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In the festive spirit, I’m channeling Charles Dickens, the man who gave us A Christmas Carol and popularized the holiday season.
Another of his classics, A Tale of Two Cities, is a fitting analogy for 2024’s ESG & climate landscape. Its iconic opening line—“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”—captures the contrasting themes in this year’s ESG and Climate News.
Here’s a breakdown of the year’s biggest news stories into five positive stories (the best of times) from a sustainability lens.
It Was the Best of Times
1. New Regulations A Plenty
A host of ESG new regulations aimed to nudge companies to act on sustainability were introduced in 2024:
- California Climate Disclosure Law: The law will require companies to report on climate emissions and risks starting in 2026 and has already survived legal challenges. So far, the courts have upheld the policy, and it has inspired similar bills in 4 other states. This week, the California Air and Resources Board called for consultation on a number of key questions for this policy. The comment period will be open until February 14th.
- EU Directives: Adding to their Green Deal, the EU adopted the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), requiring companies to identify and mitigate social and environmental impacts in their supply chains by 2027. While Europe has been slow to adopt the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the first tranche of companies is set to issue reports in early 2025. Also, the EU’s new ESG Ratings Regulation will require ratings providers to share their methodology and prevent conflicts of interest from mid-2026.
- International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB): Over 30 jurisdictions now claim alignment with ISSB standards. Most recently, the UK Government is aiming to adopt the ISSB climate standard for UK companies.
2. Companies Continue To Take Voluntary Action
Despite the ongoing ESG backlash, companies continued to act voluntarily in 2024. A record number of companies reported on social metrics and climate emissions, plus 95% of the 250 largest companies in the world now publish a carbon target. And some companies have seen significant success: Walmart, for example, managed to complete its ambitious Project Gigaton – reducing a billion metric tons of emissions from its sprawling supply chain – six years ahead of schedule!
Mounting evidence is furthering the case that mitigating climate risk makes economic sense. A new report released by BCG this month shows that each dollar spent on reducing climate risk can produce as much as $19 in return.
3. Record-Breaking Year for Renewables and EVs
2024 was a pivotal year for renewable energy and EV adoption. Zero carbon energy now makes up 40% of global output, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts almost a tripling of renewable energy by 2030, currently tracking at 2.7 times 2022 levels. For EVs, the number of new vehicles being bought worldwide is up 35% from last year and six times more than in 2018. We also saw some emblematic wins with the closure of the UK’s last coal power station after 142 years of producing power from coal, and in the US, wind energy beat out coal for two consecutive months.
4. Biodiversity and Nature Came into Focus
The world’s largest biodiversity event happened in Cali, Colombia, earlier this year. Even though the delegates failed to reach an agreement, several announcements at this year’s event showed that companies are considering nature and biodiversity, evidenced by a 43% surge in the number of companies reporting biodiversity metrics to CDP and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), reaching a milestone of 500 companies. A new report released this week found that business impacts on biodiversity cost the global economy between $10tn and $25tn annually.
5. Sustainability Professionals and Activists Showed Steely Resolve
Sustainability professionals have been resilient in the face of political backlash and reporting/regulatory fatigue in 2024. This survey by Joel Makower found that the vast majority of sustainability workers remain cautiously optimistic.
Climate activists notched victories in the first climate case to be heard at the International Court of Justice and the Swiss activists’ victory in the European Court of Human Rights, which led to a change in Swiss climate policy. This all happened amidst activists being convicted as criminals and facing lengthy prison sentences.
The views expressed in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of ESG News
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