Strategy & CSR | Olive Ventures Blog

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Environmental Concerns “At Record Lows”: Global Poll

From Reuters & GlobeScan: Canada-based research group GlobeScan surveyed 22,812 people from 22 countries, asking them to rate the seriousness of six issues – air pollution, water pollution, species loss, automobile emissions, fresh water shortages and climate change.

On average, 49 percent of people surveyed said climate change was a “very serious” concern and 50 percent said the same for biodiversity loss. The highest level of concern was about fresh water shortages, with 58 percent of people rating this as a “very serious” concern.

“Scientists report that evidence of environmental damage is stronger than ever but our data shows that economic crisis and a lack of political leadership mean that the public are starting to tune out,” said Doug Miller, chairman of GlobeScan.

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PwC report warns that “governments and businesses can no longer assume that a 2°C warming world is the default scenario”

The PwC Low Carbon Economy Index evaluates the rate of decarbonisation of the global economy that is needed to limit warming to 2°C. This is based on a carbon budget that would stabilise atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at 450 ppm and give a 50% probability of limiting warming to 2°C.

This report shows that global carbon intensity decreased between 2000 and 2011 by around 0.8%a year. In 2011, carbon intensity decreased by just 0.7%.The global economy now needs tocut carbon intensity by 5.1% every year from now to 2050 to achievethis carbon budget. This requiredrate of decarbonisation has not been seen even in a single year since the mid-20th century whenthese records began.

Keeping to the 2°C carbon budget will requireunprecedented and sustainedreductions over four decades.Governments’ ambitions to limit warming to 2°C appear highly unrealistic.

Read the report:

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We’re on Scoop.it

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Sustainable Events Management – ISO 20121 explained

We are pleased to announce that the ISEP ( Instep Sustainable Events Programme) will incorporate the recently released ISO 20121. The London 2012 Olympics were the first event to incorporate this standard into the event. This sustainable event standard is almost identical to BS8901 and will over time replace the BS 8901 in most areas of the world. Instep will phase out BS8901 over the next 12 months and current events will be changed over as we progress through their programme.

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A call for responsible capitalism

Good quote from Guardian:

All industries are wresting with similar challenges as we seek to balance the pursuit of prosperity in our economic world with desire for a healthy and long lasting planet.

The challenges for business are not simply environmental, but also about the need for an overriding commitment to responsible capitalism. It is clear that unless we sustain business as a force for good in society we will lose the glue that binds people with the wealth creating bedrock on which society depends.

All businesses are increasingly judged not just on how much money they make, but how they make money; business behaviours and business performance are increasingly inseparable.

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Why Sustainability Reporting Matters in Singapore

From Green Drinks Singapore:

Fourteen per cent – or 79 out of 562 – of Singapore Exchange (SGX) Mainboard-listed companies engaged in sustainability reporting last year. While this percentage appears low, it represents a 25-per-cent increase over the previous year.This key finding, released by the Singapore Compact, a national corporate social responsibility (CSR) society, at the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore (ICPAS) Singapore Accountancy Convention last November, is a useful snapshot of the non-financial reporting scene in Singapore.Companies with large market capitalisation (of more than S$1 billion) accounted for almost 60 per cent of listed companies engaged in sustainability reporting.

“Sustainability reporting is now more than a buzzword to business and accounting professionals,” noted Mr Thomas Thomas, Executive Director of the Singapore Compact for CSR. “For the past year or so, the growing awareness of sustainability reporting has led to greater proactive interest from companies and organisations.”

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2 recent articles about how sustainability benefits companies

From Fast Company: A recent study from researchers at UCLA looked at how companywide “green” standards affect employee productivity and found that businesses that follow international environmental standards have employees that are 16% more productive than less sustainable companies.

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