Sustainable Views

The latest Monthly News and Views Africa Including: Morocco approves $32.5bn in green hydrogen projects. African Union Summit endorses sustainable energy and transport strategies. And, Johannesburg Stock Exchange partners with Risk Insights on AI-driven sustainability reporting. Read more below. #Africasustainability #AfricaESG #climatetechAfrica https://lnkd.in/ebyxtKMv

The European Commission has published its plans for a Savings and Investments Union, and boosting and decarbonising the steel industry. Civil society organisations warn that savers could end up financing fossil fuels, not clean energy, unless strong safeguards are in place. Senior economist at the WWF European Policy Office, Sebastien Godinot, said the plan for a Savings and Investments Union “lacks purpose”. “It offers a collection of technical ideas but omits a clear strategy to drive investments toward the EU’s critical goals of green transition, strategic autonomy and energy security,” he said in a statement. “To truly mainstream the green transition and meet the targets of the Green Deal, we must better mobilise and earmark our savings urgently.” Read more below. https://lnkd.in/eW28GEmc #SavingsandInvestmentsUnion #EU #greensteel

Have wondered for ages how best to approach the question of 1.5C: while scientists have been warning for years that the world is almost certain to overshoot 1.5C, corporate initiatives including Science Based Targets initiative and Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) have stuck with the goal - although the NZBA is now considering a more flexible approach. Cambridge Associates' Simon Hallett tells me that the concept of 1.5C/Paris Agreement alignment was always murky anyway: it's too passive, and does next to nothing to advance the Paris Agreement. The two separate issues - of actually keeping global temperature rises below 1.5C, and whether companies are aligning their own targets with that goal - are regularly conflated. Lots to think about! Would be very interested to hear from others on this.

The EU is pushing to form a critical minerals trade deal with Indonesia — however, the deal as currently framed raises human rights and environmental concerns, write Rachmi Hertanti researcher at the Transnational Institute, and Julie Zalcman trade campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe. In addition to human rights and environmental risks from mining, "the Indonesia-EU trade deal also risks eroding Indonesia’s economic sovereignty and its potential to develop its own industry," they argue. "The EU must move towards a truly equal partnership with Indonesia, which does not force the country to liberalise its raw materials exports or give up its sovereignty to set prices. It must support Indonesian value addition and sustainable economic development," they add. Read more below. #EUIndonesiatradedeal #criticalminerals #nickel https://lnkd.in/e8VWQG-e

A small but growing number of UK companies are voluntarily incorporating socio-economic data into their pay gap reporting, to better assess how employees from different socio-economic backgrounds are progressing through their ranks. The Social Mobility Foundation, which publishes an annual index assessing social mobility levels at UK employers, found of the 150 companies that put themselves forward to be included in its 2024 index, 26 are measuring their socio-economic pay gaps. This compares with 20 out of the 143 employers that joined the index in 2023. Read more below. https://lnkd.in/ePMaTMg3 #socialmobility #socialreporting #socialinclusion

Sustainable Views is partnering with edie at #edie25, starting a week tomorrow (26-27 March 2025 | BDC, London) - the UK's longest-running and most impactful sustainable business event! Join sustainability, business and net-zero leaders driving real change. Join us there: https://lnkd.in/ebGmasXn

My latest on the EU #omnibus proposal focused on the proposed changes to the #CSRD. Those in favour of reducing the scope of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive often insist the rules are too onerous and fewer demands will mean more real world action to reduce emissions. But business experts and lawyers I spoke to underline how the "uncertainty" of the process will likely undermine investment in the EU, while sustainability-minded investors warn the omnibus could lead to misaligned investor and company demands with very real consequences for delivery of the EU's Clean Industrial Deal. There are also concerns about the removal of SMEs from the main scope of the CSRD and what this means for competitiveness and data comparability. 📢 We Mean Business Coalition's Jane Thostrup Jagd: The uncertainty created by the process “is killing everything. Most companies and capital providers will hold their horses. Little capital may flow towards sustainability in the next couple of years as no-one knows what is going to happen.” 🎤 Nicolas Lockhart from Sidley Austin LLP agrees the omnibus process is causing “considerable uncertainty”. Companies in theory have been granted extra compliance time, but “this is not yet truly useful time,” given the picture will remain uncertain until the final package is over the line and the revised ESRS are through. "Optimistically, this will happen by the middle of 2026. At that point it is only six months until the financial year starts on which companies have to report. They are effectively being asked to waste time while the legislator sorts out a problem of its own creation." 🎙️Ophélie Mortier from Degroof Petercam would also like to see a “stop the clock” approach for the investor side. “If SMEs don’t disclose and sustainability regulations don’t change for investors, the objective of supporting the real economy might be compromised”. Full story by me below. https://lnkd.in/dy_ip6FM

US resistance to #CSDDD grew this week with Tennessee senator Hagerty's introduction of the 'Protect USA' bill. If enacted as is, the bill - which blocks American businesses in certain sectors from complying with the CSDDD and other rules like it - would force businesses to breach rules in either the EU or US no matter what they do. It also includes a $1mn fine if companies comply with the CSDDD. As Mayer Brown's James Ford told me, if companies are already working in line with the UN guiding principles on human rights and OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises, it shouldn’t change their overall course of action - but CSDDD reporting remains an open question. Data from SOMO show that the US has more impacted companies than any other non-EU country at approx 315. Full analysis here: https://lnkd.in/eXm3R-45

Can the UK balance its housebuilding and net zero goals? With the government simultaneously going after ambitious targets for new home construction and emissions reduction, Florence Jones has looked at whether, and how, it can do both. Big challenges include land use constraints and carbon-heavy construction materials. With insights from Maya Singer Hobbs of IPPR, David Knowles FREng of Henry Royce Institute & Dr. Jens Hirsch of BuildingMinds Read more below: https://lnkd.in/eCSVSpmU

"Europe needs to overcome a stubborn misjudgment in its approach to the energy transition. Our energy systems are not just technical or neutral matters of supply, demand and market forces. They are deeply political, profoundly gendered and intersect with fairness questions," write Barbara Nicoloso director of Virage Énergie France, and Taube Van Melkebeke head of policy at the Green European Foundation in Sustainable Views. Women’s Day is a good moment to consider how a just transition can eradicate energy inequalities, they argue. Read more below. #internationalwomensday #energyequality #genderequality https://lnkd.in/enHgbntx