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UN Paris Agreement Signing Event
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Triple Pundit - The Paris Agreement: What It Means for Business
Apr 21, 2016 | Triple Pundit
By Jim Pierobon
Terrell estimated the cumulative efficiency-clean-energy challenge and opportunity – today – to be a mere $13.5 trillion. But Steve Howard, the chief sustainability officer at Ikea, was quick to add: “If you want to build those industries in a big way, you need long-term, stable policy.” “It is a very bridgeable challenge. We need to get on with it,” Howard added. -
Scientific American - Corporations Move to Curb Global Warming
Apr 21, 2016 | Scientific American
By Benjamin Hulac
In the coming decades, humanity will “see Paris as the turning point between the carbon economy and the clean economy,” IKEA Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard said. “This was a systemic, global economy wide effort to decarbonize.” IKEA has long spoken of its efforts to cut energy use. The Swedish furniture maker is 70 percent of its way to its goal of powering all its operations with renewables by 2020. It aims to reuse or recycle 90 percent of its waste by 2020 and also sells solar panels in three markets. The company will add solar panel products to nine more markets in the next year and a half, Howard said. “We’re looking deep into our supply chain,” he said, “to chase out every ton of carbon.” At IKEA, Howard said, climate change has already left its mark—from extreme weather that has damaged cotton down its supply chain, flooding in India and Pakistan that disrupted supplies, too, and Superstorm Sandy, which cost the company $9 million in damage in Red Hook, Brooklyn. -
Environmental Leader - Why Google, Ikea Say ‘The Paris Effect’ Is Boosting Business
Apr 21, 2016 | Environmental Leader
By Hubert Green
“If we look forward 10, 20, 30 years time or beyond, we will see Paris as the turning point between the carbon economy and the clean economy,” said Steve Howard, Ikea’s chief sustainability officer and We Mean Business board co-chair. “This was not just about small incremental actions. This is a systemic movement to decarbonize.” At Ikea, this means “focusing our efforts where can we achieve big impacts in reducing carbon emission but do that in a way that increases value” for the company, Howard said. This includes investing in renewable energy: about 70 percent of Ikea’s power comes from renewable sources and the company had set a goal of reaching 100 percent. By COP21, when the Paris climate deal was reached, Ikea had also switched to selling only LED lighting in all of its stores globally. The retail giant is also “looking deep into our supply chain to how we can chase out every ton of carbon,” Howard said, adding that “all of these things make good business sense. You can almost always construct a business case for chasing carbon out.” -
edie.net - COP21 signing ceremony: 100 corporations call for clear policies and swift actions
Apr 21, 2016 | edie.net
By George Ogleby
IKEA chief sustainability officer Steve Howard - one of the signatories - said: “The Paris Agreement represents a turning point for business. It is the beginning of the long-term framework needed for business to transform their operations and invest in low carbon products and services for the future. “Now it is time to translate this framework into clear policies and actions. At IKEA, we are committed to do our part. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and to transform our business. By 2020 we will produce as much renewable energy as the energy we consume in our own operations.” -
Climate Change News Blog - Investors Worth $3.6 Trillion Support Joint U.S. and Canadian Announcement on Limiting Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Industry
Apr 21, 2016 | Climate Change News Blog
By David Landskov
“The Paris Agreement represents a turning point for business. It is the beginning of the long-term framework needed for business to transform their operations and invest in low carbon products and services for the future,” said Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA. “Now it is time to translate this framework into clear policies and actions. At IKEA, we are committed to do our part. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and to transform our business. By 2020 we will produce as much renewable energy as the energy we consume in our own operations.” -
Huffington Post - One Way The Paris Climate Pact Is Already Having A Huge Effect
Apr 20, 2016 | Huffington Post
By Alexander Kaufman
Mention: “The Paris agreement represents a turning point for business,” Steve Howard, Ikea’s chief sustainability officer, said in a statement ahead of Wednesday’s call. “It is the beginning of the long-term framework needed for business to transform their operations and invest in low carbon products and services for the future.” -
GreenBiz - We Mean Business: The Paris Accord is a $13 trillion opportunity
Apr 20, 2016 | GreenBiz
By Barbara Grady
Mention: Ikea Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard said that the global furniture retailer has seen about that return on its low-carbon products, principally LED lighting, which is now the only kind of lighting it sells. Cameron, Howard and Ceres president Mindy Lubber spoke to reporters on a press call this morning, along with Anirban Ghosh, chief sustainability officer of Mahindra & Mahindra, one of India’s largest companies, and Michael Terrell, senior policy counsel for energy and sustainability at Google. -
Sustainable Brands - Can ‘The Paris Effect’ Take Companies, Governments Beyond Flagship Initiatives?
