Rene Schneider

🔉🔉 🔉 I don't know why this isn't bigger news today in our #sustainability community but... UK businesses via UN Global Compact Network UK look set to lean into double materiality! 📣 Richard Howitt* states: "...the choice to be made between single (financial) #materiality in the company's sustainability reporting or double materiality (including the company's impact on people and planet), Global Compact member companies are firmly recommended to take the latter, more comprehensive approach. This choice is reaffirmed in the positions quoted in the report from the UK's #sustainableinvestmentforum and by the @UK Impact Investing Institute underlining that many in the financial community itself, want companies to be able to see beyond a short-term, finance-only perspective." ++++ "we predicted it!" is not always helpful but because our statements are always based in 20 years empirical research i do think it helps to know the sources you can lean on to shine a clean light on the path forward in such a confusing space. 🌊 Contrary to popular belief progress is not happening step by step - there are waves of change and then ripple effects. #Greenwashing - #CSRD leavers were the big waves - once these checks and market drivers were in place we advised for all organisations - regardless of geography - to start working towards a double materiality (or better still - context based scoping and materiality). Why - well once the market realised that financial reporting would extend to include environmental, social reporting + governance we knew that getting this right would be the gold standard of how all assets are valued. ✅ What we are advising now is not just geographically but - regardless of being pulled into mandatory reporting ALL organisations should look to at least understand what double materiality looks like for them. Why? - simply put the organisations in the mandatory disclosure bracket will not reach their targets without kicking the pressure up and down the supply chain. ❗ a shocking 84% of listed companies are not aligning with netzero ref: MSCI Inc. Get ahead of changes and join our September 'Beyond Carbon' cohort (with a 50% discount if you will give some time to me for my research on knowledge gaps - Chatham House rule): https://lnkd.in/eEcyqAh2 *Richard Howitt is Strategic Advisor, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, Business and Human Rights, former Member of the European Parliament responsible for the E.U.'s first rules on corporate sustainability reporting and global Chief Executive of the International Integrated Reporting Council. https://lnkd.in/eYJyHEPb

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Findings of a new study suggest that citizens struggle to identify #compostable plastic packaging from appearance alone. Clear direct disposal instruction wording can help enable the appropriate #disposal behaviours. Qualitative findings showed that participants preferred clarity and directness in the disposal instructions logo denoting #compostability. The depiction of simple yet unambiguous and instructive #symbols was valued and likely to be the better instigators of #BehaviourChange compared with associative symbols. Implications for labelling policy are discussed. https://lnkd.in/e4sXe3kR

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https://lnkd.in/eyFABuED Thank you to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for producing this study about the #CircularEconomy measurement landscape One thing that shocks me when reading the paper is that the transition to responsible production and consumption modes is essential but very complicated for companies. 😩 So why not simplify and harmonize the approaches? Why so much "competition" and overlap in reporting standards and frameworks? ♻ The transition objectives are simple, (but not easy to execute) though : 1) Reduce the use of virgin and non-renewable natural resources, 2) Extend the lifespan of products, 3) Regenerate ecosystems... 🙌 So it should be simple and obvious for each company to know what to measure to make progress.

