Tag: environment

January 11, 2021

New in Sustainable Finance

Sustainability runs capital. During the last 10 years the capital in sustainable indexes has doubled. During the last year sustainability indexes that concentrate on environmental (E), social (S) and governance (G) have had higher returns than their non-sustainable competitors both on the European and North American market. As there are several indexes it can be difficult for investors to understand what they contain and how to compare them. The European Union strives to make the indexes more comparable and transparent by creating new directives and therefor creating a stronger and cleaner economy.

EU leads capital towards sustainability

The new laws concerning sustainable finance by the European Union leads towards sustainable investing by a creation of clearer definition of tools and obligations of sustainability reporting and -valuation. To support this, the European Union has published the EU Taxonomy Regulation for sustainable development. The Taxonomy Regulation contains harmonic criteria that define whether the economic activity is sustainable from the nature’s perspective. The classification contains e.g., climate change, water resources, and circular economy. The creation of the taxonomy regulation unites sustainable reporting which makes it easier for investors and other financial actors to make their investment decisions. The classification is new for companies and it is profitable to start preparing for them already now.

Additionally, the European Commission will approve a directive in June 2021 that specifies the reporting among non-financial information. The directive defines how and how widely companies must report according to the above-mentioned Taxonomy Regulation.

The first company- and investment reports in accordance with the new Taxonomy Regulation must be published in the beginning of 2022 about the financial information from 2021.

You might be interested in our webinar recording“New in Sustainable Finance: How to apply EU’s taxonomy regulation and reporting requirements”

Are you interested in sustainable finance? Are you familiar with the new classifications and reporting requirements in sustainability by EU? Have you wondered how you should prepare to meet the obligations?

Welcome to hear more about sustainable finance, the new obligations and how one should prepare to develop the reports. Our expert will go through EU’s Taxonomy Regulation in our webinar recording.

We are looking for a EHS-specialist to join our consultancy team

Do you specialize within occupational health and safety? Do you want to work with sustainability in a team of experts? Do you handle even the most demanding parts of occupational health service-, occupational safety- and environmental legislation and the company specific requirements?

We are looking for an expert within occupational health service, occupational safety and environmental issues to join our versatile sustainability consulting team. Read more about the recruitment here and apply to join our team.

Text: Emma Björkqvist

Picture: Shutterstock

August 19, 2020

Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions

At the end of July, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published a global standard for the use of nature-based solutions (NbS) to address global environmental challenges. The standard helps governments, businesses, and societies to assess the effectiveness of nature-based solutions and make the most of them to manage societal challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss and food security.

As countries all over the world strives to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and move towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it is crucial to ensure that future investments in nature reach their potential. To help businesses and societies address this challenge, the first-ever IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions was launched to guide the institutions through NbS applications and set benchmarks for their progress.

What is Nature-based solutions and why is a standard needed?

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are actions that seek to address social challenges through the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of natural or modified ecosystems, and thereby improving the well-being of both biodiversity and people. Examples of NbS are reforestation, beach protection and green infrastructure. These all benefits both the nature and people.

There is a need for a standard to guide this kind of activities because not all solutions called nature-based are in themselves a guarantee that they take into account the well-being of both society and nature. Because of the lack of knowledge, many activities may unintentionally harm the biodiversity. The working group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) therefore wanted to develop a scientifically valid criteria that would be suitable for a wide range of situations, regions and social systems, so that both people and nature would benefit in the long term. Such a framework is essential to increase the scale and impact of Nature-based Solutions, to prevent negative outcomes or misuse, and help funding agencies, policy makers and other stakeholders assess the effectiveness of interventions, and direct investments in the right direction.

How does the standard work?

The Global Standard for NbS is a self-assessment tool consisting of eight criteria and related indicators, addressing all three pillars of sustainable development: biodiversity, economy, and society. The criteria also take into account sustainable project planning and management. The requirements of the standard allow the user to assess the scope and economic, environmental, and social impact of their own activities and then compare it with international agreements and objectives. At the same time, the transparency of operations is improving and operations can be continuously improved.

The standard contains indicative instructions and advice on how the user can evaluate and develop his or her own nature-based solutions and, on the other hand, see which practices still need to be improved. The standard evaluation matrix provides the user with information on how many percent of the user’s activities meet the criteria. The information is presented in color codes reminiscent of a traffic light system, from which the user can easily see which actions still need to be developed. IUCN, who monitors the standard, reviews the aspects and requirements of the standard every four years, so that their suitability for companies and actors in various fields can be improved.

Companies and other actors using the framework will be able to design effective and ambitious sustainability-based NbS, that facilitate discussion with stakeholders and, on the other hand, spark new ideas and innovations.

Need help?

Ecobio’s environmental experts help your company achieve the goals of sustainable development!