Apr 20, 2016 | Sustainable Brands
By Hannah Furlong
Mention: “Now it is time to translate this framework into clear policies and actions,” IKEA's Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard said of the Paris Agreement, which he believes represents a turning point for business. “At IKEA, we are committed to do our part. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and to transform our business. By 2020 we will produce as much renewable energy as the energy we consume in our own operations.” In a press call, Howard said that IKEA is “right on track” to meet its renewable energy target, with 29 wind farms and more than 700,000 solar panels installed on its stores and distribution centers. He estimates IKEA currently generates about 70% of its electricity with renewables. Regarding what COP21 meant for the company, Howard said “it strongly validated” that IKEA needs to innovate with its products and services, completely decarbonize its operations and supply chain, and that “the clock was ticking.” “We put renewed urgency into setting a science-based target, we’re looking deep into our supply chain for how we can chase out every single ton of carbon, and we’ve said that this is for every part of our business, so it’s not just about flagship initiatives, but it’s about root and branch change across the organization,” he explained. “You can almost always construct a business case to take carbon out,” Howard added. “It’s about driving energy efficiency, saving money; it’s about innovating with products and services.” Howard added that IKEA is already feeling the effects of extreme weather events, from floods in Asia and supply chain disruptions to Hurricane Sandy causing an estimated $9 million dollar impact on its business in addition to the social impacts on its employees and their communities. -
Ceres Press Release - 100+ Companies Salute the Signing of the Paris Agreement and Call For Swift Action On Clean Power Plan
Apr 20, 2016 | Ceres
Mention: “The Paris Agreement represents a turning point for business. It is the beginning of the long-term framework needed for business to transform their operations and invest in low carbon products and services for the future,” said Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA. “Now it is time to translate this framework into clear policies and actions. At IKEA, we are committed to do our part. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and to transform our business. By 2020 we will produce as much renewable energy as the energy we consume in our own operations.” -
Business Green - Top businesses celebrate as record number of countries prepare to sign Paris Agreement
Apr 21, 2016 | Business Green
By Madeleine Cuff
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Green Biz - The 5 biggest shifts since the Paris climate talks
| GreenBiz
By Lauren Hepler
Articles Quoting Steve Howard
Articles Listing IKEA
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Triple Pundit - The Paris Agreement: What It Means for Business
Apr 21, 2016 | Triple Pundit
By Jim Pierobon
A growing number of businesses understand that money can be made by mitigating climate change. Their collective voice is becoming louder and more credible as over 150 countries prepare to formally sign the Paris Agreement on Friday in New York City.
The question now is not whether that voice is heard by national governments, but how soon policymakers will recognize the rise of clean energy as the biggest driving force behind sustainable economic growth.
The We Mean Business coalition held a global press call in advance of this week’s proceedings at the U.N. headquarters in New York. The coalition’s members include companies such as Google, Ikea and BSR, as well as nonprofits like Ceres. On Wednesday, they relayed increasingly compelling metrics which prove the companies that choose to ignore this tectonic shift do so at great peril to their bottom lines.
“Implementing the Paris Agreement will enable and encourage businesses and investors to turn the billions of dollars in low-carbon investments we have seen so far into the trillions the world needs to bring clean energy and prosperity to all,” said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, which works to mobilize investor and business leaders toward a sustainable global economy.
The Paris Agreement goes into effect once 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions have deposited their “instruments of accession” with the U.N. This is basically a fancy term for signing the agreement and agreeing to be bound by its terms. (For more information, check out this breakdown from the World Resources Institute.) Advocates are hoping that could happen as early as next year.
“Many businesses have helped kickstart this movement by setting ambitious targets, reporting emissions and scaling up low-carbon investment,” the We Mean Business coalition says. But it is quick to admit policies are not changing quickly enough to keep the anticipated rise in global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius.
As promising as the opportunities may be, there was still a palatable sense of urgency among those who participated in the call.
“We cannot waste time moving these programs forward,” Lubber said. “It’s time to put muscle behind the policy.”
If roughly 400 large institutional investors with more than $24 trillion under management working toward cleaner energy is not enough, one has to wonder how much it will take to keep the Earth’s temperature from rising more than 2 degrees. Lubber’s answer: $1 trillion every year through 2050.
“It’s now vital the 196 countries who adopted the Paris Agreement, especially the top 20 major emitters . . . (sign) the Paris Agreement to bring it rapidly into force,” said Stephanie Pfeifer, CEO of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, which represents more than 120 European asset owners and managers.
All eyes are on how many countries will formally accede to the agreement this Friday – Earth Day – at the United Nations in New York. The more that sign, the stronger their message will be that economic opportunities await those investing in, executing strategies and/or developing technologies to improve energy efficiency and grow renewable energy.
While industrialized nations bear a big burden of global warming to date, Anirban Ghosh, the chief sustainability officer of the Mahindra & Mahindra conglomerate in India, said developing countries should look past who’s to blame and seize the opportunity. India gets it, he said, citing $17 billion already at work on cleaner energy among 20 industries there. He called their actions “critical” to progress “because we will be the engines of growth.”
Michael Terrell, senior policy counsel for energy and sustainability at Google, strutted the more than 2 gigawatts of renewable energy the tech giant has helped develop as the largest corporate purchaser (he claimed) of renewable energy in the world. But he acknowledged mitigating climate change is something not even a few global companies can solve.
Terrell estimated the cumulative efficiency-clean-energy challenge and opportunity – today – to be a mere $13.5 trillion. But Steve Howard, the chief sustainability officer at Ikea, was quick to add: “If you want to build those industries in a big way, you need long-term, stable policy.”
“It is a very bridgeable challenge. We need to get on with it,” Howard added.
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Scientific American - Corporations Move to Curb Global Warming
Apr 21, 2016 | Scientific American
By Benjamin Hulac
The deal 195 nations finalized in December in Paris may be the most important climate agreement ever reached, but pockets of corporate leaders, financial regulators and money managers remember it for another reason: a shift in how the business community views global warming.
“For the first time, we’re seeing a genuinely changed landscape for the private sector,” said Edward Cameron, head of policy at We Mean Business, a group of investors and companies urging a shift from fossil fuels. “What we see now is growing momentum out of Paris.”
The business and financial community didn’t even have a serious presence at the previous five U.N. climate conferences, said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres, the sustainable investment advocacy group. On a day when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the first three months of 2016 had been the hottest such months on record, Lubber said the Paris Agreement is “extraordinary” in its scope and vision.
“The fact that we are signing this particular deal should be marked as the world’s greatest start,” she said.
Representatives of more than 150 nations will sign the Paris Agreement in New York City tomorrow (see related story).
Hundreds of companies voiced their support for the Paris deal leading up to tomorrow’s ceremony, while blue-chip firms that spend millions of dollars on energy costs, and whose predecessors likely opposed climate regulations, now back carbon-cutting efforts.
Some corporations have even pledged to protect U.S. EPA’s keystone climate regulation against challenges in the courts (EnergyWire, April 1).