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What makes innovations work in Scotland? Impact, vision, community & ecosystem. Yesterday at the #makeyourinnovationswork podcast, I hosted Evelyn McDonald, CEO of the Scottish EDGE and a person of enormous energy who ignites the ideas of others. Key insight on how to nurture ideas within ecosystems, how social enterprises can fundraise for the sake of innovations and what makes Scotland a powerful growth spo with the UK. Social Entrepreneurship as a business model to innovate by design.  "I have to keep innovating as you do in any business because you need to keep innovating to keep your supporters engaged, to keep your stakeholders engaged, to keep people you know continuing to pay you to do what you do," says Evelen. She and her Team regularly walk in entrepreneurs' shoes when you need to adjust to the market on a regular basis and need to find a problem your customers willingly pay for. Innovate as you go. Since Scottish EDGE was launched more than 10 years ago, they have reinvented fundraising methods to keep their funding fund. Though it is the biggest business competition in the UK, crises and markets happen. Alumni pledges (1% of what they personally make on exit back to Scottish Edge), high net Scottish entrepreneurs support, sponsorship, etc., are used to secure Scottish EDGE work. Powerful community of alumni. One of the distinguishing features of the Scottish EDGE is that they support young and inexperienced entrepreneurs with 15000£ each per round. Once a part of Young EDGE, Amiqus has become the UK's leading compliance and onboarding platform, which is recommended for use by the UK government and is called "Fantastic Future Fifty 2024" by Tech Nation. It started from a spark. Running a business may be a lonely place to be. Though Teams, mentors, and partners are critical to demonstrating that your ideas mean something to others, the alumni community helps on the journey itself with information, advice, a network, and support. People are rushing from other countries to return to where their business came from. Impact matters. The last "Beyond the Return" report by Tech Nation, European Women in VC, and Founders Forum Group has shown - 88% of the VCs use an impact investing framework or tool to guide their investment decisions, with Western Europe being one of the most impact-oriented. Even more, founders are looking for impactful projects to work on, and it's pretty crucial for GenZ and younger generations to stand for some cause. The circular economy is one of the examples of how business models can become both scalable and impactful. So, there is room for another model as well. Impact helps to inspire critical stakeholders when you are an early-stage enterprise; it helps to spread the word and bring the right people on board. Feel free to come into round 24 with a 1.5 million pound prize pot starting the 14th of August. Make your #innovations work! #strategy #growth The link to the podcast is in comments

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What a welcome change to previous government inaction! The rapid adoption of DRS will boost three key benefits for UK already enjoyed by many other countries. 1. It will quickly change the mindset of UK consumers that packaging at the end of its first use should be discarded as valueless materials. 2. This will have immediate benefits to the environment on unwanted litter and to those individuals that rescue these materials for recovery. 3. It will reduce our reliance on virgin materials and reduce the carbon footprint of UK via the boost in the recovery rate of packaging materials into the circular economy. Those involved in DRS will know that this is not a simple nor easy nor inexpensive system to administer and there is a need to unify the systems in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England otherwise it opens the door to fraud and exploitation of the differences. On the positive side there is vast experience in many countries and DRS operators that can be used as a template for a successful UK wide DRS system.

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The final Scope 3 Peer Group Member Challenge from last week was:❓ "How are you tackling EUDR alongside Scope 3 carbon reductions without becoming a distraction?" ❓ How are you approaching it? The answers are relevant for the Nature & Biodiversity Peer Group too! 💥 Clarifying which suppliers are key for the variety of needs we have to ask them questions for all at once. Doing this for CSRD and EUDR together, but also linked to decarbonization needs and asks 💥 Different groups internally are tackling - so we keep it separate 💥 I wish I knew how to as it is very time consuming to work with EUDR! 💥 It is a challenge to prioritize and keep momentum with scope 3 , when lot of resources are focused on EUDR rest of the year. We are designing some working groups on this topic, We would love to connect with peers working on this!  💥 Not an issue in terms of human resources but in terms of investment decision. 💥 This work is being addressed by a separate team focused on regulation and reporting. Once requirements are clear (supplier-facing action/data gathering/contracting, etc) it is likely to be implemented as a part of our Forest Positive and GHG procurement/sourcing strategy. Education is already underway with sourcing/procurement on regulation in general and on interventions in the Forest Positive space. 💥 We are doing a full on legal and audit review of EUDR while trying to not distract from other work. We are early on here. So I'm able to focus on our 2025 short term goals. 💥 We are not the importers of record, so we are checking our suppliers have the measures in place, but not actively reporting. 💥 We have a team that manages our Forest positive workstream. EUDR is priority due to timeline and regulatory nature. Central climate team is carrying the torch on scope 3 reductions in the meantime. 💥 We have had to separate the workstreams completely to avoid this distraction, which has enabled enhanced communications between departments. 💥 We have hired consultants to undertake a gap assessment of what we need to do to move from where we are now to being compliant with EUDR. This is a MUST DO, so inevitably is a distraction from 100% focus on decarbonisation. 💥 We have made it our focus and developed a separate team to work on our project. Additionally have developed JV’s with large corporate partners to support our project and vision. 💥 We're piggy-backing our CBAM solution, as both use a customs data set, this has massively streamlined our efforts. 💥 We've set internal and external policies and are monitoring but truthfully not doing enough in this space yet.

