WALKING THE TALK -
From my perspective as a scientist who’s been working on climate change and environmental resilience since before the crisis made front-page headlines, here are the four biggest trends I foresee defining 2023.
CLEANTECH -
The electronics giants announced a series of innovations including personal-care device recycling, smart home energy-efficiency improvements, and a new laundry cycle and filter designed to eliminate microplastic pollution from synthetic materials.
THE NEXT ECONOMY -
The mine’s operator and UK government pledge to offset nearly 500,000 annual tons of emissions through carbon credits; but the clear greenwashing has been lambasted by critics the world over.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
The new startup offers a regenerative ‘tree burial’ service that reimagines cemeteries as forests — enabling the dearly departed to truly give back to the land and encouraging younger generations to think about death in new ways.
CLEANTECH -
Inspired by nature, SolarBotanic’s solar trees use leaf-shaped, thin-film, photovoltaic nanotechnology to harness both sun and eventually wind energy to power houses, charge EVs or be stored for future use.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
Offsetting initiatives are becoming increasingly popular
among businesses looking to be seen as leaders in sustainability. However — while the approach can be an interim solution for operations that can’t be fully decarbonized — companies must focus first on working with their supply chain to identify where immediate changes can be made.
WASTE NOT -
Whether making a widget or a culinary treat, prioritizing a circular life cycle for products helps keep them out of waste streams until they are negligible — or better yet, they never land there.
WALKING THE TALK -
Why have the collective efforts of national governments, NGOs, forward-looking companies and citizens had so little impact on curbing carbon emissions? Here are three reasons why high-level pledges are not translating into concrete actions — and what’s needed to break through.
WALKING THE TALK -
COP27 ended with an agreement to create a funding facility to compensate vulnerable nations for ‘loss and damage’ from climate disasters; but weakened language around the phase-out of fossil fuels opens a dangerous loophole that could threaten decarbonization before it’s too late.
CLEANTECH -
The company reports progress in its climate goals, as well as its work to support local communities and increase equitable access to snow sports and
recreation.
CLEANTECH -
The second cohort of the IBM Sustainability Accelerator comprises five organizations helping marginalized communities get just and equitable access to sustainable energy resources around the world.
COLLABORATION -
Klean Kanteen, MiiR, Stanley and YETI have partnered to reduce emissions and establish science-based targets across their manufacturing supply chains.
CLEANTECH -
The unique partnership aims to advance offshore wind
deployment that enhances ocean biodiversity, and drive a global shift towards addressing both climate and biodiversity goals.
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
The GOAL platform aims to standardize sustainability reporting and processes across some of the US’s largest public gathering spaces — and entice the rest to come aboard.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
This week at SB’22 San Diego,
over 1K sustainability practitioners have converged to share insights, tools, inspiration and opportunities for collaboration with the goal of building a regenerative future for all. Here, we hear highlights from our day three keynotes, which featured pioneers disrupting and upleveling a variety of industries.
CLEANTECH -
Commercial real estate is the second-largest consumer of publicly supplied water in the US. Imagine if we came together to tackle this problem head on! Here are four recommendations for how property managers and building owners can lead the way.
CLEANTECH -
2 startups at the forefront of the carbon-capture space, Air Company and LanzaTech, continue to expand their portfolio of carbon-negative products and groundbreaking brand partnerships that will ensure global proliferation of their technologies.
COLLABORATION -
The group will develop the industry’s first specification for measuring, accounting for and decarbonizing the emissions associated with consumer use of connected devices.
CLEANTECH -
Globally, 80% of wastewater is discharged into local environments with minimal or no treatment — water that could be recycled and reused. California-based startup Aquacycl's waste-to-energy solution protects water resources while helping companies reduce costs.
NEW METRICS -
A multi-year study of the social cost of carbon, a critical input for climate policy analysis, finds that every additional ton of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere costs society $185 — far higher than the current federal estimate of $51 per ton.