ACCELERATING
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Humans don’t realize the importance of saving the environment unless the effects of their doings dawn upon them to destroy their existence; It's not all their fault because the average human life is 79 years (give or take) & earth is so vastly big that the effects of what humans do, don’t reflect until the generation which actively got involved to do it, gets wiped off the face of the earth in a natural biological life course. The next generation then again takes time to get acquainted with the fact that there are ill effects of what is being done.

Talking about the health of our mother earth; here are 5 shocking facts to put things into perspective:

1. Witnessing irreversible effects by 2030

If global warming goes above the recommended limit; more than 70% of Earth's coastlines will have their sea-level rise greater than 0.66 feet (0.2 meters), resulting in excessive coastal flooding, beach-sand erosion, salinization of water supplies & other impacts on humans & ecological systems which will be very harmful to the human life on earth. (Source: https://climate.nasa.gov/)

According to the findings of the survey conducted by the UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), critically urgent action is needed to avoid the catastrophic effects of global warming over the world. Without the change in our actions towards our environment, we would see an increase in widespread flooding, extreme heat, drought & poverty.

2. Greenhouse gas levels are ever-peaking

Due to the rise in earth’s temperature, greenhouses gases accumulation is affecting nature’s natural processes more than ever. Fossil fuels combustion, Carbon-mono oxide emissions, & the environmental impact because of intensive farming has filled the atmosphere with CO2.

Scientists say that this is the fastest & the largest increase in CO2 emissions; the world has ever seen.

3. Species headed straight towards early extinction

One of the environmental deterioration signs is the extinction of various species from earth, be it animals, birds, reptiles etc. Most of other species' existence are endangered too

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which involved more than 1000 experts, says that about 24 species a day get wiped out from the earth which comes to about 8700s species, per year (Source: e360.yale.edu).

4. Climate change is creating a refugee crisis

As global temperature sees a rise, millions of people living in areas that are very much prone to sudden collapse due to any natural adversity are fleeing their homes to avoid the impacts of potential droughts and foreseeable extreme storms. These numbers are only set to rise in the coming future. The International Organisation on Migration gauges that up to 200 million people would be displaced by the effects of climatic changes by 2050.

(Source: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/09/13/climate-change-could-force-216-million-people-to-migrate-within-their-own-countries-by-2050)

5. Our oceans are dying

Our planet is only as healthy as its oceans. The UN has warned that marine life faces irrecoverable damage from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste that ends up in the oceans, every year. More than half of the world’s coral reefs have died in the last 30 years, and 2/3 of the Great Barrier Reef has been damaged by coral bleaching; due to sea temperature going too high up.

(Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scientists-work-to-save-coral-reefs-climate-change-marine-parks)

The earth itself indeed acts like a living organism; it restores what is being destroyed. But we are causing more damage than the earth can repair. The natural flooding, timely earthquakes, the occasional droughts don’t affect the earth one bit but it destroys human, animal and plant life as we know it.

The Earth will stay alive and kicking much longer after the last traces of the human race could be found on its land. So, it is our decision to challenge the natural course of action or to get aligned with it.

It's high time we take control and make positive changes otherwise doomsday is just around the corner waiting for us

Creating a climate strategy for your company has to make it to the top 10 list of priorities while devising a cost-revenue model. That’s right; the decision you make regarding your company’s climate strategy may directly affect your cost & revenue model as you might have to pay a surplus amount if the collective damage to the environment goes up the allowed.

The credit is only due if you fall short of the limit & can come up having an actual breathable margin. So, without explaining the obvious; let's dive into how to create a climate strategy for your company.

1. Bring down the carbon emissions

Keep in check the greenhouse gases and bring the carbon emissions of the entire company. This will go a long way in helping you with minimizing the climatic impact your company is making. Usually, the corporates hire professionals on advising them to create a compensation strategy; when all this while their first action should have been to bring down the levels to an optimal minimum and then instate a compensation strategy for the damage done.

