2023 Conscious Commerce Trends: By Samantha Taylor

CLIMATE CHANGE FOR HUMANITY

ESG = Climate Philanthropy

In the aftermath of COVID-19, global challenges prevailed including the war in Ukraine, economic crisis in Syria, drought in the Horn of Africa, wildfires in multiple continents and increasing gender divide.

2022 saw increasing philanthropic commitments in support of reducing carbon emissions, mitigating the impacts of climate change, and supporting climate justice by focusing on BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), women, and people in the Global South.

Despite the urgency and increasing commitments, giving from individuals and foundations to climate-related causes remains a small percentage of overall charitable giving. A ClimateWorks Foundation report released in October found that in 2021, total grantmaking to address climate change grew 25 percent from 2020 levels.

The increase in giving was significant - 25% over 2020 - and outpaced the growth of giving overall. However, contributions to climate philanthropy accounted for just 1-1.5% of all giving, according to the report — just $7.5 billion to $12.5 billion out of the $810 billion given to all causes in 2021.

There is also increased focus by donors protecting forests — funding for forests grew by nearly 70% over the previous year, to $260 million. There was a multi-year $5 billion announcement by nine grant makers, including the Bezos Earth Fund and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The majority of funding targeted programs to help indigenous and local communities preserve forests.

Human-induced climate change continues to cause widespread disruption to the environment and wellbeing of communities. The cascading affects have exposed millions of people to displacement, health risks, food and water insecurity, especially in developing and emerging economies.

A 2022 State Of The Global Climate report, released by the UN World Meteorological Organization showed that the last eight years have been "the warmest on record, fueled by ever-rising greenhouse gas concentrations".

Greater leadership is needed from governments and businesses to address the climate crisis, warning that efforts to keep the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels is “on life support”.

Net Zero: Emissions Reductions Alone is Not Enough

By 2050 there will be 9.7 billion people on the planet, half of them will be in water-stressed regions, requiring 50 percent more energy. 

Sustainability, the new normal for integrated lifestyle and business missions, will continue to drive trends in 2023, challenge us to build trust within our communities and mobilize collective action. 

While climate funding is on the rise, more than 2 percent of philanthropic giving needs to be directed to climate mitigation efforts, moving forward.

Many countries raised their ambitions, new pledges and multistakeholder coalitions were forged to address methane gas pollution, deforestation, coal financing, and shipping, among others. The U.S. and China put aside their differences and agreed to boost cooperation around combating climate change in the years ahead.

Private sector actors and the investor community continued to make bold commitments to reach Net Zero, balancing off new greenhouse gas emissions with an equivalent amount of emissions removed from the atmosphere.

Companies’ Stepping Up

Patagonia: Founder Yvon Chouinard and his family transferred ownership to a trust and a nonprofit organization and expect to pay out an annual dividend of roughly $100 million to help fight climate change and protect the planet.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Pledged $1.4 billion over four years to help smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia build resilience and food security through climate-smart agriculture projects, new applications of digital technologies, innovations for smallholder livestock farming, and support for women smallholder farmers.

Bezos Earth Fund: Awarded grants totaling $50 million in support of marine conservation and research in the Pacific Ocean.

Bloomberg Philanthropies: Pledged $204 million to accelerate data-driven policy solutions and community involvement to protect coral reefs, stop illegal fishing, safeguard marine ecosystems and biodiversity.

Amazon + U.S. Agency for International Development: Launched a $56 million public-private partnership to address gender inequities in the climate finance ecosystem and ensure that female entrepreneurs have the resources they need to accelerate innovations in climate solutions.

Role of ESG’s

In the face of confusion about the goals and benefits of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) benchmarks, organizations need to better communicate how their business practices mitigate the impacts of climate change in their supply chains and communities.

To avoid further escalation and consolidation of crises, we need transparency and accountability on how a low-carbon transition, which supports the integration of business, employees and communities, is being prioritized – through the lens of the entire Ecosystem.

Clarifying the role of ESG’s includes illustrating the stakes for business and society ‘at large’.  Customers and employees want executives and boards to be authentic about social and environmental promises. Also, demonstrate how they align with the long-term health of the business to include workforce development, economic mobility, food security, environmental protection and conservation.

Conclusion

We still have a long way to go increasing and aligning philanthropic collaboration with climate change mitigation strategies. How we address these challenges requires holistic thinking, long-term strategies and clear accountability, connecting and collaborating with cross-industry peers with similar goals.

2023 signifies major milestones to ensure that we make real progress in achieving a more equitable, prosperous, healthier world for future generations.

By: Samantha Taylor - Founder of Reputation Dynamics and Elephant Art Shop

Since 2005, Reputation Dynamics (RD) has committed to addressing social, environmental and human justice issues. RD mobilizes corporations, NGOs/civil society and academia to devise share-valued approaches and develop inclusive partnerships.

Please contact me at:  

sam@reputation-dynamics.com

Conscious Commerce Trends for 2019: Ecosystem Resilience: ‘Ground Control to Major Tom’

Our turbulent political climate, daunting outcomes of climate change and world disasters continues to mobilize businesses, individuals to collaborate on saving lives and tackle environmental issues.