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The belief that serious challenges cannot be solved by either the government, or the private sector or community alone - it needs them to work together - lies at the core of what we do at DGA-ASG everyday... we work to find sustainable solutions at the intersection of all three. Watch this interview and the fascinating examples of when these three sectors come together! Bipul Kiran Singh Roy George Mankavil Vineet Abraham Roopal Suhag Saumya Varma Mayuri Purkayastha Piyush Chakravarty Albright Stonebridge Group Dentons Global Advisors

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How to talk about climate change in the run up to the election https://lnkd.in/edk_qgpS #climatechange #sustainability #costofliving #buildaffordablesustainablehomes

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A great day at Sustainable Ventures - plotting and planning for what will be epic Scope 3 Peer Group Strategy Days on 28-30 January. Already twice as many people than last January… 🤯 If you haven’t already looked at our Strategy Days: https://lnkd.in/e5Nh3ADS 🗓️ Day 1 (28 January): We are hosting any scope 3 initiative/industry/project/workstream that wants an opportunity to meet and cross-pollinate over lunch & evening drinks. Banking, pharma, automotive, capital goods and more… 🗓️ Day 2 (29 January): Every scope 3 practitioner together in the same room. Organised into teams based on maturity, industry, challenge and role. Sharing and discussing what we all need to do in 2025 to move the needle significantly on scope 3. BAU isn’t going to be enough… “What we did in the last 12 months & how, plus what we’re plan to do in 2025 (& how)” from: Haleon, Schneider Electric, Bayer, NHS England, Givaudan, AstraZeneca, Takeda, Essity, Nationwide Building Society & more that have made real progress. 🗓️ Day 3 (30 January): We organise into Workshops by challenge and projects - including: - Product Carbon Footprinting - Carbon Pricing - Supplier Engagement & ACTUAL Decarbonisation - Procurement Capability-Building - Fossil-Free Solutions & Innovation - AI Decarbonisation - And more…all decided by those participating & the challenges you submit Join us 😁 https://lnkd.in/e5Nh3ADS If you haven’t already checked out the great work of Andrew Wordsworth Joseph Seal-Driver & Simon Brown at Sustainable Ventures (and the wonderful space that Wayne Shaw manages), then you should. Genuinely the home of Climate Tech and solutions.

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Uncomfortable truth: Is the corporate sustainability movement inadvertently doing more harm than good? Lindsay Hooper and Paul Gilding from Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) suggest that our current focus on hero projects and disclosures might be creating a false sense of progress. They advocate for a shift towards transforming markets, emphasizing that the current approach may only lead to incremental improvements. Their report challenges us to reconsider our priorities: Are hero projects and disclosures truly effective, or should we be investing more in driving systemic, economy-wide change? Let's take a moment to read the full report and reflect on where our efforts are directed: https://lnkd.in/d5U8r83q

