlands can protect operations, preserve ecosystems and help mitigate climate-related business risk.?

Third, we must view environmental reporting as an opportunity to enable progress. For example, the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) recently announced its final framework, joining the climate-related counterpart that will help inform the bedrock of the SEC’s pending ESG ruling. The framework aims to address strategy, governance, risk management and metrics to provide clear guidance for organizations to follow and set clear, tangible targets. Such reporting mechanisms and frameworks will help keep organizations accountable and encourage meaningful action that must follow from all the ambitious goals we’ve seen to date. This is good news for investors as well, because it helps to lay bare a company’s current actions, risks and dependencies on climate, water and nature. More robust reporting should be seen as a welcome enabler that helps ensure we are meeting climate targets, accounting for potential business disruptions and protecting investments.?

Now that Climate Week 2023 is in our rearview mirror, we must have a renewed sense of determination, hopeful promise and a better understanding of what it takes to create real impact on the whole picture, instead of a single piece of the puzzle. By incorporating comprehensive actions that encompass core issues—such as water, biodiversity and reporting—we can make a major difference on the growing climate change challenges impacting our businesses and communities every day.

We can. We will. We must.