by Pippa Greenwood | Jun 4, 2024 | Blog
Global wildlife populations have plunged by nearly 70% since 1970. More than 44,000 species are currently threatened with extinction, with 41% of amphibians and 37% of sharks and rays on the brink of collapse. Overdeveloped land and overfishing, exploitation of natural resources, climate change, pollution and the spread of invasive species are the five main drivers of this loss.
Biodiversity isn’t just necessary for healthy ecosystems; it’s essential for economic growth. Nature degradation could cause a 12% loss to UK GDP in coming years, according to the Green Finance Institute — a larger hit to UK GDP than the 2008 financial crisis or Covid-19. Companies are dependent on nature and the services it provides, from crop pollination and raw materials to flood protection and carbon sequestration. These services are crucial to an organisation’s productivity and resilience. Yet companies (and economies) still freeride on nature’s benefits and are failing to integrate nature’s value into our current economic system.
That is until recently. New regulations and frameworks are increasingly encouraging, if not requiring, companies to halt and reverse nature loss and restore biodiversity, supporting a nature positive future. The new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive will require disclosure of the impact of larger listed EU businesses on biodiversity and ecosystems from 2024. In the UK, the Biodiversity Net Gain Policy requires developers to deliver a 10% biodiversity net gain (creating or improving natural habitats) with all new developments. Voluntary frameworks are being developed to hold companies accountable for their use of natural assets. The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), helps companies assess and account for their nature-based risks and opportunities such as soil erosion and flooding to buildings and restoring natural habitats. The Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), a group of 80+ NGOs and wider partners, has published the first voluntary science-based targets for nature. The SBTN guidance supports businesses to set targets on biodiversity and nature. Examples include targets on water consumption, pollution and deforestation.
Whilst some of the nature-based frameworks and legislation are still voluntary, as with GHG emission reporting and climate target setting, measuring and reporting impacts on nature will no doubt soon be required. So, what practical steps can companies take to restore nature and rebalance biodiversity?
We’ve provided 10 tips to support companies on their nature positive journey.
- Conduct a biodiversity materiality assessment. This helps companies assess the impacts of their operations and supply chains on nature and biodiversity. Once impacts are understood, organisations can take steps to mitigate them. The SBTN provides tools to conduct a materiality assessment and the TNFD has a framework to assess companies’ nature-based risks, opportunities and financial impacts.
- Set targets to restore and prevent biodiversity loss. Examples include water pollution prevention targets, goals to avoid conversion of natural ecosystems, and zero-deforestation commitments. Unilever has committed to achieving a deforestation and conversion-free supply chain, meaning its raw materials such as palm oil, paper, soy and cocoa should no longer be associated with deforested and converted land. The targets relevant to a company will depend on its material nature and biodiversity impacts. Targets must be measurable so progress can be tracked. The SBTN has provided initial guidance to set freshwater and land targets (including partial biodiversity coverage). Ocean targets will be available in 2025.
- Develop a holistic, integrated strategy. Taking a holistic approach to nature strategy embeds it into the wider sustainability strategy and business model. With climate and nature so intrinsically linked, action in one area can support and impact the other’s progress. By integrating nature into a net zero roadmap, organisations can reduce adverse impacts on nature and biodiversity while working towards their climate goals. The SBTN’s ‘Avoid, Reduce, Restore, Regenerate, Transform’ (ARRRT) Action Framework, provides companies with a hierarchical approach to effectively implement a nature strategy.
- Source responsibly. Companies depend on natural resources such as water, timber, copper, coffee, cocoa and energy. But many of these are limited and extracting and using them often carries negative environmental and social impacts. Some businesses are already working to source responsibly, and a biodiversity assessment could highlight other hotspots. Certifications and standards such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for timber and paper, and Fairtrade for foods, can help with assurance. In 2023, 98% of IKEA’s wood was either FSC-certified or recycled.
- Restore habitats. Once a company has reduced its impact on biodiversity, it should look to restore depleted habitats. Reforestation, wetland restoration, regenerative agriculture, marine ecosystems protection and restoration projects are all good examples of habitat restoration. Choosing restoration projects that align with the company’s nature-based risks helps reduce these risks and supports the business case for more projects like it.
- Integrate nature into infrastructure. Invest in green infrastructure, such as green roofs, permeable pavements, wildflower boxes, rooftop beehives and living walls to support biodiversity in urban landscapes. The new Google London headquarters will have a roof garden with a rainwater irrigation system — providing a habitat for protected local species of bats, birds and insects.
