The Sustainability Learning Forum

Making Responsible Use of a Scarce Resource: Water

Dr. Wolfgang Große-Entrup, Bayer Group
Bayer Group

The globe today faces a series of major challenges: How can we safeguard high-quality food and good healthcare? How can we tackle climate change and save resources? How can we provide as many people as possible with access to clean water? All these central questions, reinforced by the steady growth of the world population, have a direct impact on the Bayer Group. This is because healthcare, nutrition, and materials used for many daily life products are our core business, including contributions to climate protection and resource efficiency. I am convinced that holistic approaches and innovative solutions are the key to coping with such global challenges and to finding the right balance between economic growth, social welfare, and environmental stewardship. At least this is what we are striving for at Bayer. more[...] login_required

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Reconciling Air Treaffic Growth With Climate Protection

AIR FRANCE KLM

The aviation industry’s share of global emissions of anthropogenic CO2 is around 2 percent, which is partly due to the continued growth of air transport. Since 2007, Air France-KLM has been implementing a “climate plan” – a strategy to aggregate the actions already undertaken within the Group in addition to further actions to fight climate change. more[...] login_required

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Fighting Drought With Traditional Knowledge in Peru

Adrienne McKeehan, Conservation International

In celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, today we’re bringing you a great example of one of the many contributions indigenous peoples are making to address global problems like climate change. more[...] login_required

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The world bites back

Paul Simpson, Carbon Disclosure Project

Around the world, I see turbulence disrupting established systems and creating uncertainty. Across Europe, the ramifications of the debt crisis continue to be made known. The resolutely firm financial standing of Germany was recently rocked when credit ratings agency Moody's announced the country’s creditworthiness to be “negative”, a demotion from “stable”. The Netherlands and Luxembourg experienced the same fate and now share the label. In a desperate bid to tackle its financial woes, Spain paid the second highest yield on short-term debt since the birth of the Euro. Turn to Greece, and the scene is no less bleak. more[...] login_required

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WBCSD and IFC announce cooperation towards low carbon growth in Indian cement sector

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Expanding Biofuels May Increase Global Poverty and Decrease Income Inequality

World Bank

In a new working paper, Caesar B. Cororaton and Govinda R. Timilsina analyze the impact of large-scale expansion of biofuels on global income distribution and poverty. A global computable general equilibrium model is used to simulate the effects of the expansion of biofuels on resource allocation, commodity prices, factor prices, and household income. A second model based on worldwide household surveys uses these results to calculate the impacts on poverty and global income inequality. more[...] login_required

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Make Rio+20 Count

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) provides an exceptional opportunity for swift policy action to accelerate and scale business solutions so 9 billion people can live well and within the limits of one planet by 2050. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today pressed governments to overcome their differences and to take decisive action now. more[...] login_required

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Managing Biofuels Portfolio Risk – The Role of Financial and Risk Analysis

Deloitte

This white paper explores managing biofuels portfolio risk – the stakeholder’s targeted value approach and the financial and risk analysis roles. The Department of Navy (DON), Department of Energy, and United States Department of Agriculture are together pursuing an ambitious program to support military requirements for viable and cost effective biofuels and to accelerate the growth of a national biofuels industry to address strategic energy security concerns. Source: All information taken from the website. more[...] login_required

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Rio+20: Forests form important foundation for a green economy

Duncan Macqueen, International Institute for Environment and Development

Forests constitute the vast majority of what is green on planet earth. The quest for a green economy at Rio+20 excited the full spectrum of the forest community – from forest industries to local forest rights-holder groups. Both groups have something to offer – although it may be necessary to invest more in locally-controlled forestry if a fair green economy is to be achieved. more[...] login_required

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Self-Assessment on Human Rights

Joël Tronchon, Groupe SEB
SEB Groupe

Having become a participant of the UN Global Compact in 2003, Groupe SEB is committed to respecting the Ten Principles of the agreement. For the Group, which has a presence in several continents, including Asia, it was necessary to find a tool capable of transforming this commitment in principle into a concrete reality. This would enable an evaluation of the manner in which these Principles were taken into account locally in each of the Group’s subsidiaries. Accordingly, in 2007 the Group adopted the HRCA Quick Check (Human Rights Compliance Assessment) – a self-assessment tool developed by the Danish Institute for Human Rights and supported by the United Nations. more[...]

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Climate Change

Extreme events increase. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there were only ion he US a record twelve weather disasters costing more than $1 billion in 2011. The strategies to meet this are mitigation – that means reduction and prevention of greenhouse gases output - and adaptation – that means measures to adapt to the inevitable global warming. more[...]

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The time for short-term solutions is behind us

Björn Stigson, WBCSD

When the world’s governments meet in Copenhagen in December, their representatives will be dealing with an unprecedented level of change in two interwoven areas: climate and the economy. This massive pressure for change is leading to what I believe is a new industrial revolution, one that has the potential to dramatically reshape the world we live in. That pressure will remain, no matter what global leaders decide in Copenhagen. Sustainable solutions to the complex problems we are facing will require government and business to cooperate on a level never seen before. more[...] login_required

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Beyond 2012 – The World Food Programme’s Perspective for a Future Climate Change Policy

World Food Programme (WFP)

Climate is a key parameter in growing food. Changes in climate pose a threat to agriculture and can lead to drastic increases in food insecurity and hunger. Climate change will affect everyone, but it has a disproportionate effect on those living in poverty in developing countries in areas where deprivation and vulnerability to climate risks and natural disasters are severe. Studies warn of a coming “global food crunch” with long-term drivers of climate change, scarcity of land and water, lack of investment in agriculture and fuel production, and rising food consumption due to population growth all combining to cause political instability. more[...] login_required

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Brazil’s position on global warming

Carlos Minc Baumfeld

Brazil’s position on global warming is extremely clear: We want the country to take on a leading role amongst the nations that are now dealing with this phenomenon, which has been named one of the most worrying for future generations. more[...] login_required

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Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge

James P. Leape, WWF

Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge the world has ever faced. It has the potential to also be the greatest developmental, social, health, and security challenge – if unchecked, global warming could potentially create hundreds of millions of climate refugees as coastal areas are flooded, crops fail – causing greater food scarcity – and water supplies dry up. It is a threat that will affect us all, irrespective of where we live. As Archbishop Tutu said, climate change is “totally indiscriminate of race, culture and religion.” more[...] login_required

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