Blog and opinion
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How boards can lead in the fight against climate change
Thursday 23rd of September 2021
“A code red for humanity.”
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Shaping an equitable, inclusive and sustainable recovery: A programme for action
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
There is a widespread and profound realization that the COVID-19 crisis arrived on the back of forces and trends in our societies and economies that were becoming unsustainable — in terms of the environment, distribution and inclusion, and resilience. As the pandemic has exacerbated many of these trends, recovery is set to be unequal across countries primarily because of asymmetrical access to vaccines, as well as the fact that capacity to respond to the crisis has differed enormously across countries.
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Why carbon offsetting doesn’t cut it
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
In the run up to what needs to be the most defining climate talks since the Paris Agreement was announced amid rapturous applause and tears of relief, we are being gaslit by elites promising net zero without doing anything to reduce emissions. Big polluters, alongside governments addicted to putting profit before people and planet, are in turbocharge mode to hoodwink the public into thinking they are finally taking the climate emergency seriously.
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How innovation and commitments can shape the future of inclusive value chains
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our societies in an unprecedented way, affecting those who were already most marginalised before the crisis. Consumer and stock markets were put under significant pressure, and many value chains were not able to operate, increasing the volatility of commodity prices and goods and preventing products from flowing across geographies.
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How we can mobilize capital for breakthrough decarbonizing technologies
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
The landmark IPCC climate report revealed an alarming reality: the globe is likely to reach 1.5C in the next 20 years. We need to cut greenhouse gas emissions urgently and at scale to prevent irreversible damage to our planet.
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Why tackling racism and racial injustice must be part of the Decade of Action
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
The last 18 months have upended much of what was considered “business as usual” around the world. To be more precise, they have brought to light deep inequities that have plagued humanity for centuries – economic, gender and racial injustices, included.
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How intelligent automation can power sustainable economies
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
While sustainability is in question amidst the raging COVID-19 pandemic, we have had a few rays of hope – communities’ resilience, the helping hands of governments, and worldwide collaborations to develop and distribute vaccines. We are also on the verge of a technology renaissance.
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Climate talk needs a reset. Here’s why
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
The newspaper and website headlines were suitably, justifiably alarming: the scientists of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had declared “Code Red” for humanity’s efforts to contain the worst effects of climate change. It was just the latest in a long series of wake-up calls that seem to be changing minds. According to a global survey of 1.2 million people, run by the United Nations Development Programme, two thirds of people now see climate change as a global emergency. A survey among citizens of G20 nations – the world’s wealthiest – reports that three quarters worry that humanity is pushing the planet towards a dangerous tipping point.
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Mexico’s Mesoamerican Barrier Reef is now being protected with insurance – here’s how
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
More than half of global GDP is dependent on healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, but challenges like climate change and urban development are putting our natural world under incredible pressures.
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Suits you – and the planet: Why fashion needs a sustainability revolution
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
The global fashion industry has been labelled by many as unsustainable.
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Zero-waste shopping comes to Japan
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Loop, the retail supplier that offers recyclable, reusable packaging, has partnered with one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan.
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Leadership: 4 ways to make remote working work better
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Covid-19 has made virtual work the new normal.
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African montane forests are more concentrated stores of carbon than the Amazon, a new study suggests
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Tropical forests on the slopes of Africa’s mountains are more concentrated stores of carbon than the Amazon, a new study in Nature suggests.
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Could ‘blue foods’ play a greater role in delivering more sustainable nutrition?
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
A new review of the aquatic foods sector, or “blue” foods, shows how fisheries and aquaculture can play a greater role in delivering nutrition and improving food systems around the world.
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Scientists have now made it possible to ‘touch’ holograms
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
The TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced millions of people to the idea of a holodeck: an immersive, realistic 3D holographic projection of a complete environment that you could interact with and even touch.
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This is how many hours teachers work in public schools around the world
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
The OECD’s latest edition of its “Education at a Glance” report provides an insight into education systems on all of the organization’s member states. One interesting aspect of the research is the amount of time teachers actually spend in the classroom. On average, school teachers in OECD countries have to teach 865 hours per year in public institutions (average of primary and secondary instruction hours), though there are big differences in teaching time between countries.