- Improve biodiversity data. Nature and biodiversity has approximately 3,000 metrics, unlike its counterpart climate, which has predominately one — tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). Collecting all these nature-based metrics can be challenging. Working with and incentivising suppliers to gather this data down to the farm level will support accurate monitoring of future biodiversity levels and impact measurement.
- Invest in technology that promotes biodiversity. Investing in technology can plug the biodiversity data gap that makes measuring progress against targets challenging. Technologies like agri-tech and nature-tech monitoring systems can help. Chirrup, a biodiversity monitoring solution, uses AI to listen and monitor birds to track and protect the levels of biodiversity in a specific area. Tesco has teamed up with start-up tech innovator AgriSound to monitor insects and bees on its apple orchards, as part of its plan to promote biodiversity in the supply chain.
- Stand up for biodiversity: Engage with stakeholders, including local communities, NGOs and governments, to ensure that biodiversity concerns are acted upon and local knowledge is incorporated into decision-making processes. Sainsbury’s, Nestlé and H&M Group are pushing for mandatory disclosures on nature impacts to be brought in by 2030.
- Give nature a seat at the table. Appoint a member of the board to be nature’s advocate to ensure nature’s voice is heard. Patagonia has gone a step further and made nature its sole shareholder. The founder and former owner, Yvon Chouinard, transferred 98% of the company’s shares to environmental organisation Holdfast Collective. Each year, Holdfast will receive all profits that Patagonia doesn’t need to reinvest — an expected $100 million annually — to protect nature and biodiversity and fight the environmental crisis.
Context supports efforts to develop and implement effective corporate nature positive strategies. If you would like to talk about your organisation’s needs, please get in touch via www.contextsustainability.com or pippa.greenwood@contexteurope.com.
by Helen Fisher | Apr 15, 2024 | Blog
Meet the newest member of the board: Pongo pygmaeus.
Around a year ago, Eco-Business reported a Malaysian palm oil producer had become the world’s first company to appoint a non-human animal to its board of directors in the form of Aman the orangutan. It was an April Fools’ joke that had LinkedIn giggling. But although hosting an orangutan in the boardroom is clearly impractical, is the idea of giving nature a seat at the table really all that laughable?
Giving nature a voice
In fact, someone else had got there first. In 2022, UK-based Faith in Nature was the first company to appoint a Nature Guardian — a non-executive director with the sole responsibility of representing the natural world, non-humans and environmental interests — giving nature a voice and a vote on how the company is run. House of Hackney and the Better Business Network have since followed, while Patagonia has made nature its sole shareholder.
And back in 2008, an entire country changed its constitution to give nature protected rights, with the people of Ecuador voting overwhelmingly in favour of the move. Recent court cases have tested the country’s Rights of Nature laws, seeing the Constitutional Court ruling in favour of Ecuador’s cloud forests to prevent large-scale mining operations. Other countries have implemented similar mechanisms, including Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico. A constitutional amendment, currently in draft, would add Aruba to the list of countries starting to formally recognise nature’s legal rights.
Some countries have gone a step further by granting “personhood” to specific natural entities, such as the Muteshekau-shipu or Magpie river in Canada and the Whanganui River in New Zealand. More recently, whales were recognised as legal persons in a treatysigned by Indigenous leaders of the Cook Islands, Tahiti and New Zealand.
Is all this really necessary?
From early environmental movements to present day organisations such as ClientEarth, many don’t see the idea of sticking up for nature as radical, but as essential to the long-term wellbeing of people and the planet. The very idea of having to formally represent nature and its rights might seem odd to those communities and cultures for whom it simply makes sense to respect and protect the natural world which provides us with essential resources and services.
Yet it’s the systematic over-exploitation of these resources that has started to make such representation seem necessary. And regardless of whether you believe it’s the right thing to do or a vital response to our global overshooting of planetary boundaries, failure to account for nature is starting to hit the bottom line. Pressure on corporate boards to demonstrate they are capable of understanding and overseeing sustainability issues has come on the heels of increased shareholder activism.
The recent experiences of companies such as Exxon may be a sign of things to come for others. In 2021, shareholders voted to replace three members of the energy company’s board after Hedge fund Engine No.1, which held just 0.02% of Exxon Mobil’s stock, convinced fellow shareholders that the company’s lacklustre climate strategy would leave it financially unprepared for the transition to renewable energy. A similar, more recent move by Ajruna Capital has been less successful.
