Journal of Cleaner Production

Beatrice Crona, Giorgio Parlato, Steven Lade, Ingo Fetzer, Victor Maus. "Going beyond carbon: An “Earth System Impact” Score to Better Capture Corporate and Investment Impacts on the Earth System". Journal of Cleaner Production . January 12, 2023. Four interactions – changes in climate affecting water runoff; changes in climate affecting vegetation cover; changes in vegetation cover affecting climate; and changes in vegetation cover affecting water runoff – are deemed of utmost importance for understanding the impact on the Earth system on policy-relevant timeframes. While these nature-related impacts are essential to consider and capture because they have local impacts on a range of ecosystem functions on which companies and economies depend, they also fundamentally affect our ability to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. Furthermore, climate, land and water interact and affect each other in various ways, such that climate change can be exacerbated by degraded ecosystems, which in turn are dependent on water.

In the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, the EU and its Member States have committed to implement more than 100 measures by 2030, including the EU Nature Restoration Plan to protect and restore at least 30% of the degraded and carbon-rich ecosystems by law. In Austria as in most EU countries, conservative parties and interest groups have spoken out against the EU Nature Restoration Law. With slander, deception, and misleading statements, they defend the “business-as-usual” approach to agriculture, forestry, and land use. They, industry lobby groups, and their political allies argue against the interests of the population and small farmers, forest owners, and businesses that have an economic interest in restoring nature and protecting their living space, nature, and the environment.

Human societies and biodiversity on Earth are under threat because human resource consumption is exceeding or threatening the physical and ecological boundaries of our planet. To discuss and address the challenges, find solutions, and take urgent measures to tackle climate change, the terminology used in discussions about planetary phenomena, cultural development, and concepts of planetary sustainability must be defined, clarified, and agreed. Life is a planetary phenomenon and arguably the most interesting phenomenon observed on planetary surfaces. The concept of planetary sustainability has to be placed in the alarming context of such planetary phenomena as global warming and understood as sustainable development that considers the Earth as a planet and its planetary boundaries.

Data centers house the critical servers, storage, and networking equipment that keep data flowing smoothly in local communities and around the world. The development and operation of data centres require thorough assessment and consideration of land valuation, site analysis, power consumption and consumption capacity. Strategic insights and awareness of these factors are essential to the long-term success of data centers and the benefit of all socioeconomic stakeholders. By understanding and considering these factors, data center operators can ensure the social, ecological, and economic success and sustainability of their facilities, thus supporting the continued growth and development of the digital economy and providing solutions, buildings and infrastructures of the future.

The European Nature Restoration Law (NRL) establishes rules and procedures for the restoration and conservation of natural resources and ecosystems to compensate or offset damage to natural resources and promote sustainable development. While center-right, far-right and conservative politicians such as Kai Mykkänen, Finland’s Minister for Climate and Environment and representative of the center-right National Coalition party, oppose the NRL because of its "excessive costs", they ignore its exponential benefits for each country's gross domestic product (GDP). Although Mykkänen's claim that the cost to Finland is the highest in the EU relative to the size of its economy is correct, his argument ignores the 10-fold benefit of nature restoration and the law to Finnish GDP.

The Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) voted in defiance of the coalition partner to pass the EU’s Nature Restoration Law, thereby pushing it through by a narrow majority. She decided that it was her duty to approve this central pillar of the EU’s efforts to reverse the major degradation of its landscapes. The conservative ÖVP government partner promptly filed criminal charges against her for abuse of office and a complaint with the European Court of Justice for an "unlawful" vote. According to the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, she was not legally empowered to vote in favor of the nature restoration law. With 82% of the population in favor of nature restoration measures, her defiant action is likely meeting with approval by most Austrians of all parties.

Financial services are critical for corporate activities to regenerate and promote biosphere resilience as a key strategy to confront the new risk landscape and are essential to the transformation needed for a sustainable future. Current financial risk frameworks focus mainly on financial materiality and risks to the financial sector while failing to account for investment externalities that aggravate climate and other environmental changes and set the sustainable finance initiatives off course. This analysis of environmental, social, and governance ratings and estimates of global green investments shows the Anthropocene reality of financial risk and what this means for the ability of society at large, and finance in particular, to deliver on sustainability ambitions and global goals.

ESG and SDG cannot be used interchangeably to identify the sustainability of companies and their contribution to social development and the planet, although they are complementary. Where sustainable investors aim to invest in companies that contribute to sustainable development, there is disagreement on how best to measure their sustainability performance. SDG scores capture investors’ revealed social, economic and environmental sustainability preferences, align with the EU taxonomy regulation, and support climate change mitigation, unlike ESG ratings. Whereas the ESG ratings have low construct validity, SDG ratings perform well in measuring companies’ positive and negative impacts on the well-being of people and the Earth and their contribution to sustainable development.