“What’s exciting to us is seeing how many companies are getting in the game,” said Michael Terrell, senior policy counsel for energy and sustainability at Google. This month, Google joined Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in filing a legal brief in support of EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
Google, officially now called Alphabet Inc., committed to purchasing more than 2 gigawatts’ worth of renewable energy. That target would make the tech giant the largest purchaser of renewable energy worldwide that isn’t a utility, Terrell said.
“I think we’ve seen more momentum than we have ever before,” he said of the businesses backing climate regulation. “We have a strong commitment from the private sector.”INDUSTRY STEPPING UP
More than 100 companies—including brand-name firms like Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., HP Inc., Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal SA’s American division and salesforce.com inc.—yesterday in a letter endorsed the Paris deal and U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The regulation was a critical component for U.S. negotiators to secure international support during the Paris talks.
“They are all speaking in the same voice,” Lubber said. These 110 companies “want low-carbon power” and stable energy supplies, she said.
In a separate supportive statement last week, more than 400 institutional investors together managing more than $24 trillion in assets urged governments to support the expansion of low-carbon fuel sources, establish “economically meaningful” carbon prices and craft plans to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies.
“The Paris Agreement is an historic breakthrough that delivered an unequivocal signal for investors,” they wrote.
“[The accord] provides the right framework to trigger substantial investment and thus keep the door open to a well-below 2 degrees pathway,” they added, referencing what is widely accepted to be the largest temperature increase possible without inciting catastrophic climate change.
A handful of energy-industry companies operating in the U.S. market—Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Calpine Corp., PG&E Corp., Rio Tinto PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Siemens AG among them—urged politicians to move swiftly to enforce the Paris Agreement, too.
A robustly implemented Paris deal would ease the world’s business community into an economy no longer reliant on fossil fuels, they said.
In the coming decades, humanity will “see Paris as the turning point between the carbon economy and the clean economy,” IKEA Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard said. “This was a systemic, global economywide effort to decarbonize.”
IKEA has long spoken of its efforts to cut energy use. The Swedish furniture maker is 70 percent of its way to its goal of powering all its operations with renewables by 2020. It aims to reuse or recycle 90 percent of its waste by 2020 and also sells solar panels in three markets. The company will add solar panel products to nine more markets in the next year and a half, Howard said.
“We’re looking deep into our supply chain,” he said, “to chase out every ton of carbon.”
Still, the task of mobilizing enough investment to curb climate change is daunting.
The World Bank said last year that the global economy must rouse $90 trillion for spending on infrastructure, energy and land-use projects to prevent global temperatures from climbing more than 2 degrees Celsius.CRITICS BLAST ‘COMMAND AND CONTROL’ REGS
But some industry organizations aren’t keen on what international leaders hammered out in Paris.
“U.S. manufacturers believe in the spirit of the agreement reached in Paris to reduce and stabilize global GHG emissions,” said Ross Eisenberg, vice president of energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, the industry’s largest trade group in the country.
“However, we continue to have great concerns over the domestic policies that have been and will be put into place to meet the commitments made in Paris,” he said. “Regulation or policy that is set by government should promote a competitive marketplace for manufacturers, which is our best weapon in the fight to prevent global climate change.”
In an emailed statement, the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are “near 20-year” lows.
“This has occurred without command and control style regulatory interference,” API said. “Our success is driven, not by government mandate or legislative fiat, but through innovation, investment and entrepreneurial spirit.”
A U.S. Chamber of Commerce spokesman provided a link to a blog post by Stephen Eule, who works at the chamber, in which Eule said the U.S. climate pledges that American representatives made in Paris were unrealistic.
The chamber and the National Association of Manufacturers are both challenging the Clean Power Plan in court.INDUSTRY INTEREST STILL AN UPHILL BATTLE
Since the United Nations held the first Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Berlin in 1995, climate change has developed into a subtle but persistent theme of economic regulators, financial experts and private-sector leaders.
Starting early last year, officials at the Bank of England gave speeches on the financial damages of climate change.
Within financial circles, only insurers have traditionally really worried about climate change risks, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, said recently at the World Bank.
“Delivery of COP 21 will truly change that,” he said.
Just one-third of “top companies” provide adequate disclosure of their climate risks. A private-sector group backed by the Group of 20 nations is trying to resolve that problem, but climate disclosure remains “fragmented and incomplete” (ClimateWire, April 4).
G-20 nations are also working to establish a bigger, more transparent green bond market this year, Carney said, telling listeners that the upside to such a pool of stable, steady-income assets would he tremendous.
Less than 1 percent of the roughly $100 trillion in fixed-income assets in institutional investors’ hands is “anything that would approximate a renewable or green finance,” he said. “So there’s plenty of capital.”
Carney continued: “What the financial sector needs is the push, the belief that that investment is going to take place in lower-carbon opportunities and then that expertise will come.”
The central bankers of France and Bangladesh, in the run-up to and shortly after the Paris summit, have warned that climate change should be monitored for economic hazards (ClimateWire, Jan. 15).
At Google and IKEA, which are in the vanguard of shifting money to low-emissions technologies, the decision is financially savvy, officials said.
Terrell of Google said powering electricity-hungry data centers with renewables guards against unexpected price spikes in fossil fuel costs. “Our business runs on energy,” he said.
At IKEA, Howard said, climate change has already left its mark—from extreme weather that has damaged cotton down its supply chain, flooding in India and Pakistan that disrupted supplies, too, and Superstorm Sandy, which cost the company $9 million in damage in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Anirban Ghosh, chief sustainability officer at Mahindra & Mahindra, a $17 billion Indian conglomerate active in 10 sectors, said India is experiencing all-time low levels of water currently, following two years of record heat that claimed hundreds of lives.
“The pursuit of low-carbon paths must be relentless,” he said. Sustainability is no longer deemed a cost, Ghosh said, but instead is being viewed as an opportunity “from a rejuvenation perspective.”