Lawsuits being brought against companies in relation to sustainability matters such as climate change are also on the rise. With cases being led by human representatives including states, individuals, and third parties, nature is shouting louder to be heard. And perhaps it was always going to need the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss to be felt by a significant enough proportion of the global population for such representation to hit the mainstream.
Coordinated efforts to account for and restore nature are starting to come to fruition through initiatives such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and Science Based Targets Network, following adoption of a global biodiversity framework and goals at COP15. Legislation is starting to wake up too, with the introduction of the UK Biodiversity Net Gain planning regulations, and relevant reporting requirements through the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. And could longstanding academic efforts to assign economic value to ecosystems services start to find application with “nature pricing” following in carbon’s footprint?
Too little too late?
With increasing worldwide coordination, incoming guidance to support target setting, and pressure from multiple sides for companies to pay attention to their interconnectivity with and dependence on the natural world, the tide is shifting.
Perhaps the need to appoint a board-level representative of nature has been bypassed by external events. Or perhaps such an appointment can play a crucial role in implementation and ongoing accountability once nature-based targets are in place. Either way, this handy guide from Faith in Nature offers some pointers for those wishing to consider it, although worth also contemplating the practical challenges.
Robyn Eckersley concludes in her chapter on representing nature from The Future of Representative Democracy: “Whenever we represent nature, we, unwittingly or otherwise, also represent ourselves and the sort of world we wish to inhabit.” The collective impact and financial return of today’s efforts to represent, protect and restore nature may not be seen or understood for some time. Paying attention to the type of world we want to live in is perhaps our best call to action at this point.
And who knows, maybe it won’t be long before we’re talking about other kinds of board-level representation. Future generations perhaps, or maybe even AI…
by Pippa Greenwood | Mar 6, 2024 | Blog
As the urgency to combat climate change continues to grow, so does the importance of having a robust and credible climate strategy and net zero roadmap. Getting this right is key to the success of your organisation’s wider corporate sustainability strategy. Here are my 10 top tips for developing, implementing and evolving your climate strategy and driving meaningful change within your business.
1. Make the business case
Before developing your climate strategy, make sure your key stakeholders understand the business case for it. Use stakeholder mapping and analysis to find your champions and hear from your challengers. Clarify the benefits for the planet, and also for your business — gain competitive advantage, improve reputation, meet customer and investor expectations and retain and attract employees.
2. It’s all about the data!
Your net zero roadmap is only as robust as your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory. And your GHG inventory is only as accurate and complete as the underlying data — such as energy consumption, travel, supply chain and waste data. Improving your source data gathering, verifying, and storing processes is essential to an accurate and reliable climate strategy.
3. Understand the science
A solid grasp of climate science is key when developing your net zero roadmap and overall climate strategy. Stay informed about the latest research, frameworks, trends, and projections to make informed decisions, align to reporting requirements and set science-based goals.
4. Set ambitious, but realistic goals
Establish clear and measurable targets aligned with the latest science-based criteria. Aim for ambitious GHG emissions reductions while ensuring feasibility within your organisation based on capabilities and resources.
5. Engage your stakeholders throughout the process
You can’t do this alone. Effective climate action requires collaboration with stakeholders across your full value chain. Engage leaders, employees, suppliers, customers and partners to gain and maintain buy-in, gather diverse perspectives, and combine collective expertise. Fostering cooperation and setting shared goals will support you to implement your plan and successfully manage change.
6. Start with quick wins
This may sound like an obvious one, but focusing on the quick wins should show return on investment and positive results early on. This will help with stakeholder buy-in and future requests for resourcing and investment as you scale up the programme and shift the focus to longer-term initiatives.
7. Prioritise renewable energy alongside energy efficiency
Transitioning to renewable energy sources is the foundation of any climate strategy. Explore opportunities to invest in and generate new solar, wind, hydro, or other renewable energy, alongside procuring renewable energy contracts. In parallel, implement measures to optimise energy efficiency. Upgrade equipment, improve insulation, and adopt smart technologies to reduce energy consumption and costs.
8. Embrace innovation
Encourage innovation and creativity to deliver solutions for your climate challenges and develop opportunities. Embrace emerging technologies, explore alternative materials, and think outside the box — for example, by partnering with disruptors and peers, and testing out new business models.
