What impacts a company has on the environment — its carbon footprint, waste management, water use and conservation, and the clean energy and technology it uses.
The primary focus of Environmental is climate change. It is essential to understand the role investment and businesses play in responsibly delivering affordable energy.
The so-called energy transition involves shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, decentralizing power generation, and electrifying various sectors while also improving energy efficiency and digitalizing energy systems. This transformation requires significant investments, policy support, and workforce training, as well as international cooperation to address climate change. Public engagement and education are also crucial to address challenges such as energy poverty and grid reliability.
The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures was created in late 2015 to help identify information needed by the financial sector to appropriately assess and price climate-related risks.
The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors asked the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to review how the financial sector can take account of climate-related issues.
In response, the FSB established the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) to develop recommendations for more effective climate-related disclosures.
While Earth’s climate has changed throughout its history, the current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "Since systematic scientific assessments began in the 1970s, the influence of human activity on the warming of the climate system has evolved from theory to established fact."1
Scientific information taken from natural sources (such as ice cores, rocks, and tree rings) and from modern equipment (like satellites and instruments) all show the signs of a changing climate.
From global temperature rise to melting ice sheets, the evidence of a warming planet abounds.
Climate Transition plans are a vital tool to demonstrate to capital markets and stakeholders that an organization is committed to achieving a 1.5-degree pathway, and that its business model will remain relevant (i.e., profitable) in a net-zero carbon economy.
BERLIN, Feb 28 – Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks. People and ecosystems least able to cope are being hardest hit, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released today. “This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “It shows that climate change is a grave and mounting threat to our wellbeing and a healthy planet. Our actions today will shape how people adapt and nature responds to increasing climate risks.” The world faces unavoidable multiple climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5°C (2.7°F). Even temporarily exceeding this warming level will result in additional severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible. Risks for society will increase, including to infrastructure and low-lying coastal settlements. The Summary for Policymakers of the IPCC Working Group II report, Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability was approved on Sunday, February 27 2022, by 195 member governments of the IPCC, through a virtual approval session that was held over two weeks starting on February 14.
The ESG space is changing day by day, creating more uncertainty for decision makers