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Environmental Leader - Why Google, Ikea Say ‘The Paris Effect’ Is Boosting Business
Apr 21, 2016 | Environmental Leader
By Hubert Green
“If we look forward 10, 20, 30 years time or beyond, we will see Paris as the turning point between the carbon economy and the clean economy,” said Steve Howard, Ikea’s chief sustainability officer and We Mean Business board co-chair. “This was not just about small incremental actions. This is a systemic movement to decarbonize.”
At Ikea, this means “focusing our efforts where can we achieve big impacts in reducing carbon emission but do that in a way that increases value” for the company, Howard said. This includes investing in renewable energy: about 70 percent of Ikea’s power comes from renewable sources and the company had set a goal of reaching 100 percent. By COP21, when the Paris climate deal was reached, Ikea had also switched to selling only LED lighting in all of its stores globally.
The retail giant is also “looking deep into our supply chain to how we can chase out every ton of carbon,” Howard said, adding that “all of these things make good business sense. You can almost always construct a business case for chasing carbon out.”
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edie.net - COP21 signing ceremony: 100 corporations call for clear policies and swift actions
Apr 21, 2016 | edie.net
By George Ogleby
The collection of 110 businesses and organisations, brought together by sustainability organization Ceres and green NGO WWF, have released a statement highlighting the numerous benefits of investment in the global carbon economy such as clarity for economic decision-makers and a boost in confidence for investors worldwide.
In the build-up to the signing ceromony at UN headquarters tomorrow, the signatories pledged to do their part to “realise [the Paris Climate Agreement’s] vision of a global economy that limits global temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius.”
The statement reads: “Implementing the Paris Agreement will enable and encourage businesses and investors to turn the billions of dollars in low-carbon investments we have seen so far into the trillions the world needs to bring clean energy and prosperity to all. We join leaders around the world as we welcome the Paris Agreement and leverage this historic economic opportunity to tackle climate change through a just transition to a clean-energy economy."
Long-term framework
IKEA chief sustainability officer Steve Howard - one of the signatories - said: “The Paris Agreement represents a turning point for business. It is the beginning of the long-term framework needed for business to transform their operations and invest in low carbon products and services for the future.
“Now it is time to translate this framework into clear policies and actions. At IKEA, we are committed to do our part. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and to transform our business. By 2020 we will produce as much renewable energy as the energy we consume in our own operations.”
This statement comes just before 150 world leaders are expected to ratify the historic Paris COP21 deal agreed last December which included a “legally-binding" agreement to keep global warming "well below 2C".
With America being one of the world's largest carbon emitters, the business coalition has also underlined the need for swift action on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan which would reduce carbon pollution from electric power plants in the US by 30% by 2030
Investors
The call from the world’s leading companies governments to quickly sign and act upon the Paris Agreement was repeated earlier this week with a “rallying cry” by a number of global investor groups supporting an early entry into force of the deal as early as next year. Six leading sustainable investment groups – collectively representing over $24tr of assets – published a letter to leaders of the world’s largest economies, saying that big investor groups are willing to support countries with their domestic efforts to cut emissions and introduce ambitious climate policies.
Letter signatory CDP chief executive Paul Simpson said: “This rallying cry shows an unequivocal business and financial imperative for governments to take concrete action from the momentous political will represented by the Paris Agreement.
“Those countries who are major emitters are also some of those with most to gain from prompt action to curb the threat of climate change because of the massive impacts it could have, not just on agricultural systems, transport or energy infrastructure but on bottom lines. CDP’s investor research shows clearly that the best prepared investors and companies will be the ones to gain competitive advantage.”
Faith leaders
Faith leaders have also called for urgency when it comes to ratifying the Agreement, completing a triumvirate of communities urging ambitious climate action in the space of a week. The 'Interfaith Climate Change Statement to World Leaders', produced by eminent religious leaders and groups, outlines six key points for national governments to consider including calls for global fossil fuel divestment, reinvestment in renewables and low carbon solutions and emissions to peak by 2020.
That statement reads: “We are united in our support for the full and ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement and of all other decisions adopted at COP 21. To achieve the 1.5C goal, governments must accelerate climate action before 2020 and also greatly increase the level of ambition of the future Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDCs), rapidly converting them into national policies, law and programmes.
“These commitments must be defined by increasing ambition outlined in national road-maps on how to transform our societies and economies by 2050 and clearly integrated into national development plans.”
To enter into force, the Paris Agreement must be ratified by at least 55 countries - representing 55% of global emissions. US president Obama and China’s President Xi - representing countries worth 38% of emissions - have already announced their participation at the event, which officially opens a signing period that ends on April 21, 2017 .
Stay tuned for edie on Friday (22 April) for a live blog on the Paris signing ceremony, with updates being provided throughout the day.
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Apr 21, 2016 | Climate Change News Blog
By David Landskov
More than 100 companies, including leading global giants, expressed their support Wednesday for the Paris Agreement on climate change and called for swift action on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, a proposal aimed at significantly cutting carbon pollution in the United States.
The 110 companies, including IKEA, Mars Incorporated, PG&E, Salesforce, General Mills, Kellogg Company, HP, and Starbucks, released a statement organized by a coalition of groups, including the nonprofit sustainability organization Ceres and World Wildlife Fund, during a teleconference today. The statement comes two days before 150 world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York City to sign the Paris Agreement.
“The Paris Agreement represents a turning point for business. It is the beginning of the long-term framework needed for business to transform their operations and invest in low carbon products and services for the future,” said Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA. “Now it is time to translate this framework into clear policies and actions. At IKEA, we are committed to do our part. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and to transform our business. By 2020 we will produce as much renewable energy as the energy we consume in our own operations.”
In the statement, the signatories pledged to do their part to “realize [the Paris Climate Agreement’s] vision of a global economy that limits global temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius.” They also called on U.S. leaders for an investment in the low-carbon economy at home and abroad to give financial decision-makers clarity and to boost investors’ confidence worldwide.
