On July 1, 2024, Vermont became the first US state to create a climate recovery superfund.

The law will require fossil fuel extractors and refiners, who account for significant greenhouse gases, to pay for their share of the climate change clean-up incurred by the State.

The money received by the State will be used for climate change projects.

Similar laws are pending in New York, California, Maryland and Massachusetts.

The New York law has passed the house and senate and is waiting for signature by the governor.  If approved, it will seek a $3 billion per year recovery from the fossil fuel industry, just for that one state.

Massachusetts has the same $3 billion per year target and Maryland is targeting $360 million per year.

If these laws get put in place, other states, who do not have climate superfunds, but paying more for fossil fuel because of these state superfunds, might rush to pass their own.

Think about where your business sits on this debate.  Are you a follower, waiting to see what happens and what others in your sector do; or do you want to get ahead of this and be seen as a business that is leading the charge?

If you prefer to lead rather than follow, read this on what you want in a sustainability program, watch this master class, and contact us.

The record heat we are having is damaging fruit and vegetable crops.  This will drive prices up.

Next time you do a double-take when you see the price at the store, remember, you have control over how much carbon you put into the atmosphere and you can choose to be part of the solution.

If you decide you want to be part of the solution, read this on what you want in a sustainability program, watch this master class, and contact us.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy that holds businesses responsible for their products’ environmental impact throughout their lifecycle. EPR is a business response to climate change and environmental degradation, and it encourages companies to design more sustainable and recyclable products and manufacturing processes.

Per this article, on 21 May 2024, Minnesota joined Oregon, Maine, Colorado and California in implementing packaging EPR laws on packaging that comes in to Minnesota.

Minnesota, which is 4^th in the nation in individual boat ownership, extended its law to include plastic boat wraps that are used when a boat is in storage and typically thrown away when the boat is taken out of storage.

In effect, any organization that introduces one ton or more of covered materials (single use packaging, paper products and boat wraps) needs to pay a fee to cover the cost of recycling the materials, or be fined.

If your company ships materials into Oregon, Maine, Colorado, California and now Minnesota, you need to review how much packaging material is used to support your products.

Other states will join.  So, even if your current distribution does not include these five states, you should start reviewing your packaging and how to recycle same.

This will become a component of all product distribution cost structures.

If you want a plan to turn this into a positive financial outcome, read this on what you want in a sustainability program, watch this master class, and contact us.

When people do not feel they are being heard, they take legal action.

• There are currently approximately 2,666 climate cases in front of courts, globally. 1745 of those are in the US.
• Of the above, 140 are greenwashing cases where claimants have been winning at a 70% rate. Net, if you get sued for greenwashing, there is a 70% chance you will lose.
• In June 2024, a Hawaiian court approved a settlement of a climate lawsuit brought against the state by a group of young plaintiffs who sued, and won, on the argument that their constitutional right to a healthy environment had been violated. Hawaii has agreed to create and implement a road map to achieve net zero emissions (remember, this includes vendors) on ground transport, inter-island sea transport, and air transport, by 2045.  
• In late 2023, a Montana court also found in favor of a different group of young plaintiffs who sued that state on a similar constitutional rights claim.
• Litigations are pending in Alaska, Florida, Utah and Virginia….and federally, against the EPA, on similar claims.
• Expect Massachusetts and Pennsylvania to come next.
• Then, we have governments taking action against companies. Puerto Rico has launched an action against fossil fuel companies for deceiving the public over the impact of fossil fuels.  There are over three dozen similar government-sponsored suits in play.

People are angry and they want to see action.  They are expecting it from their governments and from the business community.

This is why we are seeing such a huge gap in growth and profit between certified sustainable companies and their non-certified peers.  Simply stated, consumers are using their purchasing behavior to tell you want they expect from you.

If you want consumers to see you on the right side of this, read this on what you want in a sustainability program, watch this master class, and contact us.

Here we are again – Earth Overshoot Day.

This is the day each year when we have exhausted the Earth’s production for that year.

Imagine over-spending your household budget every year, for 53 straight years.  Would you still have a house to live in?

The cupboard is bare and the payment notices are piling up. 

So, back to the ask – Can you simply stop eating and consuming for balance of year? 

