The world feels like a drastically different place; I’m sure I’m not alone when I say the regularity and devastation of extreme weather have been more noticeable in the last 12 months than ever before. Right now, Greece and Turkey are on fire, Germany has suffered intense flooding and all around the world vicious storms and wild weather have lashed at our doorsteps. Climate change and its unrelenting nature are undeniably present, and now, as sea levels rise and extreme weather events become more frequent, we are in a “code red” situation.
The IPCC is a panel responsible for delivering scientific reports to global governments in order to steer climate-related policies. This is delivered as a “Summary for Policy Makers”. In 2022 the IPCC will be releasing their sixth assessment report ahead of COP26 – a fundamental climate summit set to take place in Glasgow – with hopes to urge world leaders to make drastic changes.
What’s Being Done Already?
While the Paris climate agreement in 2015 aimed to mitigate a 1.5-degree warming, this is now expected to be reached by 2040; The IPCC say this cannot be avoided. With that said, there has been a lot of improvement to UK climate control in recent years, thanks to a few significant factors:
The Net-Zero Drive:
Net Zero 2050 has already played a role in the reduction of UK emissions, thanks to a handful of initiatives designed to help reduce consumption and encourage eco-friendly alternatives. As net-zero 2050 continues moving forward, businesses and individuals will further help the UK to reach its target by changing old policies and behaviours, and incorporating new, sustainable ones.
UN Sustainable Development Goals:
The rather ambitious ‘sustainable development goals’ (SDGs) proposed by the UN also have a role to play in the cooling of Earth. Namely:
Goal #13: “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.”
While governments are taking action to help perpetuate the positive effects of achieving these goals, the latest progress report from the UN shows that, possibly due to the impact of covid-19, goal #13 has actually lost progress. The goals themselves are a clear indication of the united nations making a combined effort to change the planet, but the results do not reflect well enough the urgency of the situation.
G7 and COP26:
G7 and The 26th Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) are two events for world leaders to discuss plans to save mankind from the many threats climate change poses. Both key climate summits are vital to soliciting change in major countries and ultimately will have a large impact on the future of global sustainability.
Because of these activities, goals and initiatives, the UK is actually in the top 4 highest performers for global sustainability, just behind Denmark, Luxembourg and Switzerland (in order). In fact, the United Kingdom is a climate change leader, according to this excellent graphic by Visual Capitalist.
Sustainable Consumption from The Top
Code-red is a terrifying phrase when it comes to the fate of humankind, and one that evokes a sense of emergency. Quite rightly, given the circumstances. What this also conjures is a question: what are we all going to do?
Well, the solution, it would seem is divided into different levels of accountability. There are governmental, corporate, small business and citizen level changes to be made across the board in order to make an impact that can reverse the damage we have already inflicted on Earth.
We expect governmental changes will revolve around climate control policymaking and helping to provide instruction to businesses and civilians in the form of rules, laws and obligations. Enterprises and smaller businesses are already working toward Net Zero, often with CSR related goals in place. We expect to see more businesses choosing to monitor and control their consumption to reduce waste and to begin operating more sustainably.
Ready to Become Greener?
In recent headlines, IKEA announced it will begin selling renewable energy to households in Sweden for an affordable price. This is a bold move and the kind of sustainable leadership we need to see more of in the UK, and for that reason Hark Systems are putting on an event to promote sustainable business behaviours!
Come to our free event at Avenue HQ, Leeds on September 23rd (1pm to 4pm). This event, titled ‘Becoming Greener: The Corporate Sustainability Summit’, is all about making a positive impact. Our sustainable guest speakers will arm you with a brand-spanking new arsenal of sustainable behaviour to bring to your business. From the power of data to the new age of green tech, our speakers will deliver talks on the most cutting edge sustainable business activity to help you become greener.
Want to help keep the world turning? Join us in September to learn how to get started!