A full list of signatories can be found here. -
Huffington Post - One Way The Paris Climate Pact Is Already Having A Huge Effect
Apr 20, 2016 | Huffington Post
By Alexander Kaufman
Big businesses’ message to lawmakers is clear: We’re doing our part to slash carbon emissions, now you do yours.
On Wednesday, two days before world leaders are scheduled to sign the historic climate treaty reached in Paris last December, more than 100 businesses — including corporate titans like Google, Ikea, Salesforce, Starbucks and General Mills — called for “swift action” on President Barack Obama’s signature climate regulation, a key part of the U.S. commitment to cut carbon emissions. (The Huffington Post is one of the businesses on the list.)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan has been tied up in the courts since February, when the Supreme Court blocked the mandate, which could reduce carbon dioxide pollution by 870 million tons — roughly the same amount produced in a year by 108 million homes or 166 million cars.
“We have no time to waste in pointing our economy, our entire economy, down a low-carbon path,” Mindy Lubber, president of the environmental investor nonprofit Ceres, said in a statement. “The message we are delivering today is clear: the business community stands firmly behind a plan that will help us get there.”
Already, the treaty — in which 196 countries have agreed for the first time to work together to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases — is having an effect.
Corporate purchases of clean energy soared last year ahead of the climate treaty, particularly among companies that had never before bought renewable power. Of the more than 20 corporate giants that inked major renewable energy deals last year, 15 of them were first-time buyers, accounting for 67 percent of the market, according to a report by the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute.ROCKY MOUNTAIN INSTITUTEFirst-time corporate purchases of renewable energy for this year already top those in 2011 and 2012 combined.
“The biggest change that we’ve seen in recent times is the extraordinary uptick in corporate renewable energy purchasing,” Michael Terrell, Google’s senior policy counsel for energy and sustainability, said during a conference call on Wednesday.
The Paris deal marked a sort of redemption for many big businesses. After years of derailing environmental regulations and deriding clean power as too costly, some of the world’s largest companies have banded together over the past year to push for meaningful curbs on carbon emissions.
“The Paris agreement represents a turning point for business,” Steve Howard, Ikea’s chief sustainability officer, said in a statement ahead of Wednesday’s call. “It is the beginning of the long-term framework needed for business to transform their operations and invest in low carbon products and services for the future.”
Friday’s signing ceremony, while only a step toward bringing the agreement into force, will be an important one, a senior State Department official told reporters Wednesday. Particularly for the business community, said the official, it represents “a new sign, a new signal of global interest, global movement, global intent” to address greenhouse gas emissions.
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GreenBiz - We Mean Business: The Paris Accord is a $13 trillion opportunity
Apr 20, 2016 | GreenBiz
By Barbara Grady
Implementing the Paris Agreement will unlock at least $13.5 trillion of economic activity globally, according to an analysis by We Mean Business.
And as the commitments made by 196 countries at COP21 in Paris are carried out, the investment in renewable electricity, energy efficiency and other low carbon power that countries have promised adds up to that amount.
“And that is to fulfill energy commitments alone,” said Edward Cameron, head of policy at We Mean Business. “For instance China committed to grow renewables to 20 percent of their energy mix in 15 years. To put that in perspective, 20 percent of China’s energy is equivalent to all of the US energy sector.” India committed to get 40 percent of its electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.
Signaling that business is eager to pursue the implied investments, 110 U.S. companies Wednesday called for “swift implementation of the Clean Power Plan,” the main piece of the U.S. commitment to the Paris Agreement, which calls for a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions from the nation's power plants.
Companies from a range of industries are included — such as tech companies HP, Salesforce and Autodesk, retailers Ikea and Gap, electric utilities Pacific Gas & Electric, big manufacturers Dupont and Colgate-Palmolive — all of whom are organized by Ceres and World Wildlife Fund.
The 110 companies said that implementation is needed “so that we may meet or exceed our national commitment,” and find support for investment in low carbon economic activity “giving financial decision makers clarity.”
The Clean Power Plan, an Environmental Protection Agency ruling requiring states to reduce their utility sectors' emissions an average 32 percent, is currently on hold as the Supreme Court ruled to delay enforcement until challenges to the rule filed in District Court could be litigated.
On Friday, which is Earth Day, representatives from 150 governments, including 40 heads of state, are set to sign the Paris Agreement at a United Nations ceremony in New York City.
We Mean Business is a coalition of 374 companies with a combined $7.8 trillion in revenue and 183 investors who collectively manage $20.7 trillion in assets. It says that leading companies that have invested in clean energy and low carbon initatives are seeing an average 27 percent return on those investments, based on the experience of its own members.
It is also seeing “first mover advantages in low-carbon markets, more resilient operations and supply chains and a stronger reputation among employees, consumers and other stakeholders.”
Ikea Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard said that the global furniture retailer has seen about that return on its low-carbon products, principally LED lighting, which is now the only kind of lighting it sells.
Cameron, Howard and Ceres president Mindy Lubber spoke to reporters on a press call this morning, along with Anirban Ghosh, chief sustainability officer of Mahindra & Mahindra, one of India’s largest companies, and Michael Terrell, senior policy counsel for energy and sustainability at Google.
Even as We Mean Business talks about a $13.5 trillion gain in economic activity from the Paris Agreement, another group, the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, stated that the Paris agreement will cost $2.5 trillion in lost global GDP. That is based on an assumption that conventional fossil-fuel-based energy is cheaper than renewable energy.
Yet Terrell said Google’s investments in 2 gigawatts of renewable energy were made for cost advantage reasons, as well as to transition the company — a massive electricity user — to clean energy.
Terrell as well as Jim Miller, Google’s vice president of global operations, said that in every location where Google has invested in solar or wind purchase power agreements or direct installations, it has been a better financial deal than relying on electricity from the local utility with fossil-fuel generation.