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This is how shorter working hours can affect your productivity
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Is it true that less really is more? Can companies, by asking less of their workers, actually get more out of them? The answer, at least in some cases, is yes. A historical example happened in Britain during WWI. Workers, most of them women paid on piece rates and working long weekly hours, were engaged with the task of manufacturing artillery shells for the British military. Although investing more hours allowed these women to increase their production, that was true only up to a point. When the workweek was already quite long, assigning additional hours reduced productivity, perhaps due to workers’ fatigue and exhaustion. In short, the relationship between a worker’s productivity and her working hours exhibited an inverted U shape.
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Decades of data show we are over-exploiting tropical rainforests
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Tropical rainforests currently cover 1070 million hectares of the world’s surface. More than 90% of them are located in three regions: Central Africa, in the Congo Basin; South America, mostly in the Amazon; and in Southeast Asia, in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.
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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 22 September
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have passed 229.5 million globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 4.7 million. More than 5.98 billion vaccination doses have been administered globally, according to Our World in Data.
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Bad news for pasta lovers: the effect of climate change on food staples
Wednesday 22nd of September 2021
Domesticated maize has been shaping civilization for about 9,000 years, and still provides a big portion of the developing world’s calories. By the 2040s, though, the odds that the four countries producing nearly all global maize exports will simultaneously lose more than 10% of their crop may be the same as guessing the flip of a coin.
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How effective leaders bridge ‘say/do’ gaps for sustainability: Russell Reynolds Associates’ Clarke Murphy
Tuesday 21st of September 2021
Protecting people and the planet is the biggest challenge of our lifetime – and one that will require a new type of leadership. CEO Clarke Murphy understands this more than most. His global leadership advisory and executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates has just released a first-of-its-kind report, Divides and Dividends, digging into what leaders need to meet sustainability goals now and in the decades to come. The survey polled more than 9,500 people in 11 countries – spanning both developed and emerging economies. It also spanned a range of insights, polling top C-level leaders, execs and staffers to identify key gaps between promise and action, and learn what’s working and not in meeting critical sustainability goals. The Meet The Leader podcast talked to Murphy about the survey ahead of the Sustainable Development Impact Summit this week. Read below for some of the top findings that surprised him and the lessons learned that any leader can put into practice.
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Zero emissions areas tackle multiple city struggles: Why aren’t they everywhere?
Tuesday 21st of September 2021
Cars, buses, motorcycles, and delivery trucks – 99% of all tailpipes currently contribute to worsening air quality, emitting carbon into our atmosphere and particulate matter into the air we breathe. In many regions, the city centre is where overlapping transportation modes create the densest pollution. Over the past 18 months, the pandemic has highlighted the critical human right to healthy air, and the latest International Day of Clean Air for blue skies draws attention to this global issue.
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Q&A: Everything you need to know about intelligent automation
Tuesday 21st of September 2021
Pascal Bornet is a pioneer and expert in the field of intelligent automation – also known as cognitive or hyperautomation. He spoke to the World Economic Forum about the technology and his passion for making our world more human using intelligent automation.
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What are blue carbon credits and how to maximise their impact
Tuesday 21st of September 2021
Against the backdrop of a global climate crisis, businesses are making bold net-zero commitments and driving rapid growth of the carbon credit market. Businesses achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon credits equal to their emissions. Each carbon credit represents the removal (or avoided emissions) of one metric ton of carbon dioxide (or its equivalent) from the atmosphere. Global demand for carbon credits is projected to increase 15-fold and be worth up to $50 billion by 2030. Blue carbon credits – credits linked to carbon storage in coastal and marine ecosystems – could represent a significant portion of that pie.
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Why entrepreneurship and innovation are key to addressing youth unemployment
Tuesday 21st of September 2021
The lack of employment opportunities is a serious concern all over the world, but the situation in Africa has been considerably worse. With over 140 million unemployed youth (between 15 and 35 years of age), it is no wonder African industries and economies are in worse shape than they were a few decades ago.