As described in my blog entry February 3rd, I am referring, on a weekly basis, to each of the SDGs: facts, targets, and how could companies be engaged. This week is about SDG#13 -Climate Action.
This is certainly one of the most important SDGs. In a recent survey conducted with CEOs’ of the G250 Index this was the more prioritised SDG (two thirds mentioned it as key SDG for their companies), followed by SDG#8 (Decent work and economic growth) and SDG#3 (Good health and well-being).
I ssttronlgy reccommend that you read the last IPCC report (https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/), “Global Warming of 1,5 degrees”. I would call it “Global Warning”, due to its crystal-clear warning of what will happen it no action is taken!
Facts:
From 1880 to 2012, average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. To put this into perspective, for each 1 degree of temperature increase, grain yields decline by about 5 per cent.
Oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished and sea level has risen.From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded due to warming and ice melted. The Arctic’s sea ice extent has shrunk in every successive decade since 1979, with 1.07 million km² of ice loss every decade
Given current concentrations and on-going emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely that by the end of this century, the increase in global temperature will exceed 1.5°C compared to 1850 to 1900 for all but one scenario. The world’s oceans will warm and ice melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted as 24 – 30cm by 2065 and 40-63cm by 2100.
Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have increased by almost 50 per cent since 1990
Emissions grew more quickly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades
Targets
There are 5 targets and can be found here: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change-2/
Companies’ engagement
There are a lot of actions companies can take, creating in the process value for both them and the society. Here are some examples:
Source all electricity the company consumes at its facilities from renewable sources – such as wind, solar or hydro – or install renewable energy generation capacity on-site.
Retrofit the lighting systems of the company’s facilities to energy efficient LED lighting.
Invest in CCS (carbon capture & storage) technology to capture emissions produced from the use of fossil fuels in electricity generation and industrial processes, preventing the carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Reduce GHG emission from transport operations with abatement levers such as reducing the carbon footprint through greater fuel efficiency, local sourcing, modal shift to lower carbon modalities (e.g. air to sea freight), modular transport, improving container utilization, warehouse optimization, etc.