Bemari

Do you have questions about getting started on addressing nature but do not know who to ask? Tune into the sessions at the upcoming IEMA Connect conference. Our Director, Marina Bradford, will join Jenny Merriman and Lesley Wilson to address the Frequently Asked Questions on the Climate x Nature nexus and how businesses can start taking action on nature. The IEMA Connect 24 event is a platform for sustainability professionals, offering the opportunity to connect, share insights, and bridge the gap between ambition and tangible action. 🚀 📅 Event: IEMA Connect 2024. Global Environmental & Sustainability Conference 🗓️ Date: October 15th, 10 AM 🔗 Learn more and register here: https://lnkd.in/dgWZDNYt

A new Bemarian is on board! We are thrilled to introduce Caitlin Hicks 🧜🏻♀️ as our new Sustainability Consultant. With over a decade of experience in sustainability strategy and communications, Caitlin has worked tirelessly to bring impactful initiatives to life. Her expertise spans from mobilising grassroots movements to guiding multinational organisations towards a regenerative and sustainable future. As a sustainability strategist and climate communicator, Caitlin is determined to accelerate the role of business in addressing our world’s most complex challenges. She'll be supporting our clients to achieve sustainability certifications, to go beyond global standards and to communicate their efforts with confidence. We are happy to have Caitlin on our journey to drive lasting transformation across industries. 🌍 Join us in welcoming Caitlin to the team!! 🎉

The Double Materiality Life in action - print out, props and thoughtful facial expressions are all important parts of workshops! Marina Bradford & Matteo Cossutta

Nature and Business is becoming a hot topic and organisations want to know how to take action. IEMA launched a guide on "Business Actions on Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD): a Primer on roles and reporting using the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) framework". The guide has been developed to help those getting to grips with the recommendations and implementing them within their organisations. We are pleased to share this guide with you - as it was developed with our founder Marina Bradford working alongside Dr Stephanie Hime and Lesley Wilson. Thank you to the reviewers and contributors to the guidance including: Jenny Merriman, Chris Moss, Alessandra Melis, Candice Dott and members of the IEMA BaNC Steering Group. Find the guidance here: https://lnkd.in/evP6JxNJ Photo by Pathum Danthanarayana on Unsplash

After 150 years, pine martens are darting around Dartmoor. Thanks to a partnership of conservation organisations led by the Devon Wildlife Trust, 15 of these nimble, tree-climbing mammals were reintroduced last month. Their presence marks a significant step towards restoring the health of Dartmoor's woodlands and balancing local ecosystems. In addition, martens provide a natural invasive species control (grey squirrels) that had wiped out the red squirrels in England and like to chomp on wood in commercial and residential structures.

🌍 How can your SME play a vital role in planetary recovery? 🌍 As an SME ourselves, we understand how sometimes it can feel like we're too small to have a positive (or negative) impact on creating sustainable economies.  But in reality SMEs represent ~90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide. So we're small but mighty!! And together we can have a powerful impact on halting the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.  Here are some ideas for SME action... ✅ Voluntarily comply with environmental regulations Whilst currently most environmental regulations are aimed at larger businesses, there will be increasing requirements on the SMEs in their supply chains to disclose environmental impacts. So it’s good to start getting ahead and understanding what information you may be required to disclose to your customers in the future… your competition likely are! ✅ Identify your social and environmental impacts To assess and improve your business's sustainability, start by identifying your current impact using tools like the free B Corp Impact Assessment. Consider the environmental and social impacts across your supply chain with frameworks like 'the doughnut'. Incorporate sustainability into daily decisions by asking key questions about climate impact, risk management, and consumer influence. ✅ Transition to a 'triple bottom line' Rather than solely focusing on generating profit, (the standard 'bottom line'), a triple bottom line also tracks a business performance against social and environmental impacts. Adopting a triple bottom line approach may seem idealistic in a world that emphasizes profit over purpose, however many innovative companies, have shown time and time again that it’s possible to have business success whilst maximising positive outcomes for people and planet.

The underconsumption core – is this a trend that offers hope or just another fad? Our blog explores the conversation about the underconsumption trend of social media https://lnkd.in/dtwMp-ha Join the conversation and share your thoughts in the comments! 💬

The Netherlands is embracing an innovative and fun approach to tackle urban heat and flooding: tile-whipping competitions! 🏆 Residents compete to remove as many garden tiles as possible, replacing them with greenery. This creative initiative not only fosters community spirit but also makes cities more climate-resilient. 🌳 This is a great reminder that small actions can lead to significant environmental impact. Such an inspiration for building greener communities worldwide! 🌍 Thank you Positive News for uplifting our spirit! #Sustainability #UrbanGreening #CommunityAction #ClimateResilience

Climate Policy Initiative's 2024 Cities Climate Finance Report is finally out! Earlier this year Elspeth Alexander was lucky enough to work with the fantastic Catarina Fonseca on tracking the flow of climate finance to urban water between 2019 - 2022. The answer is ~$9 billion/year which is nowhere near enough to: (1) protect the water provision of urban water communities in a climate stressed world; (2) decarbonise the urban water sector(s) at the rate needed to meet the Paris Agreement. It's critical we remember that urban communities are not a homogeneous group. Socio-economic and geographic factors massively impact the climate vulnerability of urban-dwelling citizens and thus how vulnerable their water provision is to chronic climate stress and acute climate-induced hazards from hurricanes to land slides to sandstorms. We also need more nuanced engagement around the risks of climate change to urban water provision beyond issues of water quality and availability e.g. water affordability & increased O&M requirements AND the role that intact ecosystems can play in increasing the climate resilience of urban water provision.

While carbon footprinting is a powerful tool for understanding and managing a company's greenhouse gas emissions, it should be complemented with other environmental, social, and operational analyses to gain a holistic view of the business's impact and performance. So, if you want to address sustainability more holistically and go beyond carbon, here are a few tips: 🔸 Breakdown sustainability into different parts that can be measured. Double materiality assessment provides a robust overview of what a business should focus on (and it is likely to be a combination of things) - water, plastic pollution, workplace development support, climate risks etc. 🔸 Evaluate what you have learned from carbon measurement exercise that may be helpful for other topics. Did you identify specific nature inputs and dependencies? Did you learn that your palm oil linked ingredients come from an unknown source and your Tier 1 supplier cant guarantee it didn't come from deforested lands? You are able to make the first steps to running a nature related impact assessment. 🔸 As you have identified the key carbon hotspots, you will see that a lot of them are linked to resource consumption and burning fuel/ energy use. What opportunities can you identify to reduce these and switch to renewable, reused, refurbished and recycled alternatives? No additional analysis needed - and you can already make significant changes that will benefit other environmental boundaries like water use, land use change and pollution. 🔸 When it comes to setting the targets, make sure they align with global sustainability frameworks such as the Science Based Targets Initiative (carbon), Science Based Target Network (nature) and the Future Fitness Business Benchmark Framework (holistically). Even going through the review of these guidances can show you how carbon becomes a stepping stone to a wider understanding of your impacts. The next time someone asks what your business is doing to be sustainable, you can respond with a clear, specific point on one material topic that you are actively trying to improve. Photo by Tim van der Kuip on Unsplash