WBCSD Sustain Newsletter (2024)

• We can keep the water flowing: Joe Phelan, Director WBCSD India, provides an overview of our Water & Sanitation pathway and reflects on its importance in India.
• We can connect people: Constant van Aerschot, Director WBCSD Asia Pacific, talks with Fujitsu’s Mel Melis about Vision 2050’s Connectivity pathway.
• We can provide healthy diets for all: Diane Holdorf, Managing Director of the Food & Nature Program, explores Vision 2050’s Food pathway.

WBCSD announces new Business Commission to Tackle Inequality

A new initiative, the Business Commission to Tackle Inequality (BCTI), seeks to put tackling inequality and creating shared prosperity for all at the heart of business’s agenda for sustainable growth. The BCTI will be supported and steered by forward-thinking global companies and their leaders. It will bring together business leaders and a range of experts and stakeholders to shape and promote a compelling common narrative and agenda for business action on inequality.

World Water Week 2021 in review: opportunities for business to support water, climate and nature

Last week, as part of World Water Week 2021, WBCSD led a series of sessions on different themes and topics with partner organizations and contributed to several other sessions throughout the week. In his latest article, Tom Williams WBCSD Director for Nature Action & Water, shares a summary from the week and highlights the opportunities for business to support water, climate and nature.

All roads lead to Rome: a Pre-Summit towards an equitable, net-zero and nature-positive food system

Read Peter Bakker’s article based on his speech at the Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), during the opening plenary ‘A Bold Ambition to Improve Food Systems’ on 26 July 2021. For more reading, and ahead of the UNFSS in September, read the insight by Diane Holdorf, leader of our Food & Nature program, for a deeper look at the Food pathway as part of WBCSD’s Vision 2050 framework.

The Food and Agriculture Roadmap: transforming food systems for the environment, livelihoods and healthy diets for all

WBCSD launched the Food and Agriculture Roadmap, an implementation of the CEO Guide to Food System Transformation. Designed for the food and agriculture business community, it sets out the targets, key action areas and solutions urgently required to transform food and agriculture systems to achieve environmental sustainability, equitable livelihoods, and healthy and sustainable diets for all.

Advancing business understanding of ‘nature positive’

Read the latest insight by Tom Williams on what ‘nature positive’ means for business. The term ‘nature positive’ is rapidly emerging as a rallying call, ‘a north star’, to guide action and to transform business. The recently published paper, A Nature-Positive World: The Global Goal for Nature, sets out three measurable temporal objectives: Zero Net Loss of Nature from 2020, Net Positive by 2030, and Full Recovery by 2050.

First results of a new set of Key Performance Indicators released by the Forest Solutions Group

Members of the Forest Solutions Group (FSG) have today released the first results from a revised set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) adopted earlier this year, revealing positive trends on all long-term indicators, and a more comprehensive picture through new metrics.

Skilling youth in a post-pandemic world: How business can make a difference

Against a backdrop of rapid technological advances, a range of socio-economic trends and the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, the world of work is changing at a pace and depth that poses serious challenges to people, business, and society. A new report by UNICEF and WBCSD explores the role of business in addressing the global skills mismatch among youth.

The innovative mobility landscape: The case of Mobility as a Service

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) gives citizens easy access to a wide range of integrated travel options. With the right governance and regulatory framework, it can also make travel in cities more climate-friendly and sustainable. WBCSD and the International Transport Forum (ITF) have published a new report that offers practical guidance for policymakers and companies on how to adopt MaaS at scale.

Net-zero buildings: Where do we stand?

The building industry is responsible for 38% of all energy-related GHG emissions. To reach net-zero, we need to understand the full carbon footprint of buildings. We have launched a report with whole life carbon assessment of six building projects to evaluate where we stand in relation to global climate targets. The report points way to halving emissions from global construction by 2030 – with measurement and clear targets.

Decarbonizing construction: Guidance for investors and developers to reduce embodied carbon

A large part of the construction sector’s emissions come from building products and materials – embodied carbon. This is an increasing focus of regulatory bodies, making it a risk factor for developers and investors to price into construction projects. Our new report provides over 50 embodied carbon-reduction policies and best practices that investors can adopt in built environment portfolios to help align the construction industry with the Paris Agreement.

Business recovery and return to normal: ESG, enterprise risk management and risk screening

WBCSD and Latham & Watkins team up to share insights and discuss approaches to early-stage risk screening in the context of ESG and enterprise risk management, following analysis and interviews with corporate risk professionals. Early identification of the onset of risks allows risk owners to take timely action to mitigate business vulnerabilities.

Survey - How are companies measuring up to net-zero targets?

This year, South Pole is asking companies about their net-zero targets and milestones in a 5-7 minute survey to be completed by 13 September. Last year, South Pole’s 2020 net-zero report found that COVID-19 had propelled climate ambition to the top of the corporate agenda – and surprisingly many had set net-zero targets in a year fraught by economic and social uncertainty. But few organizations had set concrete milestones on how to get there.