2. Bring the Scope Assessments in force

Once you have exhausted the possibility of damage reduction; bring out the big guns! Scope assessments are these big guns which help corporates in digging deep into what is making their count shoot up high. Run your organization through the fine teeth comb with these assessments & then make a decision on what kind of a strategy you need.

3. Choose power over the volume

While causing the strategy to change the face of desired results altogether: try taking powerful actions which can trigger big changes. Choosing from the heap of moves, that one which can drastically bring down the carbon footprint of your company should be your first effective power move.

Choosing a power move over a handful of small changes can really cut through the mountain of damage that your company causes to the environment. At this point, you have to drive the analysis forward with the graphical presentation & make use of past present and future timelines to extract trends & build your strategy.

4. Quantify the goals

In search of the pain points don’t get lost in the details to completely lose the grip over what’s necessary & required of you. Keep your goals quantified & let them be the flag bearer of your research & strategy building. Make the best of everything else to achieve those goals because the number will always show you the mirror against your efforts.

5. Make it large

It’s not something you should do in a private safe space & don’t let anyone know. Go all out with it & make it an initiative of the masses. Not literally, but the idea is to involve as many entities which are directly and indirectly related to the company as you can; i.e. all kinds of stakeholders. Make them an important part of your initiative as you move forward to make an impact. When they can be the part of the problems the organization causes; they will happily be the part of the solution as the organization goes on to make a huge impact through heavy CSR activities & Strategic Corporate Climatic Strategies.

We have seen a structured approach towards how to approach the agenda of making a climate strategy for an organization all the way to making it a motive to do good involving everyone directly or indirectly in question. These steps; when followed in this exact same order, will show you the ripple impact of a structured approach towards an initiative this sensitive. Apply these in order and consult us if you get stuck while dealing with it.

All the best!

It all started in the 90s when international conferences took up a crucial issue of sustainable development. Decades after discussing climate-related challenges, now governments, people and corporations are actually assessing and contributing to the sustainability journey of the planet. The target set to lower the global temperatures is one such step. Such initiatives have turned people’s heads towards ever-pressing issues of global warming and associated challenges.

Here, often we are stormed with a sea of information that we focus majorly on the context rather than the significance of terms on an individual basis. Sustainability, climate change, net-zero, carbon emissions are the buzzwords. The context remains the same as that of climate change but fundamentally they are different. Everyone, including companies, tend to understand the climate lingo but hardly they are clear about the goals. Read on further and know the difference among the concepts of carbon-neutral, net-zero and climate positive.

Carbon neutral:

As the name suggests, carbon-neutral is the balancing out of carbon emissions from your firm. It is more like owning a complete responsibility for one’s own carbon emissions. Corporates and companies need to assess and analyse their carbon emissions. Such analysis gives an idea about the number of carbon emissions that need to be balanced out. It is then that firms plan to come out carbon neutral by saving an equivalent amount of carbon emissions somewhere else in the world.

Net-zero:

The Net-zero concept is a simple concept of balancing out the net emissions created. Here emissions are of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide. These levels are reached when anthropogenic emissions balance out with the help of pre-determined activities.

Climate Positive:

It lies in that much-awaited stage in the sustainability journey, wherein companies or entities tend to remove an additional amount of carbon from the atmosphere. It has reached the level of achieving net-zero emissions and now stands beyond the same. This term is often used interchangeably with climate negative.

Is your company carbon neutral or climate positive or has net-zero emissions?

Well, after knowing these are different and important concepts, a firm needs to introspect about these. Raising these questions can help us achieve our environmental goals faster. Prior to that, your company needs to analyse emissions. Accordingly, you can set realistic goals and plan a roadmap. For the same, consult a team of professionals dealing in the same.

Hopefully, tech giants and corporates are taking steps towards assessing their goals and contributions. However, a lot needs to be done collectively on this pressing issue, until we balance out our needs with our climate’s needs.