9. Manage your climate-related risks
Climate change brings risks and uncertainties — such as extreme weather events, resource scarcity and supply chain disruptions. Assess, monitor and mitigate your climate-related risks as part of your wider risk management procedures, resilience planning and adaptation measures.
10. Stay agile and adapt
Establish robust monitoring and reporting mechanisms to track your climate goal progress. This will help you evaluate performance and identify areas for improvement. Remember that your net zero roadmap is not a static plan until you achieve your net zero target. As legislation, frameworks and climate science evolve, so will your strategy. Keep agile and adapt your strategy as needed.
by Natasha Connor | Jan 31, 2024 | Blog
Cashmere, once a rare emblem of luxury, now lines the shelves of the fast fashion giants. Demand for the fabric has skyrocketed over the past few decades, and it’s no surprise. A tenth of the width of human hair and reportedly eight times as warm as sheep wool, cashmere is renowned for its sleek softness and warmth. It takes a single goat four yearsto produce enough cashmere for a jumper. However, the cost of this premium fibre goes far beyond its price tag. Unbeknown to most shoppers, increasing demand for the fabric has wreaked environmental devastation in the countries that produce it. This is most apparent in Mongolia, which produces around 40% of the world’s cashmere.
Herding livestock semi-nomadically is the traditional way of life in Mongolia. A third of the population rely on cashmere for their main source of income. The country’s extreme environment is key, as the goats grow thick fleeces to survive temperatures as low as -40°C. Mongolian herders traditionally grazed sheep and goats in a 3:1 ratio to protect the land from the goats’ over-enthusiastic grazing habits. However, the high demand for cashmere has prompted a dramatic increase in the number of goats. With numbers of sheep and goats now almost equal, the land’s ability to regenerate is impaired.
Until the 1990s, Mongolian heads of state moderated goat numbers. The fall of the communist government saw the removal of these restrictions, and the number of goats skyrocketed from 5 million in 1990 to 27 million today. Around 70% Mongolia’s grasslands are now severely degraded, turning the land into desert and increasing dust storms in the region.
Decades of overgrazing means there’s now less grass to eat, and an undernourished goat is a vulnerable one. This is especially true when compounded by the impacts of climate change. Mongolia is heating faster than the rest of the world – the average temperature has risen 2.1% since 1940 – and their increasingly extreme and unstable weather is bringing more droughts and harsher winters. Mongolian livestock has evolved to survive extreme environments, but this goes beyond what they can handle and goats are dying in huge numbers. The particularly harsh 2009/2010 winter took 22% of Mongolia’s livestock, with severe social and economic impacts — extreme winters can result in losses of up to 12% of Mongolia’s GDP. Many herders have been forced to leave their traditional way of life, moving to cities or slums to find other work.
Herders face a catch-22. They can increase herd size as a precautionary measure, but this makes it harder to feed their animals. It also affects the product: undernourished goats produce lower-quality cashmere, which is shorter, less fine, and less valuable. These goats in turn give birth to goats that produce less cashmere.
Of course, people and livestock aren’t the only ones that depend on Mongolia’s landscape. Wild animals, such as elk, camels, and ibex, need to eat too. As these wild species decline, the impacts ripple across the food chain. Starving snow leopards are more frequently forced to attack domestic animals to survive, creating conflict with herders who may kill them to protect their herd.
What will the future hold for Mongolia’s cashmere industry? The Mongolian government, fashion companies, and we as consumers each have a part to play in solving the crisis.
Mongolia’s government is unlikely to regulate herd sizes any time soon. It would be a highly contentious issue amongst herders, whose votes rural politicians depend on. The government hopes to reduce overgrazing by processing more cashmere in-country so it can be sold at a higher price. Currently, Mongolia sells around 90% of its cashmere to Chinese companies, who process it and mix it with Chinese cashmere. In late 2023, the Mongolian cashmere producer Gobi received a US$30 million loan from the Asian Development Bank to up its processing capacity.
Shifting towards less environmentally damaging materials is vital to undo the impact our shopping habits are having in places like Mongolia. Some companies are now only using cashmere certified by the Good Cashmere Standard (GCS) or the Sustainable Fibre Alliance (SFA), which require certain herding or farming practices with the aim to reduce negative impacts. Using recycled cashmere, or forgoing cashmere altogether, reduces the demand for the virgin fibre and its associated production impact. Replacing cashmere with the wool of less destructive creatures, such as yaks, would be a win for Mongolia’s grasslands. Another traditional member of Mongolian herds, yaks also shed warm, soft fibres, but they produce more of them while leaving grass roots unharmed.
