Vanuatu is a tropical island nation in the South Pacific.  They have declared a climate emergency due to the impact of global warming – fearing rising sea levels and severe weather will destroy the nation.

First question – Are the polluting countries of the world responsible?

Per this article, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a landmark resolution requesting the International Court of Justice issue an advisory opinion as to the obligations of other governments.

What do you think?  Is Vanuatu just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or do the other nations of the world have some responsibility and obligation to help them? 

Second question – If you feel other nations should help Vanuatu, how deep do we go down that rabbit hole?

• Is it just for Vanuatu, or for any country impacted by climate change (which, one could argue, would be all nations)?

• How far is the look-back – 5 years? 100 years?

• And if the world’s governments are responsible to each other, then who pays and who gets paid?

• Are the citizens and businesses in those nations also responsible….leading directly to your doorstep?

• Does this ultimately move us closer to a climate tax?

Edenark Group has a relationship with OneBlueOcean and the CEOs of the two companies are friends.

OneBlueOcean is pursuing a noble cause and is doing wonderful work. 

If you have a passion for our oceans, they are an organization you should know.

We occasionally share some of the videos produced by OneBlueOcean.

Here is Episode 3 of the In Search of Sunrise series.

Enjoy!

Based on a World Bank study discussed here, over the past 150 years, natural influences on global temperature have remained consistently between -0.5° and +0.5°F.  In effect, a few years up and a few years down, but never varying much. 

The human influence had an even smaller variation, -0.2° and +0.2°F, through the 1920s. 

From the 1930s to 1960s, the human influence did not have a negative year, staying between +0.2° and +0.4°F.

Since the 1960s, however, the human influence has steadily grown, to +1.4°F around 2010. 

With the human influence so significant, if the natural influence has an ‘up’ year, like it has had from 2000 – 2010 (possibly impacted by human influence) the combination of the two puts us over the  +2.0°F threshold that science is telling us will be painful for all of us.

If you would like your company to be part of the solution, not just part of the problem, contact us.

No matter what side of the aisle you sit, this video talk by Gerd Leonhard should be worth your time.

Here are a few of the points made:

There are 3 Revolutions in play

• Digital / AI
• Sustainability / Climate – 100x of digital/AI
• Purpose (people, planet, prosperity, purpose)

In short, Leonhard believes our climate problems will cost some money and we will have pain for the next 20 years, but they are solvable. 

He feels the Digital / AI problem will be harder to solve, as machine learning is growing exponentially and we have no controls in place.

The Purpose (People, Planet, Prosperity, Purpose) Revolution will not be driven by governments and corporations, but by citizens demanding change.

As to the Digital / AI Revolution

• There are four subsets – Info tech, Bio tech, Energy / Climate tech, AI tech
• Person using AI will be more efficient / This will allow companies to reduce workforces
• Machines will take our routines / Any job that can be automated, will be
• AI will reduce/eliminate these jobs: bank tellers, clerks in many industries, administrative assistants, record-keeping, accounting, payroll, bookkeeping, legislators, officials, finance, insurance, sales
• Fastest growing jobs: Anything in sustainability / climate, AI and machine learning, information security, fintech engineers, scientists, robotics engineers, business intelligence, electrotechnology engineers, agriculture equipment operators, digital transformation
• AI will bring garbage, lies, distortion and damage – it fabricates truth
• We won’t know if the anchor person on the news is real or a fabrication – a synthetic world
• Social media will feed on AI, as social media promotes bad news 7x good news – why? We watch
• GBT4 will have more knowledge than a human and can reason – We should want machine competence, not machine consciousness
• We will have Unlimited technology firepower by 2030 (6.5 years from now) – What about Safety? Security? Ethics? Control?
• Research on how AI aligns with human values lags far behind progress on technical capabilities – In short, it is growing faster than our ability to manage it within our values – chart

As to the Sustainability / Climate Revolution

• Within 20 years all the middle countries in the globe will be uninhabitable due to heat – chart
• Climate Change will cost 2-3% of global GDP, or $150T/year, for the next 10-15 years
• We will soon have a carbon tax
• We have the necessary technology to correct the climate problem…if we want to
• The next 1000 unicorns will come from sustainability / climate
• Sustainability / climate will have 100x the jobs of Digital / AI
• +100 million new jobs will be created for Sustainability / Climate

As to the Purpose Revolution

• Driven by heat, we will see hundreds of millions of climate change refugees migrating north
• There will be Extinction Rebellion uprisings around the world
• Coal, Oil and Gas will have a harder time surviving
• Banks that support fossil fuels will also see brand rejection
• New stock markets will emerge, supporting Purpose investing
• Gen Y, Z and Alpha will drive change

We, at Edenark Group, do a terrible job of explaining some of the components of our service.  Often, our clients do a better job.

This video has one of our partners asking for an update from one of our new clients.  She explains that, immediately after she signed up, and before we start the certification application process, we prepared and published, a post for her business; as we do for all our clients. 

