From food systems to information systems: Advocating for climate action across all sectors
By Climate Champions | June 21, 2023
As the world strives to meet critical climate targets, businesses across different sectors are stepping up their advocacy for environmental sustainability, demonstrating their commitment to mitigating climate change. Race to Zero members like Salesforce, Enel, Orsted, Tesco, GSMA, BT Group, and Magway are leading the charge in their respective industries by developing and implementing innovative strategies and policies aimed at creating a net zero, nature-positive future.
Nature: Salesforce
Salesforce is committed to a net zero, nature-positive future rooted in people and climate justice. This includes advocating for critical policies to protect, restore, and enhance the world’s natural ecosystems in a manner that builds community resilience and promotes a more just and equitable world. They published their Nature Policy Priorities and Ocean-Climate Policy Priorities to guide their advocacy work and support others in the space. They also work with Business for Nature and other groups to advocate for policies aligned with their Nature Policy Priorities.
Energy: Enel
Enel’s Futur-e program engages local governments, businesses, and communities to identify opportunities to reuse Enel’s existing buildings and assets in ways that promote innovation, job creation, and the circular economy as they repurpose fossil fuel power stations and decommission their mine. The projects under the Futur-e program use a bottom-up approach to addressing social concerns from local stakeholders.
Oceans: Ørsted
Ørsted has set the ambition that all new renewable energy projects commissioned from 2030 onwards should deliver a net-positive biodiversity impact. The company champions the ocean-climate-biodiversity nexus by calling on other renewable energy developers to set ambitious biodiversity goals backed up by credible action, raising the bar for biodiversity impact in renewable energy development. They also call on policymakers to include stronger biodiversity criteria in renewable energy tenders.
Food: Tesco
Tesco is a founding member of the global coalition Champions 12.3, which advocates for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Target to halve food waste by 2030. Tesco works with suppliers to increase customer awareness of food waste and encourages the embrace of products like ‘wonky vegetables’. Tesco has also called for the UK Government to introduce mandatory food waste reporting.
Industry: GSMA
The GSMA formed a Renewables Project Group to raise awareness of challenges and opportunities for the private sector to support public sector decarbonization targets, with a deep dive on Malaysia. They collaborated with the UN Global Compact in Malaysia to hold a pilot roundtable with mobile operators, government departments, and the electricity utility provider to address barriers to accessing renewables.
Industry: BT Group
BT Group and Openreach joined forces with the Climate Group and others to set up the UK Electric Fleets Coalition, advocating for a supportive policy environment to aid their efforts in decarbonizing their commercial fleets. The coalition supports the ban on the sales of new internal combustion cars and vans from 2030 and welcomes the planned Zero Emission Vehicle mandate. The coalition recently published a policy paper outlining a seven-point plan for action and wrote to the Prime Minister for more support.
Technology: Magway
Magway is a technology business developing a system to decarbonize supply chains. They provide an alternative to industrial conveyors and trucks, using linear motors to move goods with less energy. Magway engages with government departments, hosting visits at their test facility to demonstrate the technology’s potential impact and the need for sustainable supply chains.
Collectively, these companies demonstrate the private sector’s crucial role in the global fight against climate change. By advocating for robust environmental policies, repurposing infrastructure, promoting biodiversity, reducing food waste, engaging with governments on renewable energy, accelerating the shift to electric vehicles, and developing decarbonization technologies, they are reshaping industries towards a net zero, nature positive and resilient world.