Text: Mai Kärppä & Caisa Lindblom, Ecobio oy

Picture: Shutterstock

Sources:

https://www.iucn.org/theme/nature-based-solutions/iucn-global-standard-nbs

https://www.iucn.org/news/nature-based-solutions/202007/iucn-standard-boost-impact-nature-based-solutions-global-challenges

April 21, 2020

COVID-19 impacts on Climate Change

How are Climate change and COVID-19 linked? Can the measures taken to battle COVID-19 have a positive effect on the climate?

On a certain level, parallels can be drawn between the COVID-19 pandemic and other contemporary crises that we are facing today, such as climate change. These kind of global crises all require a global-to-local response, long-term thinking, new research and innovations and a political will to make fundamental changes. (Weforum, Climate Foresight)

The COVID-19 virus that started in 2019 in a small wet market in Wuhan, China, has become a global pandemic over the period of a few months and has already had a seemingly big effect on our daily lives.

A topic that has been discussed over the internet and in numerous articles in the media concerns how governments are able to respond so fast to COVID-19, even with the risk of a collapsing economy, while the battle against climate change seems to be too hard and sensitive to tackle. Keeping in mind that the expected deaths per year due to climate change are estimated to be over 10 times higher than those from COVID-19, this is an important question. The answer remains deeper and more versatile than this, but some of the reasons are simple: COVID-19 is happening right now, it is visible and fast moving and it has an immediate and direct effect on everyone and anyone. The measures are also more straightforward. Governments have been given priority lists of compelling their citizens to wash more, stop touching, reduce travel and go into some degree of isolation. In contrast, the variety of solutions to fight climate change are perplexingly complex. And the solutions affect nearly all aspects of modern life. (Ecowatch)

COVID-19 effects on the climate

There has been numerous speculations about whether COVID-19 could stop the rapid increase of temperatures. Across continents, flights are being cancelled, factories closed down, those whose work isn’t critical for the society are holed up at home and as a consequence pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have fallen as countries try to contain the spread.

The New York Times published an article discussing NASA’s satellite imagery showing remarkable reductions in pollutions in China and Italy when the outbreak first started. Furthermore, The Guardian stated that the pandemic could lead to a significant fall in global CO2 emissions.

In China, emissions fell 25% at the start of the year and coal use fell by 40% at China’s six largest power plants since the last quarter of 2019. Similarly, levels of pollution in New York have reduced by nearly 50% compared with this time last year. This is however not the first time an epidemic or global crisis has led to lower emissions. During the financial crash in 2008 the global emissions dropped significantly for a year. (BBC) Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production decreased by 1.4 percent, only to rise by 5.9 percent in 2010. (Human Rights Watch)

The flip side of the coin

Some experts are concerned, that the effects of COVID-19 are only going to be short termed. One of the side effects of the virus include delayed or cancelled events and projects. Climate meetings and summits are no exception. Among these is the UN’s annual climate summit 2020, where 196 countries were expected to introduce revamped plans to meet the emission reduction goals, which was postponed to 2021. Furthermore, countries all over the world are postponing green investments and instead directing the money to fight COVID-19. Like so, companies struggling to keep their business running are not likely to make long term green investments in the near future. To act against climate change has never been more urgent. However, the inability to collect world leaders and to direct finances towards green investments might be a hinder to do so.

In the U.S., Environmental Protection Agency announced a rollback on car emissions rules. The rules were a central piece of the country´s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, it announced that it will not penalize companies that fail to comply with federal monitoring or environmental reporting requirements. Similarly, China has extended deadlines for companies to meet environmental standards and Brazil has announced it is taking back enforcement duties for protecting the Amazon from accelerating deforestation, which could lead to the release of massive amounts of greenhouse gases. (BBC, Human Rights Watch, Climate Foresight)

What is certain, is that “There is a strong link between economic activity and global carbon dioxide emissions, due to the dominance of fossil fuel sources of energy.” This means we might be in for an positive surprise due to the coronavirus pandemic: a slowdown of carbon dioxide emissions due to reduced energy consumption. (Centre for International Climate Research)

In summary

We’ve seen that governments can act, and people can change their behavior, in a very short amount of time.
COVID-19 can have a positive effect on climate change. If this leads to a long-term shift in behavior and a change in our mindset and priorities.
The pandemic may lead to a deeper understanding of the ties that bind us globally.
Well-resourced healthcare systems are essential to protect us from global crises.
Economic activities and global emission rates are strongly linked.

Need help with managing the impacts that COVID-19 or climate change has on your workplace? Our Environmental and Chemical experts are here to help!

Contact us:

info@ecobio.fi

+358 (0) 207 569 450

You might also be interested in:

Insights into Covid-19 future effects on energy consumption and cleantech: Future Proof blog by Futures Platform

Text: Caisa Lindblom, Ecobio Oy, caisa.lindblom@ecobio.fi

Picture: Shutterstock

January 2, 2020

How to measure environmental performance of port operations?

