Most recent 20 articles: Sustainable Brands
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Climate Uneducation in the US, Part 4: Educating the Educators - Sustainable Brands (Oct 26, 2024) |
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Oct 26, 2024 · Thankfully, a growing number of programs and resources have emerged to help arm US teachers with the resources and knowledge they need to teach students on climate-related topics.
This previous three sections of this four-part series focused on the dilemma of inadequate education in the US on the subject of climate change - a phenomenon that is already affecting the majority of the population around the globe - from primary school through to the post-graduate level.
In this fourth and final part of the series, we meet some of the organizations and people developing solutions to the problem.
Organizations such as the National Science Teaching Association are working ... Read more ...
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Redesigning the Food System for Resilience: Lessons from the Field - Sustainable Brands (Oct 25, 2024) |
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Oct 25, 2024 · Another central thread throughout SB’24 San Diego highlighted the efforts underway by startup innovators, multinational brands and NGOs to redesign our food system for resilience.
Addressing the environmental and social impacts of industrial agriculture has become crucial as global meat consumption continues to rise. Industrial animal agriculture emits more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation sector combined and contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss and food insecurity.
A Tuesday afternoon panel, moderated by Marika Azoff - Corporate Engagement Lead at the Good Food Institute - convened innovators from cultivated, fermentation-derived and ... Read more ...
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Protecting Water, Nature Is Critical for Effective Climate Action - Sustainable Brands (Oct 24, 2024) |
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Oct 24, 2024 · Water and nature must be elevated to the same level of importance as carbon - corporate strategies that fail to account for these interdependencies will not have the necessary impacts.
Fossil-based business models are existentially threatened; and the world’s largest corporations have the resources, capacity for innovation, and global reach to address the long-term effects of these models while creating new business opportunities. The most significant economic opportunity of our generation is the transition to a lower-carbon, nature-positive and regenerative future - and integrating biodiversity targets based on a thorough understanding of our impacts on the natural world is ... Read more ...
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Report: Massive Challenges, Opportunities in Adapting Cities to Climate Change - Sustainable Brands (Oct 23, 2024) |
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Oct 23, 2024 · Study reveals climate-related concerns of residents of 10 major cities, and provides case studies and actionable strategies for increasing urban climate resilience.
August 2024 was the hottest month on record, capping Earth’s hottest summer since global records began in 1880. Heat stress is now the leading cause of weather-related deaths around the world, according to the World Health Organization; and with the typical “concrete jungle” characterized by a lack of green space and a predominance of concrete structures and streets that absorb heat, urban communities are disproportionately affected.
A growing number of organizations are working to address this by increasing ... Read more ...
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How to take Scope 3 Emissions from Data to Action - Sustainable Brands (Oct 17, 2024) |
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Oct 17, 2024 · For Scope 3 to be monitored successfully, Scope 1 and 2 emissions reporting must be mandated across all businesses and suppliers, no matter their size.
Scope 3 inventories have become an essential tool for organisations that are looking to take meaningful action to improve the environmental impact of their business. It can sometimes feel that sustainability efforts are a drop in the ocean; however, prioritising sustainability shows the wider business landscape a commitment to being both ethical and values-led. As more companies - with those in the IT Channel no exception - get further into their sustainability journeys, making more ethical choices and aligning on who they ... Read more ...
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Monitoring Media: Reining in the Broader Impacts of Brand Communications - Sustainable Brands (Oct 17, 2024) |
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Oct 17, 2024 · We talk a lot about the content of brand communications - but what about the other ways marketing and advertising creates social and environmental impacts? A variety of experts dove deeper at SB’24 San Diego this week.
A big topic for the Sustainable Brands® community is increasing the effectiveness of marketing and advertising communications in helping drive more sustainable consumer habits and lifestyles. But what about the other social and environmental impacts of corporate communications? Two rich discussions at SB’24 San Diego this week dove deeper.
The Sphere in Las Vegas has the world’s largest outdoor advertising digital LED screen | Image credit: Shelby L. ... Read more ...
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First US Nature-Based Carbon Credit Auction Coming in 2025 - Sustainable Brands (Oct 15, 2024) |
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Oct 15, 2024 · The American Forest Foundation Carbon Auction will offer companies a transparent and streamlined way to secure high-quality carbon credits while supporting rural communities and family forest owners.
This week, the American Forest Foundation (AFF) announced it will hold the first auction for carbon credits for its Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) in February 2025.
The American Forest Foundation Carbon Auction - the first of its kind for a US nature-based carbon project - will offer buyers a transparent and streamlined way to secure high-quality carbon credits while supporting rural communities and family forest owners.