In every location where Google has invested in solar or wind purchase power agreements or direct installations, it has been a better financial deal than relying on electricity from the local utility and fossil fuel generation.
"As a company that uses large amounts of electricity to power our operations, we just see tremendous benfits in purchasing renewables," Terrell said, naming a diverse power supply, costs and reputation. "We are finding renewables more cost competitive in certain regions and getting more cost competitive in every region."
Executives on the call described an "unprecendented" shift in both attitude and action among the world's policy and business players because of Paris. Howard said that while action to address climate change used to be described as "a burden and cost to be shared," now it is being described as a huge opportunity for innovation, investment and job growth.
Already, according to the Department of Energy, new investment in renewable energy generation in 2015 has for the first time exceeded new investment in fossil-fuel generation.
Yet Lubber of Ceres said business and nations should stay aware that the clock is ticking "in [the] face of this clear and existential threat that faces every being on this planet," and that it is time for "boots on the ground" implementation.
Cameron of We Mean Business said he has heard from major insurers that the global temperature trajectory would create "an uninsurable world" with a great deal of property damage and agricultural disruption. That's based on a rate scientists have tracked of temperatures rising by 4.8 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 if nothing is done to prevent it. Food will not grow at that temperature and people will starve, Cameron added. The stakes are clear.
Commitments in the Paris Agreement, assuming they are carried out, are projected to keep average global temperatures below 2.7 degrees Celsius by 2100. The nations agreed to attempt to strengthen their commitments every five years to aim for a limit of 1.5 degree Celsius in global temperature rises by the century's end.
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Sustainable Brands - Can ‘The Paris Effect’ Take Companies, Governments Beyond Flagship Initiatives?
Apr 20, 2016 | Sustainable Brands
By Hannah Furlong
This April 22, world leaders will convene to sign the Paris Climate Agreement. The international regulatory environment and national policies to curb emissions are reshaping global markets. Decarbonization could define the 21st century economy. But what do these changes mean for businesses?
Experts from the We Mean Business Coalition’s seven business-facing networks (which include BSR, CDP, Ceres, The B Team, The Climate Group, WBCSD, and The Prince of Wales’ Corporate Leaders Group) analyzed the Paris Agreement to identify the policies relevant to global business and released their findings today in an aptly-named report, “What Paris Means for Business.”
Through initiatives such as those led by We Mean Business – from publicly disclosing emissions, to setting Science-Based Targets to reduce them, and collaborating to share best practices – many companies expressed their support for the Agreement and arerallying to action. The latest examples of this were provided this week.
Yesterday, organisations that collectively represent more than 400 institutional investors with US $24 trillion of assets under management urged world leaders to sign and accede to the Paris Agreement and implement it into national law. CDP CEO Paul Simpson called the letter a “rallying cry that shows an unequivocal business and financial imperative for governments to take concrete action.”
“The Paris Agreement provides the framework to trigger the pace and scale of investment – at least $1 trillion per year, four-fold higher than current levels – needed to decarbonise the global economy while limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius or less. It’s vital therefore that world leaders sustain the political momentum captured in Paris Agreement,” said Ceres President Mindy Lubber, who is also the Director of theInvestor Network on Climate Risk (INCR, North America).
Today, Ceres released a statement on behalf of 110 companies, called “Business Backs Low-Carbon U.S.A.” In the statement, the signatories “pledge to do [their] part” to limit global temperature rise to “well below 2 degrees Celsius,” and call for “swift implementation” of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Clean Power Plan and investment in the low carbon economy to give financial decision-makers clarity and boost the confidence of investors worldwide.
The signatories include companies such as adidas, Avery Dennison, Ben & Jerry’s,Clif Bar, Colgate-Palmolive, DuPont, ebay, General Mills, Hewlett Packard, IKEA,Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg Company, L’Oreal, Levi Strauss & Co., Mars Incorporated, Nestle, Nike, Patagonia, Philips, REI Co-op, Sealed Air, SolarCity,Starbucks, The North Face, Timberland, and Unilever.
Ceres organized a similar letter in July 2015, in which 365 corporate and investor group signatories voiced their support for the Clean Power Plan.
“Now it is time to translate this framework into clear policies and actions,” IKEA's Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard said of the Paris Agreement, which he believes represents a turning point for business. “At IKEA, we are committed to do our part. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and to transform our business. By 2020 we will produce as much renewable energy as the energy we consume in our own operations.”
In a press call, Howard said that IKEA is “right on track” to meet its renewable energy target, with 29 wind farms and more than 700,000 solar panels installed on its stores and distribution centers. He estimates IKEA currently generates about 70% of its electricity with renewables.
Regarding what COP21 meant for the company, Howard said “it strongly validated” that IKEA needs to innovate with its products and services, completely decarbonize its operations and supply chain, and that “the clock was ticking.”
“We put renewed urgency into setting a science-based target, we’re looking deep into our supply chain for how we can chase out every single ton of carbon, and we’ve said that this is for every part of our business, so it’s not just about flagship initiatives, but it’s about root and branch change across the organization,” he explained.
“You can almost always construct a business case to take carbon out,” Howard added. “It’s about driving energy efficiency, saving money; it’s about innovating with products and services.”
Michael Terrell, Senior Policy Counsel for Energy and Sustainability at Google, andAnirban Ghosh, Chief Sustainability Officer at Mahindra & Mahindra, one of India’s largest technology conglomerates, were also on the call to discuss how they expect climate change will affect their businesses and how the Paris Agreement to influence investments in clean technologies. Ghosh described some of the effects climate change is already having in India, such as flooding in areas where water shortage has historically been an issue. Terrell noted the risks that natural disasters pose to Google’s data centers, offices and employees.
