How should a standard on biodiversity measurement and valuation for business look like? We are mid way to the closing of the public consultation on the Align's recommendations for businesses. Contribute to drafting them by participating in the public consultations until 15 July.
On 30 Nov – 1 Dec 2021, the EU Business@Biodiversity Platform, together with Entreprises pour l’Environnement, Biodiversity in Good Company and the Value Balancing Alliance, hosted the 2021 edition of the European Business Nature Summit. The Summit capitalised on the momentum from this year’s busy climate and environment agenda, and gathered 86 speakers and more than 1000 participant representing businesses of all sizes, financial institutions, NGOs, biodiversity experts, and national and EU level policy-makers.
Corrected Link: Green Public Procurement (GPP) News Alert - July 2021 issue
The Align project (Aligning accounting approaches for nature) – funded by the European Commission - will support businesses, financial institutions and other stakeholders in developing standardised natural capital accounting practices, including a standardised approach to biodiversity measurement. Seeking to engage relevant business stakeholders directly, the project will be implemented by a group of partners including UNEP, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre; ; the Capitals Coalition; Arcadis and ICF.
The EU, teaming up with the United Nations Environment Programme, and in coordination with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, launched the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (GACERE). The Alliance is one of the deliverables of the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan. Alongside the EU, fourteen countries (Canada, Chile, Colombia, Japan, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Rwanda, Morocco, South Africa and South Korea) have already joined the Alliance. A number of other countries are also considering their membership including Switzerland, Mexico, and Singapore. The second working meeting took place on 1 Jun 2021.
Transitioning energy production from a dependence upon fossil fuels to renewable energy sources (RESs) promises to reduce environmental impacts while aiding economic growth. A study explores the benefits of implementing the Italian government’s renewable energy plan, which includes installing photovoltaic (PV), hydroelectric, wind, and geothermal infrastructure from now to 2040. Click here to read more
Demand for portable energy storage is growing with rising demand for products such as electric cars. Supercapacitors supply a higher power density and longer cycle life than a conventional battery but require porous carbon in their manufacture. A new study presents a method to create large amounts of carbon — suitable for supercapacitor manufacture — from an abundant, low-cost source: used coffee grounds.
On 25 September, UNDP and more than thirty partners will organize a Business and Finance Day at the Nature for Life Hub from 15.00 CEST in the run up to the UN General Assembly. During this session CEOs of members of the EU Finance and Biodiversity Community and other financial institutions will launch the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge.
A new journal article in Environmental Science and Technology from researchers at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre presents the state of the art and emerging challenges of the biodiversity assessment of value chains.
Join this first major global leadership event to discuss nature in a world rethinking how to emerge from the crisis of a pandemic.
Join the Masterclass with Kering and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership to discuss the relationship between fashion and biodiversity, and what businesses can do to take action on mitigating negative environmental impacts and work towards net positive gains.
The European Commission has launched an online public consultation on the renewed sustainable finance strategy.
Following the publication of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the EU B@B Platform is happy to announce its relaunch as an initial step to implement the strategy.
The services of the European Commission have launched an online public consultation on the changes of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) to require large companies to include sustainability information in their annual public reporting. A webinar is organised on 11 May to take stock of the current NFRD review and reflect upon how its reform could enhance transparency and access to consistent non-financial information from companies.
Approximately 88 megatonnes (Mt) of food are wasted every year in the European Union, causing 186 metric tons (Mt) carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) — a universal measure for all greenhouse gases. The impact of food waste on the climate, acidification and eutrophication is around 15–16% of the environmental impact of the entire food chain. In developed countries, food waste is high at the point of consumption— so significantly reducing food losses would require a food-waste reduction in households and the food-services sector.
How can we grow more crops without taking too much water away from freshwater ecosystems for irrigation? A new study indicates that it is possible to double crop production by 2050 without exceeding set limits for water extraction if more crops are grown in regions with higher rainfall and with corresponding shifts in international trade and agricultural management. However, without appropriate safeguards, and if we follow the current business-as-usual scenario, this could come at the ecological cost of converting natural land and forest into cropland. This research provides a ‘first-step’ in analysing potential trade-offs in the global food-trade-water nexus.
Demonstration projects can represent a critical intermediate step between research and development (R&D) and large-scale commercialisation; yet many involving new sustainable technologies fail. In order to map the internal and external factors that enable or prohibit demonstration projects from reaching their goals, a case study of 21 projects was conducted. Qualitative data collected from funding applications and interviews were analysed to identify key themes. Based on these findings, the study proposes a process model outlining the key activities for setting up a new demonstration project.
As 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), begins to replace conventional manufacturing, the environmental impacts of its implementation must be assessed. This study conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) to investigate the environmental and resource implications of using AM to manufacture the metal parts of an engine in a light distribution truck. In the LCA, the impacts of both present and possible future states of AM technology were compared with current conventional manufacturing. The results suggest that there are potential environmental and resource benefits1 to AM technologies, but that these benefits rely on the achievement of a clean energy source and further technological development.
To learn about the latest EU GPP Criteria for imaging equipment, consumables and print services, plus hear first-hand good practice, join the next EU GPP Helpdesk Webinar on Tuesday 23rd March (14.00 to 15.30 Brussels time). Registration is now open.