If not, how about helping solve the problem?

Read this on what you want in a sustainability program, watch this master class, and contact us.

Most people recognize the environmental problems we are facing.  This is not a complete list, but it is sobering, nonetheless:

• CO2 emissions have increased 50% by 1990, accelerating global warming and impacting all life on Earth
• 90% of us breathe polluted air, causing 7 million deaths a year
• Almost all of us drink contaminated water, causing 5 million deaths a year
• Our oceans are overfished, increasing in temperature and full of plastics and waste
• Nearly 25% of animal species are at risk of extinction
• Forests are being destroyed
• We are not producing enough food

Most people say, “I would love to help, but what can I do?”

Let’s start the answer with this article about a rancher destroying the Amazon rain forest to raise cows for your hamburgers.  He takes the risk, and admits he is doing the damage, because our demand for meat is so great.

You probably know Processed Meat (any meat treated to improve favor or last longer, like deli meat or any meat in a package), is a Group 1 Carcinogen; in the same cancer-causing camp as asbestos, arsenic, mustard gas, neutron radiation, plutonium, cigarette smoking…

You probably know Red Meat is a Group 2 Carcinogen; in the same cancer-causing camp as formaldehyde, nitrate, silicon carbide…

You probably know that white meat and fish are expected to be added to the Group 2 list due to the impact of commercial meat factories…

You probably know that +90% of the meat you purchase at the store has fecal matter in it…

You probably know that animals are the middleman to you getting the protein you need…

You probably know the human body, from our teeth to our digestive tract, is built for plant digestion, not meat digestion…

You probably know meat harms your gut and biome and plants rebuilds it…

You probably know meat will increase your calories, cholesterol, risk of heart disease, risk of mental disease, risk of gastro-intestinal disease… 

You probably know that a plant-based diet will be less expensive and healthier.

But did you know, the biggest opportunity we have to address our environmental problems and global warming is….reduced meat production?

• 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions and climate impact is from the production of meat. This is equal to the emissions from all the cars, trucks, planes and boats.
• 75% of the world’s agricultural land is used for the production of meat (including the Amazon land destroyed in the above article)
• 20% of global fresh water is used in the production of meat

So, the next time you get ready to take a bite of your expensive hamburger, remember:

• It likely has fecal matter in it
• Your body was not built to digest it
• The protein is from plants
• You will get fatter and die younger from it
• It is the biggest opportunity we have to correct our environmental / climate problem
• And, you have control over what you eat

We previously reported that Lululemon was in trouble in Canada for greenwashing.

The hits keep-a-comin’ as a class action suit has been filed in Florida.

Why do companies get in trouble over this issue?

• The environment is the #1 issue on the minds of consumers
• Consumers want to hear what your company is doing about it
• Certified sustainable companies are growing up to 20x faster than their peers
• It is so easy to say you are sustainable

But, if you are not environmentally certified sustainable with 3^rd party verification on your claims

• Hush
• Get certified sustainable with 3^rd party verification, then talk all you want (within the limitations of your certification)

If you want to say what consumers want to hear, read this on what you want in a sustainability program, watch this master class, and contact us.

Per this master class, there are 8 components of a sustainability program that will be successful and make you happy:

• It MUST include Employee Performance / Health
  • Sustainability is not just about energy savings or ‘Greening Up’, it is about people
  • For most businesses, the employees are one of the biggest costs, one of the biggest risks (mistakes, insurance, law suits) and one of the biggest opportunities (new ideas, collaboration, product knowledge)
  • Every organisation suffers from the Big 5 – insomnia, stress, anxiety, physical pain, mental acuity
  • You are losing 5% of your corporate profit/year to the Big 5
  • It takes a lot of LEDs to make up for one worker comp or workplace violence case
  • Make sure your program has a ‘people piece’ that addresses employee performance, health and happiness

• It MUST certify the business not the box
  • People care about things that involve people
  • Most building (ie, ‘Box’) certifications only care about building energy
  • Building certifications are expensive and hard to market (poor ROI)
  • You want to say, “Buy more of my product because we are a certified sustainable business”
  • You do not get much value from, “Buy more of my product because we are in an energy efficient building”
  • You want the certification on your business, not the building your business is in