“To date, we’ve signed contracts to purchase over 2 Gigawatts of renewable energy, which we believe makes us the largest corporate renewable energy purchaser in the world,” Terrell said of Google’s energy initiatives, adding that they’ve also committed over $2.5 billion of capital in investments in renewable energy projects. Such investments, he said, help the company manage climate risks such as by avoiding unexpected costs caused by energy price fluctuation.
The Head of Policy at We Mean Business and Managing Director at BSR, Edward Cameron, noted that managing climate risk is a huge aspect that companies need to consider. “It’s really important to bear in mind that before the Paris Agreement was signed, we were on the course for unmanageable climate risks,” he said. He described that global temperature increase would mean we would experience increases in extreme weather events and temperatures unsuitable for agriculture which would lead to “the breaking down” of economic sectors and peoples’ livelihoods.
Howard added that IKEA is already feeling the effects of extreme weather events, from floods in Asia and supply chain disruptions to Hurricane Sandy causing an estimated $9 million dollar impact on its business in addition to the social impacts on its employees and their communities.
Cameron asserted that the Paris Agreement is only the beginning since it stipulates that countries’ commitments will become more ambitious in the future, and suggested that this provides long-term certainty for businesses that there is opportunity in decarbonization. As noted in What Paris Means for Business, he believes that the Agreement will minimize competitive imbalances between economies and help harmonize global standards for low-carbon technologies.
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Apr 20, 2016 | Ceres
More than 100 companies, including leading global giants, expressed their support today for the Paris Agreement on climate change and called for swift action on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, a proposal aimed at significantly cutting carbon pollution in the United States.
The 110 companies, including IKEA, Mars Incorporated, PG&E, Salesforce, General Mills, Kellogg Company, HP, and Starbucks, released a statementorganized by a coalition of groups, including the nonprofit sustainability organization Ceres and World Wildlife Fund, during a teleconference today. The statement comes two days before 150 world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York City to sign the Paris Agreement.
“The Paris Agreement represents a turning point for business. It is the beginning of the long-term framework needed for business to transform their operations and invest in low carbon products and services for the future,” said Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA. “Now it is time to translate this framework into clear policies and actions. At IKEA, we are committed to do our part. We will continue to invest in renewable energy and to transform our business. By 2020 we will produce as much renewable energy as the energy we consume in our own operations.”
In the statement, the signatories pledged to do their part to “realize [the Paris Climate Agreement’s] vision of a global economy that limits global temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius.” They also called on U.S. leaders for an investment in the low-carbon economy at home and abroad to give financial decision-makers clarity and to boost investors’ confidence worldwide.
A full list of signatories can be found here.
"Business must continue leading by example, and we at Mars have already declared our own decarbonization commitment to eliminate the use of fossil fuel energy and greenhouse gas emissions from our operations by 2040,” said Barry Parkin, Chief Sustainability Officer at Mars Incorporated. “We are hopeful that continued leadership and progress by the business community will encourage the U.S. to follow through on its COP21 commitment and to successfully implement the Clean Power Plan."
The Clean Power Plan is a key component of the U.S. pledge to meet emissions reduction targets under the Paris Climate Agreement. Specifically, it would reduce carbon pollution from electric power plants by 30 percent by 2030.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to put a “stay” on implementation of the Clean Power Plan until legal challenges in court are resolved.
“We have no time to waste in pointing our economy, our entire economy, down a low-carbon path,” said Mindy Lubber, President of Ceres. “The message we are delivering today is clear: the business community stands firmly behind a plan that will help us get there.”
Earlier this week, investors from across the globe released a letter backing the Paris Agreement and calling on world leaders to sign and accede it quickly.
“Coming out of Paris, momentum is on our side,” said David McCauley, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) senior vice president for policy and government affairs. “While the Clean Power Plan will create the incentives for significant U.S. emission reductions, it is the private sector adjustment to the realities of a carbon constrained world that will enable the U.S. and other nations to meet the promises made in Paris. The grand transition has begun, and these companies are leading the way.”
Today, We Mean Business, a coalition of organizations working with businesses and investors, highlighted the significant increase in climate action in the aftermath of the Paris Agreement, and released a detailed analysis titled, What Paris Means for Business. The analysis provides insight into what companies should expect as the economy continues to undergo a deep transformation post-Paris.
About Ceres
Ceres is a non-profit organization that is mobilizing many of the world’s largest investors and companies to take stronger action on climate change, water scarcity and other global sustainability challenges. Ceres directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a group of 120 institutional investors managing about $14 trillion assets focused on the business risks and opportunities of climate change. Ceres also engages with 100-plus companies, many of them Fortune 500 firms, committed to sustainable business practices and the urgency for strong climate and clean energy policies. For more information, visit www.ceres.org or follow on Twitter @CeresNews.
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Apr 21, 2016 | Business Green
By Madeleine Cuff
More than 100 leading businesses – including Kellogg's, General Mills, Salesforce, IKEA, HP and Starbucks – have issued a statement backing the Paris Agreement ahead of tomorrow's signing ceremony in New York.
The statement, released yesterday, expresses the business community's strong support for the Paris Agreement and calls on governments around the world to take swift action to translate the treaty into on-the-ground policies and actions.
"We join leaders around the world as we welcome the Paris Agreement and leverage this historic economic opportunity to tackle climate change through a just transition to a clean energy economy," the statement reads.
The missive, organised by a coalition of NGOs including CERES and the World Wildlife Fund, also calls on US leaders to invest in the low-carbon economy both at home and abroad, and argues for the swift implementation of the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan – a central plank of the US' climate commitments.
"We call on US leaders to strongly support the swift implementation of the Clean Power Plan and other related low-carbon policies so that we may meet or exceed our promised national commitment and increase our future ambition," the statement reads.
The intervention comes just before the ministers from over 150 governments, including a number of world leaders, are expected at the UN headquarters in New York to formally sign the agreement.
In a statement released today, the UN declared the ceremony is a "critical juncture" in the global effort to ensure lasting hopes for sustainable, peaceful development around the world.
