Global Sustainability as a Sense of Urgency

 
Andrew Gaines, 2022
(source: https://canadiancor.com/andrew-gaines-introducing-a-new-paradigm-for-social-change-cacor-zoom-presentation-2022-08-31/)

Introduction

Nature positives

This refers to
"...economic activity that improves the state of nature, partly to boost its contribution to society. Nature can include improving the quality of soil and the quality and abundance of water, the health of the oceans and biodiversity..."
Sally Patten, 2022a

Many of these are interrelated, ie greater biodiversity and better soil quality can absorb more carbon and cool the climate; more vegetation results in more carbon sinks; improving oceans' acidification will improve carbon absorption, etc

This goes beyond just the reduction of carbon emissions and limiting climate change.

For example,

(source: Sally Patten, 2022a)

It is much easier to measure changes in nature in relation to emissions in terms of tonnes of carbon dioxide, changes in temperature, carbon footprint, etc than other aspects of nature, like the cost of losing species in a particular location, eg endangered reptile, bird, etc.

Work is continuing on developing suitable metrics like

- 'species threat abatement and restoration' that measures the risk of species extinction

- 'species abundance test' that measures the number of individuals per species

- 'dependency score' that measures the level of dependency of the ecosystem

Need to develop sustainability goals for 'life below the water' and 'life on land'.

This involves looking at 'natural capital' and nature risk by understanding biodiversity-related risks that you and your organisation are exposed to and strategies for reducing them
"... They need to think beyond their net zero emissions targets and analyse the extent to which their operations depend on nature, which ranges from a dependency on water and good-quality soil to pollination......companies need to analyse the impact their operations have on the natural environment. Failure to do so might hurt the business through reputational damage, legal action or financial loss.....companies should continually look for ways to increase the positive impact they have on nature..."
EY as quoted by Sally Patten, 2022a