Numerous social and ecological benefits are associated with nature-based solutions (NBS). This study gathered the views of stakeholders engaged in urban planning regarding the importance of nature-based solutions (NBS). The findings revealed that stakeholders perceive numerous social and ecological advantages associated with NBS, notably fostering cooperation within communities. This cooperation manifested at different levels, encompassing empowerment, collaborative decision-making, cooperation, consultation, and information sharing. Additionally, knowledge sharing emerged as a valuable advantage, facilitating the exchange of scientific and practical experiences related to NBS implementation, challenges, and applications among urban planners, users of urban spaces, and researchers.

Material circularity (MC) develops positively when a material is circulated through reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, or recycling at its highest quality, it usually being measured through material flow analysis (MFA). When economic value is generated as commonly measured through life cycle costing (LCC), economic sustainability (EconSus) is positive. Environmental sustainability (EnvSus) develops positively as the environment suffers less through product systems, using life cycle assessment (LCA) for assessing their life-cycle environmental impacts. Social sustainability (SocSus) develops positively if social conditions improve for all people, which is tricky to measure. Where circularity space and sustainability space overlap, a Sustainable Circular Economy (SCE) occurs.

The often-repeated and seldom-challenged view that climate change solutions are expensive and uneconomical has long thwarted public support for even the most common-sense measures. While economics research documents far greater costs of climate change damages, those opposing actions to confront climate change point to the costs of the solutions and rarely if ever cite the costs or mention the alternative costs of continuing to extract and burn fossil fuels to meet society’s energy needs. Prices of green technology solutions are falling rapidly, making many already cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives and more than pay for themselves over time. Failing to curb global warming has started bringing more frequent climate catastrophes with crushing economic and humanitarian costs.

SDG 9 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) sets out eight targets and twelve indicators used to monitor the achievement of the goals. With more than half of the world's population living in cities, mass transport, renewable energy and carbon reduction call for solutions and new industries and information and communication technologies. Innovation in infrastructure, industry and the technologies needed for the transition are the main drivers of economic growth and development. Investment in scientific research, innovation and technologies promotes SDG-aligned infrastructures key to solving and meeting the resulting social, economic and environmental challenges, such as CO₂ and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction, improving infrastructure energy efficiency, and creating new jobs.

Sustainability has become a key corporate strategy inspiring companies to implement the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper identifies the SDG priorities in the automotive industry worldwide, from the point of view of the geographic, cultural, social, and economic specifics of the countries in which the companies operate. SDGs 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, and 13 are the most preferred SDGs in the automotive industry and the SDGs adopted by at least 66% of companies examined. The automotive industry is a good subject of analysis because it is a pillar of the global economy and a main driver of macroeconomic growth, stability, and technological prosperity. However, the analysis confirms that SDG priorities are highly dependent on the continent and country’s basic economic performance.

Adaptation planning more effectively reduces climate risk when it identifies not only disparities in how people are affected by climate change but also the underlying causes of climate vulnerability. Transformative adaptation involves consideration of the physical and social drivers of vulnerability and how they interact to shape local experiences of vulnerability and disparities in risk. Effective transition involves developing and investing in new monitoring and evaluation methods to understand the different values of, and impacts on, diverse individuals and communities. Adaptation measures that are designed and implemented using inclusive, participatory planning approaches and coordinated governance and financing have the greatest potential for long-term social and economic benefits.

Failure to transition will generate significant and widespread economic and financial risks. An economic forecast from Swiss Re, one of the world's largest reinsurers, projects a loss in global gross domestic product (GDP) of between 4.2 and 18.1 percentage points by mid-century, depending on different warming scenarios. As a result, limiting increases in global temperature is essential to mitigating those losses and maintaining stability of the global economy. However, even under best-case warming scenarios, climate change will continue, with unpredictable consequences for economic growth, the financial system, and the conduct of financial and monetary policy. Avoiding the most costly and destructive outcomes depends on immediate action from private-sector and government actors alike.

During the past decade, more renewable power was added to the grid annually than fossil fuel and nuclear power combined. Renewable technologies dominate the global energy market for new electricity generation capacity simply because they have become the cheapest sources of electricity in many markets. 260 gigawatts of renewables-based generation capacity was added globally in 2020, more than four times from other sources. But progress must continue to accelerate. The IEA 2050 Report calls for additions of solar photovoltaics to reach 630 gigawatts annually by 2030, a pace that is roughly equivalent to installing the world’s largest current solar park nearly every day. IEA also calls for annual wind power installations to reach 390 gigawatts, four times the level achieved in 2020.