Christiana Figueres, the UN's top climate chief, highlighted the important role of tackling climate change in addressing social instability and poverty. "More carbon in the atmosphere equals more poverty," she said. "We cannot deliver sustainable development without tackling climate change, and we cannot tackle climate change without addressing the root causes of poverty, inequality and unsustainable development patterns."
Tomorrow's ceremony represents a formality in the ratification procedure – the treaty will only enter legal force once at least 55 countries, representing over 55 per cent of global emissions, have ratified the agreement.
The US and China have said they will officially approve the agreement this year, fuelling hopes that the threshold for international ratification could be reached late this year or in 2017, bringing the Treaty into effect well ahead of the initially planned start date of 2020.
The signing ceremony will take place at the end of a week of intense campaigning from green business groups, investors, and NGOs. Earlier this week global investor groups urged world leaders to quickly sign and ratify the Paris Agreement, in a bid to kick-start the full decarbonisation of the global economy.
Meanwhile, in a statement released yesterday by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, major energy users and producers including Shell, Rio Tinto, Schneider Electric and Siemens urged governments to "move expeditiously" to formally join the Paris Agreement to hasten the transition to a low-carbon economy.
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Green Biz - The 5 biggest shifts since the Paris climate talks
| GreenBiz
By Lauren Hepler
Gauging the trickle-down effects of high-level international policy is never easy. That's especially true with a hulking global issue such as climate change, which consistently has been pushed down the laundry list of challenges facing the planet.
This week, however, is poised to provide a notable bookend on the COP21 United Nations climate talks held in Paris in December, which saw delegates from 196 countries agree to work toward limiting global average temperature increases to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius. Representatives from 155 of those countries are expected to sign the agreement in New York City and make it official Friday, which also happens to be Earth Day.
But what about the five months that have passed since the closing gavel?
The real work of determining how to get anywhere near the 2-degree target — with 1.5 C being the threshold many advocates say will unleash devastation in vulnerable island and low-lying nations — ultimately will come down to individual national governments, businesses and members of civil society.
While much of the heavy lifting remains to be done, several significant indicators suggest that expediting clean energy deployment, bringing the private sector on board with climate action and hashing out who pays for climate adaptation (finally) are starring on the global stage.1. Clean energy investment goes global
A primary sticking point heading into the Paris talks was how to balance the priorities of wealthy industrialized nations and poorer developing countries, the latter of which are expected to bear the brunt of accelerating climate impacts.
One encouraging sign: Clean energy investment data released last month by Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows that the biggest growth in support for renewable power came in emerging economies such as China ($102.9 billion), India ($10.2 billion) and South Africa ($4.5 billion). The U.S., despite its complicated climate politics, did also see a 19-percent increase in funding.
Whether those figures are enough to truly start transitioning the world away from fossil fuels is still up for debate. Bloomberg found that European investment levels fell 21 percent to $48.8 billion. It is somewhat disconcerting that wealthy countries theoretically better positioned to make bigger investments are being outpaced.2. Big companies back the Clean Power Plan
Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Ikea, Mars — no, it's not a list of the world's most visible companies. It's the roster of businesses that earlier this month signed on to two separate Amici Curiae (PDF) briefs (PDF) filed in U.S. Circuit courts in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.
Given that the intransigent partisan politics of the U.S. have been a big concern in the context of the global Paris Agreement, public pressure from the private sector — an act of policy advocacy that goes well beyond self-serving sustainability marketing — could be a game changer. For now, it's up to the U.S. courts to rule on the Obama administration's attempt to meaningfully reduce industrial emissions.
One interesting question in the meantime is whether businesses will drive a stake in the ground when it comes to state obstructionism to renewable energy, as they have done in calling off state investments due to regressive social policies.
A logistical issue that also remains to be solved for even climate-friendly companies: the extremely high financial barrier that still exists for blockbuster utility-scale renewable energy projects, such as the $848 million solar investment Apple announced last year.3. Obama proposes a $10-a-barrel tax on oil
Another surprise entry in the category of post-Paris actions in the U.S. was President Barack Obama's proposal for a $10-a-barrel tax on oil as part of clean transportation initiative unveiled in February.
The move, which predictably faced immediate backlash, came as broader debates over the future of carbon pricing broke out in jurisdictions ranging from the states of Oregon and New York to countries including China and Mexico.
Still, it's important to keep in mind that the White House proposal fits into a long history of mixed messages on fossil fuels, the most notable being continued taxpayer subsidies of the oil and gas industries.4. A new chapter in the coal chronicles
A week ago, the biggest coal company in the world filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The moment was a dramatic one for a major U.S. company, but one that wasn't altogether shocking.
The bankruptcy of Peabody Energy is just one vivid example of the overall decline of the coal industry, which has been at the center of debate over what to do about the prospect of large-scale "stranded assets" that could necessitate trillions of dollars worth of writedowns from fossil fuel companies in the event of stricter carbon regulations.
With gas prices just starting to climb again, it remains to be seen whether other energy incumbents will see a similar twist in fate. On the bright side: the largely untapped opportunity toretrain former coal workers and repurpose former coal infrastructure in the pursuit of new clean energy systems.5. Cities and states aim to go 100 percent renewable
The rise of "sub-national" climate action — sustainability-wonk-speak for climate change responses at the state and city level — is another long-heralded trend bolstered by several big developments in the aftermath of the Paris talks.
In mid-2015, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to establish a 100 percent renewable aim for 2045. Just before the New Year, San Diego — the eighth largest city in the country — set a goal to complete a shift to clean power by 2035.
Watch the fine print of these goals and others likely to emerge in the coming months to see how different jurisdictions approach issues such as natural gas as a less-than-ideal bridge fuel, as well as who will win ownership of large new energy installations, and how sectors with large carbon footprints (à la transportation) are treated by policymakers.
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