Did you know that an environmental product declaration (EPD) can be prepared for port operation services? The EPD International (www.environdec.com), a Swedish-based international programme operator, has defined the product category rules for port operation services already in 2018. The first EPD based on these rules has been published by the port of Bilbao. See the EPD for Port of Bilbao here.

What is an EPD?

The EPD is used for presenting the potential environmental impacts of products or services based on a life cycle assessment. In order to produce comparable declarations, product category rules have been defined for some products, product groups or services. These rules help you produce more comparable EPDs. This way the environmental impacts of different products can be compared.

Furthermore, the EPD helps you identify the greatest environmental impacts. Once it is known what causes the environmental impacts, it is more efficient to address the actions for reducing the environmental impacts. The EPD is thus one way of showing the level of environmental management.

The EPD of Bilbao Port operation services has attracted the interest among its visitors, media and other ports. Ecobio encourages other ports to evaluate the environmental impacts of their operations.

Ecobio’s environmental services

Ecobio’s environmental experts produce EPDs for ports, construction products and other necessary activities. The environmental performance of port operations can also be demonstrated by other means than by an EPD. For example by carbon footprint calculation and compensation, meeting requirements of standards or with the help of environmental strategies. We will help you find the right solutions. Contact us!

Contact details:

info@ecobio.fi

August 12, 2019

Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment has entered into force

Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment has entered into force on 2nd of July 2019.

The objectives of the Directive are to prevent and reduce the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, in particular the aquatic environment, and on human health, as well as to promote the transition to a circular economy with innovative and sustainable business models, products and materials, thus also contributing to the efficient functioning of the internal market.

The Directive applies to certain single-use plastic products, to products made from oxo-degradable plastic and to fishing gear containing plastic. The plastic products, which fall within the scope of the Directive, are listed in the Annex. The scope of the Directive also takes into a consideration the tendency of certain types of food containers to become litter. Requirements stated in the Directive apply to consumer products. Commission shall publish guidelines including examples of what is considered to be a single-use plastic product by 3rd of July 2020.

Implementation of the Directive demands a significant decrease in the consumption of the certain plastic products and a prohibition of placing on the market certain plastic products on the national level. In addition, product and marking requirements are to be tighten.

The implementation of the Directive requirements in the national legislation is to be brought into force by 3rd of July 2021.

Ecobio Manager – Effortlessly stay on track of the legislation amendments

Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact our experts:

info@ecobio.fi tai puh. +358 20 756 9450

June 25, 2019

Blog series on climate impacts – Textile industry

The discussion on climate change is linked with the textile industry in multiple ways. On the one hand, the raw material supply and the production of textiles cause greenhouse gas emissions, on the other hand, the treatment of textile waste remains an unresolved question in circular economy. There is an increasing pressure for textile sector companies to improve the level of managing the environmental responsibilities, including climate impacts.

The climate impact from the textile industry can be reduced

The environmental impacts of the textile sector are related to energy and water consumption and to the use of hazardous substances over the life cycle of the product. The main environmental aspects of textiles are the raw material supply, dying, finishing, and the energy and water consumption during use, caused by the washing, drying and ironing of the textiles.

The climate impact from the textile industry can be reduced in many ways. Energy consumption shall be reduced in all stages of the life cycle, especially in manufacturing and use. The textile waste shall be first avoided, and if it is not possible, it shall be recycled as raw material, or its energy content recovered. The amendment of the EU waste directive (2018/851) requires the Member States to set up separate collection for textile waste by year 2025. It is likely that it improves the availability of textile waste, yet the utilization of the textile waste as raw material can be challenging due to the mixture of various fibers. The recyclability can be taken into account already in the design of the textile product.

The challenges in climate change and responsible operations may encourage the textile companies to develop their operations. There are several examples of innovative use of recycled or waste material as raw materials for textiles and sales and repair services of used clothes. The aim of these actions can be to reduce raw material costs, to profile as a responsible brand, and to stand out as an environmentally friendly company.

It is not only the climate change that matters in the textile industry. It is strongly linked to other environmental impacts as well as social responsibilities. To identify the environmental and social hot spots in the textile industry, it is necessary to evaluate the entire chain of operations in terms of a wide view of corporate responsibilities. Such an evaluation may include the consumption of resources (water, energy, natural resources), labor conditions and occupational health and safety.

Ecobio´s experts help you

Ecobio’s experts assist you in measuring, evaluating and developing the environmental performance, including climate change impacts. Our experts can help you improve the material and energy efficiency of your operations. We can also help you in wide sustainability-related questions and reporting. If these topics are currently relevant for you, contact Ecobio’s experts for further discussion.

Contact information:

Leena Tähkämö

Senior consultant

Tel. 020 756 2301

leena.tahkamo@ecobio.fi