• It MUST have a 3^rd party audit component
  • Oversight delivers credibility and trust
  • From passing your driving test, to getting your college diploma, to passing a bar exam, we use 3^rd parties to ensure compliance
  • There are many sustainability programs that deliver a certification based on your ‘word’…..and your payment
  • Don’t do it!
  • Make sure the program you choose uses a 3^rd party to validate your work

• It MUST follow a respected and integrated global standard
  • The sustainability industry is maturing and coalescing around few standards
  • The UN has created its SDGs (17 sustainability development goals)
  • 50% of the world’s economies require sustainability reporting
  • Greenwashing lawsuits are growing
  • Don’t pick a program that is not globally respected by, and integrated with, the world leadership groups; and that does not have the ability to integrate the other three legs of the stool – carbon neutrality, ESG and net zero
  • No reason to spend the time and money, then find you are not following the same programs and protocols that the leadership groups have adopted

• It MUST include promotion of the certification
  • Historically, sustainability has been a cost-side play
  • Most programs and providers have been 100% trained and focused on cost-side measures – energy reduction, carbon reduction, waste reduction, water reduction, travel reduction (ie, engineering)
  • But we know consumers are searching for certified sustainable companies
  • If you don’t talk about being certified sustainable they will never know you are (ie, marketing)
  • You want a program provider that is built to do the cost-side work AND the revenue-side work; and helps you promote your certification

• It MUST pursue continual improvement
  • Sustainability is not finite. It requires long-term commitment
  • But…change is hard for all of us
  • If the bar is set too high, we can get frustrated and give up
  • You want a program that lets you come as you are and allows you to continually improve
  • This will keep everyone happy and committed year after year

• It MUST require annual updates
  • Current = credible
  • Sustainability is not finite; we need to continually improve
  • You don’t want a program that does not have a date attached to its certification
  • You want to continually improve, see your success, and annually update your certification to show you are current and credible in your actions

• It MUST be at a price you can afford and produce a positive ROI
  • We could have started with cost but you need the above seven components at a price you can afford
  • It needs to show a positive and rapid ROI
  • The cost includes both money and time and covers everything – the certification, the 3^rd party audit and your work to become certified

As stated, we deliver all eight components mentioned above to our clients.

We enjoy a 100% client renewal rate – every year, every client has a decision to make and every year, every client has renewed.

If you use a program that delivers all of the above, you will probably be happy too.

This past Sunday, 21 July, 2024, was the hottest day ever recorded.

It is doubtful it will hold the record long. Last month was the hottest June on record globally and the 13th month in a row that broke records for high temperatures.

For those of you who believe this is just Mother Earth doing her thing, the last time Earth was this hot was approximately 120,000 years ago (the Eemian period).  But the real marker we are targeting is the PETM period, which was about 55 million years ago.  That was when temperatures were about 10 degrees C (15 degrees F) higher than today, there was no polar ice and oceans were about 230 feet (70 meters) higher.  Due to our impact on the environment over the past hundred years, we are heading there millions of years early.

“We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years,” Carlo Buontempo, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement.

“We’re going to have to have massive readjustments in the way in which we live our lives” as heat intensifies, said Bharat Venkat, the director of the UCLA Heat Lab, which studies the effects of rising temperatures.

So…..now that you have been put on notice, what will you and your business do about it?  Will you boldly say something like, “We should all do more!” then forget all about it and get back to your (very warm) day?  

Are you Nero?   

Dear friends,

I spent the majority of my career as a corpoate turnaround / scale up CEO.  It provided a rich and diverse experience; and I am truly thankful for all I learned.

As part of my Pay It Forward, I am a member of Leading Peers and chair a peer advisory board of CEOs.

The board meets virtually and we have US-based, and non-US-based CEOs, that are part of the group.

This is a flyer on the benefits of the group.

If you ever felt you might benefit from having a peer group of CEOs to confidentially share with and grow with, give this some thought.

If you would like more information you can contact me directly or contact Diane Pallini at [email protected].  

You will make professional friends and your business will benefit from the group’s guidance.

Sincerely,

David Goodman, CEO, Edenark Group