More companies than ever are working to ... Read more ...
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More Travel Offerings Highlighting Interinfluence of Climate Change and Tourism - Sustainable Brands (Oct 14, 2024) |
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Oct 14, 2024 · Climate-focused tour operators are learning to balance bringing travelers to fragile destinations to learn about the effects of climate change while not exacerbating the negative impacts of the tourism industry.
Walking across a sea-level glacier in Iceland, a tour guide points out how the landscape has changed in recent years. The population of cheeky puffins on a cliff’s edge has dropped by 20 percent since the start of the century due to rising ocean temperatures, the guide notes. Over a meal with fellow travelers that same day, the conversation turns to alternative energy sources helping the country curb its environmental footprint - a pertinent topic, given the meal takes ... Read more ...
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New Framework Designed to Embed Climate Resilience Into Urban Areas - Sustainable Brands (Oct 13, 2024) |
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Oct 13, 2024 · Neighbourhood Futures sets out five complementary capacities to help generate tailored, scalable strategies for climate resilience and health equity in cities.
Global architecture, engineering and sustainability consultancy Ramboll and UK nonprofit Impact on Urban Health have launched Neighbourhood Futures - a framework designed to embed climate resilience and health equity into urban areas.
August 2024 was the hottest month on record, capping Earth’s hottest summer since global records began in 1880 - according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Heat stress is now the leading cause of weather-related deaths around the world, according to the ... Read more ...
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Climate Uneducation in the US, Part 3: Colleges, Universities Need Academic Advisors - Sustainable Brands (Oct 10, 2024) |
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Oct 10, 2024 · It would make sense for something that has become universally pertinent to already be incorporated into all disciplines. Right?
In parts one and two of this four-part series, we examined how climate change is being taught, or not, in US primary and high schools. Here, we dig into our country’s post-secondary education system.
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, too many US colleges and universities also score in the lower percentiles when it comes to holistic instruction on the topic of human-induced climate change - not only examining its effects and what students can do to help fight them, but also industry’s role in the crisis.
It would be easy to assume that something ... Read more ...
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Businesses Weren’t Ready for the 2024 Hurricane Season - Sustainable Brands (Oct 09, 2024) |
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Oct 09, 2024 · Ignoring the reality of climate change is no longer an option; the resilience and sustainability of business now heavily depends on companies’ ability to address and manage their climate exposure.
Catastrophic damage from Helene - and that to come from Milton and other hurricanes that will likely follow over the course of the season - has proven what many in the climate community have been saying for decades: Businesses are not prepared to adapt to the changing climate.
Record-breaking climate disasters continue to upend lives and businesses, with over 20 extreme weather events in the US this year to date, resulting in losses greater than $1 billion. Risk modeling firm ... Read more ...
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Campaign Reminds Companies to Include 'Mother Nature in the Boardroom’ - Sustainable Brands (Oct 07, 2024) |
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Oct 07, 2024 · The moving short film, featuring Dr. Jane Goodall as the voice of Mother Nature, highlights the urgent need for decision-makers to keep the planet at the heart of economic discussions.
As the world grapples with escalating biodiversity loss, a new campaign from the nonprofit Sea Change Project aims to remind businesses of nature’s critical role in their survival.
"Mother Nature in the Boardroom" - centered around a moving short film by acclaimed environmentalist, filmmaker and Sea Change Project co-founder Craig Foster (My Octopus Teacher), featuring world-renowned conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall as the voice of Mother Nature - was unveiled during Climate Week NYC. It ... Read more ...
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Companies Must Go Beyond 'Carbon Tunnel Vision’ Ahead of COP16 - Sustainable Brands (Oct 07, 2024) |
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Oct 07, 2024 · Later this month, the world’s policymakers, environmentalists and business leaders will be in Cali, Colombia for the latest UN biodiversity conference - and companies are being urged to broaden their sustainability horizons.
While progress on corporate climate action can be frustratingly slow, we can be buoyed by the fact that most big businesses now understand their impact on the climate; and by and large, they acknowledge the associated risks of climate on their operations and chances of long-term success. Quite rightly, carbon reduction has dominated corporate sustainability strategies in the last decade - with thousands of companies racing to set ambitious goals to reach ... Read more ...
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Helios: An Out-of-This-World Solution for Decarbonizing Steelmaking - Sustainable Brands (Oct 03, 2024) |
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Oct 03, 2024 · Inspired by work on lunar resource extraction, the Helios Cycle creates zero direct emissions and uses 30% less energy than traditional methods of extracting iron - offering transformational potential for the heavy-emitting steel industry.
