Chief Sustainability officers found to be increasingly prominent
Verdantix, an analysis firm, has found sustainability leaders to be a growing force in the boardroom. The research, which surveyed sustainability decision-makers from 260 firms across 13 markets, including the USA, UK and China, found 92% of firms have a sustainability leader that reports either directly to the Chief Executive or another member of the executive committee. 28% of those surveyed agreed that there was a direct link between the firm’s sustainability and financial performance, an improvement of seven percentage points since 2012. The budgets of those surveyed also demonstrated the growing importance of sustainability to a firm: nearly two thirds had budgets of up to $2.5m, 25% up to $15m, and 5% over $15m, although these budgets remain a relatively minor part of overall corporate budgets. Only 39% of those surveyed sought external assurance of their entire reporting, showing that sustainability issues are still not treated globally with the same reverence as financial performance. (Business Green)
Environment
Pledges at G20 summit bring Green Climate Fund towards $10 billion UN goal
After this weekend’s discussions at the G20 summit in Australia, the total promised to the Green Climate Fund has reached $7.5bn. With pledges of up to $3bn from America made on Saturday, and a further $1.5bn made by Japan on Sunday, the weekend’s activities represent significant progress towards the UN’s informal target of $10bn. The pledges, which will be used to support emerging economies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and build resilience to changes such as heatwaves, mudslides and rising sea levels, is seen by many as crucial to being able to achieve a UN climate deal at the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris. The fund is a significant part of a 2009 plan to raise financial flows to $100 billion (from public and private finances) a year by 2020 to help developing nations tackle climate change. Pledges to the fund have yet to be announced from Britain, Italy, Canada and Australia. (Eco-Business)
Interpol launches environmental fugitives most-wanted list
Interpol, the international organisation that facilitates police co-operation across borders, has launched a list of most-wanted environmental fugitives, for crimes such as illegal deforestation, poaching and trafficking ivory. It hopes the list will push environmental crime further up in international law enforcement priorities. The agency, whilst admitting that the fugitives are but the tip of the iceberg, estimates environmental crime to be worth between $70bn and $213bn per year: one of the suspects is thought to have run an illegal crab fishing operation in Russia worth $450m, for example. The agency, in conjunction with UNEP, linked environmental crime to extremist militias such as the Lords Resistance Army in Uganda, the Janjaweed in Sudan and al-Shabaab in Somalia, in a report earlier in the year that demonstrated the non-isolated nature of these crimes. (The Guardian)
Corporate Reputation
Pearson removes climate change denial from Texan school textbooks
Pearson, the world’s leading educational publisher, has bowed to pressure to remove climate change denying statements from a textbook, that was due to be voted on by the Texas Board of Education, as part of a new set of social studies textbooks. The original text included the sentence: “scientists disagree about what is causing climate change.” This has now been removed to reflect scientific agreement that human activity is the primary cause of global warming through, for example, the burning of fossil fuels. Activists have welcomed the decision, saying, “The revised textbook provides students with the reliable science they need to understand the social debates surrounding climate change.” Activists are also calling on McGraw-Hill, the world’s second largest textbook publisher, to revise the positioning of climate change in its sixth grade textbook, which currently states, “scientists agree that Earth’s climates are changing. Not all individuals, however, agree on the causes of these changes.” (National Journal)
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