By Ira Srivastava
1. EU’s Nature Restoration Law comes into effect. As of August 18th, Member States of the European Union are obligated to put measures in place to restore 20% of their terrestrial and marine ecosystems by the end of this decade. By the middle of the century, such measures should extend to 100% of natural ecosystems. This groundbreaking biodiversity preservation legislation goes a step beyond the protection of existing ecosystems, mandating the restoration of previously degraded ecosystems. Each Member State is expected to develop their own plan uniquely suited to its own natural environments, but it must comply with the universal deadlines set by the EU Parliament.
2. Brazil commits to a Pact for Ecological Transformation. The heads of Brazil’s three government branches came together to sign the pact to show that “Brazil is ready to take a leading role in addressing the climate crisis”. This pact solidifies sustainability, climate justice, and economic growth as core pillars of the country’s policy. The president’s office promises to increase the funding of green projects and lower their credit costs. Lawmakers will focus on green legislation including carbon market approvals, permitting of renewable energy farms, and increasing biofuel capacity. Finally, the judiciary branch will facilitate action on land rights. All three branches will work together to reduce resource consumption, increase energy efficiency, and improve waste management practices.
3. UN reports show the world is failing to protect water resources. According to stocktake reports on Sustainable Development Goal 6 indicators — ambient water quality, water resource management, and aquatic ecosystem progress — the world is “alarmingly off-track”. The Progress on Ambient Water Quality report shares that the health of over half the world’s population could be at risk due to poor water quality assessments by 2030. The Integrated Water Resources Management report concludes that the world is not expected to reach sustainable water management until 2050. This lack of governance of water demand and usage will put large swathes of the world’s population at risk of water scarcity by 2030. Finally, the Water-related Ecosystems report finds that half of the world’s countries have at least one degraded aquatic ecosystem, with Africa and parts of south and central Asia having the highest percentage of off-track countries.
4. ESG and generative AI. ESG has dropped down the agenda of some companies around the world. Just 20% of executives surveyed by Thomson Reuters ranked the development of ESG practices as a top five organizational priority. Another survey found that 77% of professionals expected AI to have a transformational or high impact on their industries. However, the perception that ESG is less of a priority than generative AI may be inaccurate. Effective AI integration requires strong governance, cybersecurity, privacy, and ethical standards, as AI is expected to impact almost every aspect of corporate strategy. Executives should be careful not to move too far away from ESG, as ESG principles are key to any effective corporate transformation.
5. Teneo’s State of U.S. Sustainability Reports. Every year, Teneo analyzes sustainability reports from U.S. companies. Here are key takeaways from the 2024 publication:
- Usage of the term ‘ESG’ is down, but usage of ‘sustainability’ is up. Companies that dropped ESG from their report titles still tended to use it within the report.
- 27% of companies used double materiality assessments in 2024, compared to just 9% in 2023.
- Organizations are starting to report under the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and IFRS S1 and S2 for the first time.
- CEOs were identified as the people responsible for ESG strategy twice as often in 2024 than in 2023.
- Despite backlash against DEI, 94% still reference it in their sustainability reports, a slight decrease from 2023.
Read the full report here.
Ira Srivastava is Competent Boards’ Program Coordinator. Follow Competent Boards on LinkedIn.