The steel industry, a cornerstone of modern civilization, faces significant challenges. As one of our most used materials, steel and its production is a massive global enterprise - with over 1.8 billion metric tons produced annually. However, this industry is also a massive polluter - responsible for approximately 11 percent of the world's total greenhouse gas output. Traditional steelmaking processes, which rely heavily on carbon-intensive ... Read more ...
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These Startups Are Mycoremediating Impacts of the Building Industry - Sustainable Brands (Sep 26, 2024) |
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Sep 26, 2024 · Mycocycle and Mogu are harnessing mycelium to transform industrial waste into resilient, circular materials for the construction sector.
The construction industry produces about one-third of the world’s waste and 40 percent of global carbon emissions. Concrete and cement alone account for about eight percent of global greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs); yet the demand for the material has tripled over the past 20 years. And it’s not just weighing on natural environments: It turns out several coastal cities are sinking, thanks to the weight of their built landscape.
With an ever-growing population increasing demand for private and public buildings, how do we make our ... Read more ...
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Industry Players Convene on Solutions for Decarbonizing Business Travel - Sustainable Brands (Sep 25, 2024) |
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Sep 25, 2024 · This week at Climate Week NYC, several conversations centered around reducing the sustainability impacts of something affecting nearly every attendee: Business travel.
First, IHG Hotels & Resorts and the GBTA Foundation - the charitable arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) - brought together some of travel’s biggest sustainability leaders to discuss the decarbonization of business travel. Co-hosted by Accenture, American Express Global Business Travel, Delta Air Lines, Hertz and IDEO, the event challenged more than 80 event attendees representing major organizations across all sectors of the travel industry to explore tensions and collaborative approaches ... Read more ...
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New 'Climate Label’ Requires Companies to Invest in Climate Solutions - Sustainable Brands (Sep 25, 2024) |
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Sep 25, 2024 · Talk is cheap: The first-of-its-kind certification requires internal carbon pricing and funding for GHG-reduction projects as criteria - aiming to accelerate corporate climate investment.
Tuesday at Climate Week NYC, The Change Climate Project (TCCP) launched the 2025 version of its certification Standard and debuted The Climate Label - the evolution of the nonprofit’s established climate-action certification program, Climate Neutral Certified.
The newly launched Standard and Label will take effect beginning in 2025. The evolution of the certification requires companies to walk their talk on meaningful climate action - centering climate-transition funding as a critical ... Read more ...
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Urban Forests: An Essential Tool for Climate-Resilient Communities - Sustainable Brands (Sep 24, 2024) |
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Sep 24, 2024 · As we navigate the escalating impacts of climate change, fostering plentiful urban forests is not just beneficial - it is essential for the long-term sustainability and resilience of our communities.
As global temperatures rise and the frequency of severe weather events increases, the critical role of urban forests in enhancing community resilience is becoming more evident. Recent data from NASA highlights a concerning trend - a global average surface temperature rise of approximately 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 19th century, exacerbating climate impacts across our cities. Fortunately, the recognition of urban forests as essential tools in our climate-resilience toolkit is ... Read more ...
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WWF Identifies Tailored, Local Strategies for Transforming Global Food System - Sustainable Brands (Sep 20, 2024) |
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Sep 20, 2024 · While no single set of policy interventions should be applied globally, the research reveals a universal need to optimize land use and restore biodiversity, improve education on healthy and sustainable diets, and redesign financial subsidies and incentives.
The Great Food Puzzle, a new tool and research published by WWF, helps identify the most appropriate actions on a national basis for fixing the many flaws in our global food system. The report highlights that while food systems - the complex network of activities that involves the production, processing, transportation and consumption of food - have major global impacts on nature and climate change, they can only be made ... Read more ...
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Balancing Risk and Impact in the Evolving Carbon Market - Sustainable Brands (Sep 19, 2024) |
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Sep 19, 2024 · The rapid growth of the voluntary carbon market has resulted in a mismatch between supply of and demand for quality carbon credits.
As the voluntary carbon market (VCM) matures, its focus is shifting towards measures of quality and integrity. It’s becoming clear, however, that “quality” and “integrity” mean different things in different contexts, and that standards and frameworks are needed to represent the broad spectrum of what defines a “good carbon credit.”
“It used to be that we treated this market like a binary,” explained Spencer Meyer, Chief Ratings Officer at carbon ratings agency BeZero, speaking at a recent Sustainable Brands® (SB) webinar. “You either passed ... Read more ...
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