The financial value to her business, of just that one post, exceeds the cost of her entire certification effort.  As such, even before we get her business certified, she is enjoying a positive ROI.

How many vendors do you have that are delivering a positive ROI before they even deliver their full service to you?

We go for smiles and we got one from her!

If you would like to smile, contact us.

The Age of Sustainability Certification Confirmation Has Begun

Question:  If your company is not environmentally certified sustainable and you are competing against a company that is, besides slashing your price/margin, how do you plan to compete, given the below?

Per this article, a study of +1,000 small to mid-sized businesses found that prior to engaging a supplier, partner or stakeholder

• 89% will check sustainability credentials
• 58% will ask for their certification
• 34% will review the company’s green policies and practices on its website
• 31% will check the company reports and mission statements that outline green objectives
• 28% will ask the company about its attitude towards sustainability
• 22% will check references regarding sustainability

Given what we do, we are excited by the numbers, but admit they appear high.  We have been seeing data with numbers roughly 50% of these.

If we go with what we have seen, which might be stale, but is certainly more conservative, we arrive at the following 

• 45% will check sustainability credentials
• 29% will ask for their certification
• 17% will review the company’s green policies and practices on its website
• 16% will check the company reports and mission statements that outline green objectives
• 14% will ask the company about its attitude towards sustainability
• 11% will check references regarding sustainability

Either way, we all know what the trend line is….and the top numbers may already be more accurate.

What is your plan?  If you don’t have one, watch this and contact us.

Per this article, carbon credits face scrutiny as a corporate path to carbon neutrality and Net Zero.

The article states that many companies are trying to buy their way to credibility, by using carbon credits to enhance their reputation, rather than using the credits as part of a sustainability plan.

We completely agree and will not help organizations that are not willing to develop a plan and execution to transition away from the use of carbon credits.

Our analogy of carbon credits is to think of them as training wheels for your bicycle.  Remember when you received your first bike?  You desperately wanted to ride it, but did not yet know how to balance yourself.  So your parents installed training wheels on the bike.  This was wonderful at first.   But then the neighbor kids starting teasing you and you wanted to get rid of those training wheels as fast as possible.  So you worked hard at learning how to ride that bike without the training wheels and used them less and less, until, you no longer needed them.

Think of carbon credits the same way.

We tell all our clients the process they should take is to start with pursuit and achievement of sustainability certification.  With the proper sustainability certification program, you will have action items for reduction of your carbon.

Then, with your sustainability certification action item list in hand, get your carbon footprint report done, so you can see what your current and future exposure is.

With the proper sustainability plan and execution, your carbon footprint should trend downward every year.

This allows you to use (audited and legitimate) carbon credits, IN THE SHORT TERM, to address the gap; knowing that next year you will use less, and the next year even less, until, just like the training wheels, you no longer need the carbon credits.

In this way, the carbon credits are used in conjunction with your sustainability plan, at progressively reduced amounts, as you pursue carbon neutrality or Net Zero, as part of your sustainability plan.

If you are seeking carbon neutrality or Net Zero status, Edenark Group can help you with the process and certification.  However, don’t call us if all you want to do is buy carbon credits year after year.  We can’t support that.

Edenark Group has a relationship with OneBlueOcean and the CEOs of the two companies are friends.

OneBlueOcean is pursuing a noble cause and is doing wonderful work. 

If you have a passion for our oceans, they are an organization you should know.

We occasionally share some of the videos produced by OneBlueOcean.

Here is Episode 2 of the In Search of Sunrise series.

Enjoy!

It is Mental Health Awareness Month and that should cause us to not only think about the mental health of individuals, but also of the combined mental health of organizations.

This article is titled ‘Sustainability and Employee Wellness:  The Hidden Connection’ and talks about the (often unnoticed) benefits an organization gains on employee wellness by pursuing a sustainability program.

The benefits might be hidden to some but the connection between sustainability and wellness is not hidden to Edenark Group.  Our entire business is based on the premise that if you feel better you will want to do more for others…..and if you do more for others, you feel better.  All of this leads to improved financial performance for the organization.

Sustainability and Wellness are two sides of the same coin for us.

We built the Edenark Group ISO 14001 sustainability certification program to INCLUDE a people-piece that addresses employee performance, health and happiness.  Via this webinar, the first thing we tell people, who are thinking about a sustainability program, is to make sure the program they select includes a people-piece.

Stating it more directly, a sustainability program is not complete if it does not have a people piece that addresses the most important part of an organization – the people.

As for us, we have a high-altitude oxygen gym – Gym For The Brain – a wellness website – A Better World Starts With Me – that is designed to address the Big 5 (insomnia, stress, anxiety, physical pain and mental acuity) and a neurofeedback center – Center For Brain Training.

Our program helps employees feel better; while helping the organization get in front of things like workplace violence, achieve higher productivity, benefit the planet, and make more money.

Nothing hidden in our program.