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šThe Sustainability Top 10: Even the mighty can get it wrong on climate...a humbling moment for a big corporate
Julio Corredor
August 23, 2023
Welcome back š,
This week in sustainability, we have Amazon having a humbling moment, Googleās SAF purchase, unbiasing AI, assessing nature and biodiversity risk, a carbon accounting startup making your life easier, Montanaās climate ruling, scary PFAS stats and moreā¦
By the way, I am planning on writing an article on software, platforms that can help companies do ESG/carbon tracking and reporting. I know about all the manual-intensive, Excel nightmares that companies are going through to keep track and report on this data so should be a juicy topic and helpful for you. Please share with me any pain points you have experienced, areas you would like me to explore, or good experiences in switching over to an ESG/carbon data platform to consider them for the article!
Here are The Green Tea's Top actionable, innovation, and hot sustainability stories this week! š
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1. (LATimes) Ouch: Amazon is removed from Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) list of companies taking action on climate goals after it failed to implement its commitment to set a credible target for reducing carbon emissionsā¦read here. Although this must be humbling for Amazon, there could be a few silver linings here:
- Amazon gets an opportunity to realize that maybe they are not doing as well as they thought (something that a company's echo chamber could cause) and do better.
- This shows that SBTi is holding up its standards and independence even when dealing with powerful companies.
- Other companies creating science-based targets will be encouraged to step up their game and keep it real (this could be you š).
This has other implications as some ESG funds include Amazon as one of their top investments, so what will they do?
2. (ESG Today) Supporting green innovation early on is a hallmark of sustainability leading companies (and ones with big pockets...): Google to address business travel emissions with Sustainable Aviation Fuel purchases. read here
3. (Just Capital) Something to keep in mind to avoid bias in your AI efforts: Rolling Stone writes about a group of female scientists who are leading an effort to make sure AI systems are trained on unbiased data sets so they do not continue to reinforce stereotypes and perpetuate discrimination. read here
Startup of the Week
4. (ESG Today) Getting headaches from doing your carbon accounting? Startup Persefoni created an AI-GPT-based product to help users become more efficient in their carbon accounting, making it easier to perform functions including querying data, making calculation selections, learning how to use the platform, and receiving real-time support. The company just raised an additional $50M. read here
5. (ESG Today) S&P launches a service enabling investors to assess portfolio nature and biodiversity risk which covers 17,000 companies. read here
6. (GreenBiz) Have you considered what the Inflation Reduction Act can do for your company? Here are some ways to think about itā¦read here. Google and others are already taking advantage of it.
7. (WEF) Unexpected agrivoltaics love affair: sheep seem to love their solar panels š. read here
Culture wars continueā¦
8. (Just Capital) ESG term is losing prominence as more companies scrub the term from their vocabulary, including McDonaldās as a recent example. A survey of roughly 300 Bloomberg terminal users also said that two-thirds would stop saying āESG,ā. read here
9. (Just Capital) Starbucks wins a lawsuit aiming to diminish its DEI initiatives. The plaintiff argued that the coffee maker was in violation of its fiduciary duty to shareholders by supporting corporate diversity policies... read here
10. (Reuters) Judge rules in favor of Montana youths in a landmark climate case arguing that the state is violating the rights of young people with policies that prohibit the state from considering climate change effects when it reviews coal mining, natural gas extraction and other fossil fuel projects. Whether this will have a broader impact is a question mark given the unique constitution of Montana... read here
+. (NYTimes) Earlier this year, we heard that PFAS were in 45% of tap water, and we just learned that ~8% of water systems have them at unsafe levels š³. But these āForever Chemicalsā are not just in water; they are everywhere from shampoo to clothes to paper. But what are they doing to us? It is hard to know exactly as essentially you would have to run a clinical trial, but there is evidence that they are likely affecting humans in many ways from causing cancer to high cholesterol to lower vaccine effectiveness...read here. What is ironic about this is that chemical companies are putting these and many other chemicals in the market with very limited testing of their real impact on humans and the environment. So here is my word of advice: as a precaution, cut unnatural chemicals from your life wherever you can ā.
Enjoy and reflect š. Warm regards / saludos,
Julio
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Post Credits
Earlier this year, I decided to complete the profound experience of exploring the four greatest waterfalls in the world and write a visual book about it, Water Soul. The book will be about these awe-inspiring sites and personal growth, but also about our evolving connection with water and nature. I am a month out from visiting the last of these waterfalls, Victoria Falls, so I am excited to complete the journey and share some of it with you. See below a picture from one of these incredible natural wonders (you get extra credit if you can guess what waterfall this is šµļøā).
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