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Why do some people still think that making the products and services we buy more sustainable is optional? Is this like thinking innovation is optional, the last blast of wishful thinking against the incoming tide of change? For many sectors the reality of that change is upon us. It's not even the future anymore. I was recently in a conversation about the properties of weather resilience in the latest varieties of staple food ingredients, able to withstand both flood and drought during one growing cycle of the plant, just what we now need in the UK. The opportunities and imperatives for innovation are everywhere. And with them the opportunity to future proof businesses and supply chains. These are not 'nice to haves', the future will belong to the companies who adapt the fastest. Marketing and advertising may be further away from some of this, but it's imperative to connect to the strategic and existential need for innovation and change, and ensure that plans are designed to win market share through future-proof products and services. As William McDonough has been showing us all for years - its about designing things right in the first place. Only at this point can you design out cost, pollution and waste, and that's good for customers, good for margin, and better for the planet. Much better than trying to clear up afterwards. In our new book, Sustainable Advertising, Matt Bourn and I propose a Sustainable Advertising Manifesto that anyone in marketing and advertising can adopt, to put their skills to promoting better choices, disconnecting value-creation from more stuff, thereby accelerating economic productivity and a more sustainable economy. It's a manifesto for "both and" not "either or". #SustainableAdvertising #circulareconomy WRAP #CircularLiving Ad Net Zero Ad Net Zero US Campaign UK Advertising Association IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) ISBA IAB WFA 4A's European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) https://bit.ly/3waQP8X

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A few days into COP16 here in Cali, and the energy is palpable! This first Biodiversity COP since the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is a pivotal moment. As part of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) panel alongside James Cole, Tony Juniper CBE Tom Quigley, Kerry Constabile and Victoria Leggett I've been asked to share my thoughts on the nature tech innovation landscape and how we can scale this: The sheer volume of emerging nature positive innovations is incredible. We have solutions for almost every challenge, but scaling them up and making them operational is key. Here's what we need: 👉 Matchmaking: "speed dating" between innovators and those who need their solutions. I've seen many brilliant ideas fail, not because they are not needed, but because they aren't presented or packaged effectively for the demand side. I'd argue that this is where 99% of the success lies. Communities of practice and accelerators that bring together universities, researchers, AND corporations (the demand side!) are essential. The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) is a stellar example – we need more of this! 👉 Capital at every stage: From early-stage research (think bioremediation - bacteria that eat plastic!) to commercialization, targeted investment is crucial. Some innovations require a huge leap of faith and early capital to even get off the ground. 👉 Corporate leadership: VC and private equity are dominating the innovation investment space. We need a step-change in corporate sponsorship. Companies with an appetite for risk can invest in nature-positive solutions, securing their own future resilience in the process. It's a win-win! Let's turn the tide on biodiversity loss. Together, we can scale these innovations and create real-world impact. #COP16 #biodiversity #innovation #sustainability #corporateleadership #investinourplanet

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Thank you Impact X for bringing people together and facilitating much-needed conversations. One of my favourites is this panel on #circulareconomy. Three experts shared their perspectives on #measurement and the #indicators we need to focus on - what do we stick with and what we need to understand better about. Thank you Heinz Schandl, Ian Overton and Tim Grant and Bronwyn Voyce for the insightful discussion. #lowcarboneconomy #climatechange #ixssydney2024

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Nothing feels more powerful than local heroes leading the charge in climate action!✨ As we know, every small action counts when it comes to climate sustainability. While global commitments are essential, the groundwork often starts at local levels. In recent years, I've seen a burgeoning interest in localised climate action plans. Municipalities and cities are actively creating or implementing their own sustainability roadmaps. These blueprints not only align with larger national goals but also cater specifically to the unique needs of local communities and ecosystems. By integrating renewable energy sources, enhancing green spaces, and promoting sustainable urban planning, municipalities - big and small - are setting remarkable examples. For example, have you seen the incredible work that the City of Calgary is doing on the Community Energy Improvement Program - similar to property assessed clean energy in other places. There is tremendous uptake on this program by Calgarians to reduce the GHG emissions of their homes. Buildings account for a significant portion of Calgarians' GHGs and access to capital allows people to make these changes now, not later. Let's pivot our discussions toward these community-driven success stories. What strategies have worked in your area? How can we scale these initiatives to have even broader impacts? 