The future of Mongolia’s land will likely depend upon a holistic approach taken by the government, fashion companies, and consumers alike. If we can shift market demand towards options with lower environmental price-tags, Mongolia’s land may be allowed to breathe again.
by Talia Vicars | Dec 8, 2023 | Blog
Aisha Shillingford, an artist and strategy consultant from Trinidad and Tobago, asked a room full of suits in New York last month to imagine their “Happy Place.” “Close your eyes,” she whispered. “Think of a place that holds meaning for you. Now, envision it in the year 2223.”
Shillingford was speaking at a recent event during Climate Week NYC. Her mission? Help people see how world building, a creative process of building future worlds used in video games, books and movies (think post-apocalyptic like The Last of Us or fantastical like Harry Potter) can help society innovate.
I’m a corporate sustainability consultant with a special interest in encouraging companies to rethink the way they impact people and the planet. When prompted to envision my “Happy Place,” I immediately thought of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In particular, I thought of Truro, the place I first visited when I was three. We stayed at a small house on a marsh. My mom hauled me and my two brothers around on a bike trailer. We ate saltwater taffy as she pedaled up hills and along the shoreline path of Route 6.
My mom first went to the Cape with her mother. My grandmother, after escaping the Holocaust in Germany, found serenity in a place of extreme beauty. She passed along her love of the Cape to her daughter, and my mom passed it along to me. It is a place that is ingrained in my family’s culture, and even now as I sit in my small, New York City apartment, I can smell the Rugosa Roses and the spray off the Atlantic.
Over the years, the Cape has changed. It’s become increasingly expensive, driving out many low-income residents. Short-term rentals have exploded over the past decade, disrupting what were once tight-knit neighborhoods. The Cape is facing significant climate-related threats. Rising sea-levels, storm surges, flooding, erosion, strong winds, wildfires and scorching summer temperatures are damaging natural habitats and communities. By 2100, vast portions of Cape Cod could be underwater.
Following Shillingford’s exercise, I imagine a better Cape Cod in 2223. In my world, warm sun bathes the landscape, thanks to heat-absorbing sidewalks. McMansions have disappeared, offering everyone breathtaking views of the sparkling sea. Bio-based structures, mirroring the resilience of coral and oyster reefs, are barely visible under the water, a new development to act as coastal barriers and prevent erosion. On the horizon, a wind farm powers the peninsula, designed with high-tech features in low-carbon steel frames to protect local bird and fish populations. Short-term rentals are history, replaced by affordable options. Over two centuries, community-driven innovation has transformed Cape Cod into a place that is more inclusive, just, and resilient.
Shillingford asks participants to share their imaginings. Someone says that they’re invigorated by these speculative futures that could become reality. Her point is that we can use world building to brainstorm a future that doesn’t currently seem possible. Companies, non-profits, and governments can use Shillingford’s framework by applying a three-step process: 1. Identify a problem. 2. Envision potential solutions. 3. Develop tools, technologies, and processes to bring these solutions to life.
At least one company already employs this technique. Superflux, a London design studio and consultancy, uses world building to bridge the gap between future uncertainty and present-day decision-making. As an example, Superflux worked with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government to help it make better future energy policy decisions. Together, they recruited policy makers, nonprofit partners, and other stakeholders to explore potential energy-related scenarios to inform their future energy strategy.
The group identified five future scenarios. For each, they made a model metropolis to help decision makers see the future world and how it could be impacted by new energy policies. These included renewable energy technologies, new means of public transport like low-carbon trains, and peer-to-peer energy trading that can democratize energy generation. Participants could also track a future happiness index, monitor energy diversification, and observe the affordability and sustainability of each future. Each scenario offered different costs and carbon emissions based on these factors. The group saw how society would shift based on the consequences of each decision made. Following the exercise, the findings significantly shaped the UAE’s National Energy Strategy 2050, leading to substantial investments – including $163 billion in renewables, making up roughly 44% of their energy sourcing.
Shillingford’s bottom line to the NYC event participants is that the future isn’t set in stone. Reality is shaped by what we imagine now.