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408 climate experts have signed an open letter to UK political party leaders calling on them to commit to these 5 pledges: 1. Publish and implement a credible and legal strategy for ending the UK’s contribution to climate change by meeting the UK’s statutory Carbon Budgets and its target of net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. 2. Accelerate action across all sectors and all parts of the UK to adapt and become more resilient to those impacts of climate change that cannot now be avoided, in line with UK Climate Change Risk Assessments. 3. Respect and act on all the advice of the expert independent Climate Change Committee, including its warning in its most recent Progress Report that “the UK will continue to need some oil and gas until it reaches Net Zero, but this does not in itself justify the development of new North Sea fields”. 4. Lead by example internationally on climate change, including through the implementation of the decision at COP28 in Dubai in December 2023, and the commitment to “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science”. 5. Increase public and private funding and support for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. Without such a pledge, we do not believe that your Party deserves support in the forthcoming General Election. The stakes couldn’t be higher for this next Government. If you’re wondering who to vote for in your area to make your vote count for climate action, register with VoteClimate.uk to receive tailored guidance. #vote #2024election #climateaction

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Final two spaces to join us from next week: 💡 Beyond Carbon 💡 💡 a 4 module course on corporate sustainability - including a 1:1💡 Carbon blinkered narratives have left many sustainability professionals struggling to fill the gaps in navigating incoming advances in sustainability. 📚 this course will fill the knowledge gaps What is material (double/single)? How to navigate greenwashing regulation Water, biodiversity reporting The changes that TNFD, CSRD, CSDDD etc bring to supply chain sustainability This course best suits: 💡 medium-small companies who are not necessarily mandated to report but will be affected in an up or downstream way 💡individuals that want to sustainability personal development 💡anyone working in sustainability breaking out of carbon siloed thinking 💡 20 years deep sustainability knowledge - We train boards, senior executives and teams in credible sustainability competence 🏥 We have created an entry level 6 week course for Medical Students at Kent Universities in sustainability - this will be a pilot of the first iteration to a corporate 4 module course ✅ If you would like to join us to pilot this 4 module course on this we are offering a 50% discount for a very small cohort reduced to £250 (starting July) ✅ Please do get in touch or forward to anyone that may be interested please Testimonial from Dan Hall at UCL "“Illana has joined me for panel discussions at the University of Oxford and University College London as an expert in corporate sustainability. Illana is an incredibly knowledgeable and thoughtful speaker, who is well-connected in the sustainability world. She provides industry insight and is always enthusiastic about engaging with different stakeholders, including students and young people”. Get in touch to book ASAP please...

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It's a labyrinth. No don't worry, I don't mean David Bowie in a leotard. I'm talking about sustainability reporting legislation. This article from James Hannay at Sustainability News highlights the fact that complexity is hindering effective reporting. 55% of respondents consider current sustainability reporting requirements overly complicated. 38% are unsure about the specific content required in their reports. 46% of respondents already report to at least three different ESG frameworks. There's no doubt it's onerous - and draining on already tight resources. But I'd go a step further and say - the pressure to report accurately is preventing actual action. Standby for epic inspirational quote: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt If you want to give yourself something positive to report, not just against the minefield of frameworks, but to the most important people, your team and your customers, then we can help. We're focussed on enabling those groups that are critical to your success in Retail, to take small but meaningful actions that add up to a big difference. If you're suffering from analysis paralysis then we can help.

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“There is a clear global call for more climate finance to go to help support LMICs, for it to fund adaptation, and for it to go directly to those who need it most. Yet, the world is far from achieving this vision. Roughly $4.8 trillion has been channeled into climate action, but 75 percent of this has been invested in high-income countries and it’s estimated that less than 10 percent reaches local levels.” https://lnkd.in/gxrrE7xz

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