Yet, billions remain in poverty, increasing numbers of people displaced by unprecedented natural disasters causing them to lose their homes, and complex patterns of people migration seeking a better life for their families.

While progress has been made in support of the Sustainability Development (SDG’s) goals, gaps ensue mitigating climate change, gender equality, and devising concrete solutions for people displaced by wars and natural disasters. 

 ‘All in all it’s just another brick in the wall’ 

Building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico is not the sole answer to our problems and merely filters what you don’t want to see, emphasizing the spotlight on the realities of life, similarities with other international borders, peoples pain and suffering.

The nearly 2000 miles of U.S./Mexican border traversing desert, river, mountain and sea, is a place of heritage, ethnic diversity, diverse terrain, a legacy of land ownership and agriculture, hope and survival of mankind in pursuit of a better way of life. 

The political views represented among the 7.5 million residents in U.S. border counties span supporters of Trump’s wall, those who see their future - and the future of America - as being inextricably linked to that of their neighbors to the South, North, East and West. 

To be sure, Indigenous populations were there long before us and before their land was divided. 

 It is a global problem that is not unique to the U.S. and no one-size ‘brick’ or ‘wall’ to fit all.

 A recap of the top realities we face:

Women in Poverty: More than one in eight women in the U.S., 16.9 million lived in poverty last year. Poverty rates were particularly high for families headed by single mothers - 1 in 3 (36.5 percent) lived in poverty.  14.5 million poor children, more than half, live in families headed by women.  

Forced People Displacement: Wars, violence and persecution uprooted record numbers of men, women and children worldwide, making a new global deal on refugees more critical than ever.  The UN Refugee Agency’s annual Global Trends study found 68.5 million people had been driven from their homes across the world at the end of 2017.

Climate Change:  A recent IPCC report has underscored we only have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe and urgent need to cut risk of extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty. The world is currently 1C warmer than preindustrial levels. Following devastating hurricanes in the US, record droughts in Cape Town and forest fires in the Arctic, the IPCC makes clear that climate change is already happening, upgraded its risk warning from previous reports, and warned that every fraction of additional warming would worsen the impact.

Threatened Wildlife Species: African elephants remain under severe threat from poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict.  In the 1970s, Africa was home to more than 1.3 million elephants. Today, 415,000 remain. 

Lack of Education in Africa: In sub-Saharan Africa, 9 million girls between the ages of about 6 and 11 will never go to school at all, compared to 6 million boys, according to UIS data. Their disadvantage starts early: 23% of girls are out of primary school compared to 19% of boys. 

Reputation Dynamics Predictions for 2019: 

What will be key to success for building resilience communities for the long-term will be ‘inclusiveness’ towards devising holistic approaches and solutions for restoring ecosystems that include multiple stakeholders including indigenous populations, women and refugees.   Specifically for:

Empowerment of Women and Girls:  Empowering women to participate fully in economic life is essential to build stronger economies and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities, including raising the bar on sector expertise and programs that enable economic security, mitigate domestic violence, close gender gaps in the workplace and communities at large.

Preservation of Forests:  Forests are a stabilizing force for mitigating climate change. They regulate ecosystems, protect biodiversity, play an integral part in the carbon cycle, support livelihoods, and supply goods and services that can drive sustainable growth. Approximately 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, one-third of the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels, is absorbed by forests every year. Estimates show that nearly two billion hectares of degraded land across the world – an area the size of South America – offer opportunities for restoration. 

Refugees in Protracted Exile Need Education: Refugee camps and villages show characteristics of short-term settlements, children are born, families are finding ways to survive, and communities hosting refugees are struggling with how to live, work and go to school together. Education plays a particularly vital role for those who are displaced and rebuilding their communities. 

Urban and Rural Development: With the increasing number of natural disasters, corporations, emergence of mission-critical foundations and nonprofits are re-thinking approaches to disaster relief and recovery efforts. While many organizations will continue to provide immediate relief to victims of natural disasters through cash grants and product donations, companies are taking a more pro-active approach to restoring and building resilient communities for the long-term. 

Tapping the Next Generation: Today, employees, particularly millennials, are passionate about social causes that benefit the greater good and expects to work for a company that supports causes they care about. Millennials will make up 75 percent of the workforce by 2025 and they are looking for socially responsible employers.  Companies must improve how they advocate, market and align with their philanthropic commitments via experiential digital and mobile network communications.

Conclusion:  For the SDGs to be successful, the co-creation of programs at the local and global level with businesses, academia, civil society/nonprofits will continue to be essential for restoring and building resilient communities for underserved populations. However, what is fundamental to success is to convene more alliances, break down silos, enforce dialogue and action on a more inclusive front.  

By: Samantha Taylor - Founder of Reputation Dynamics

Since 2005, Reputation Dynamics (RD) has been committed to addressing social, environmental and human justice issues. RD mobiizes corporations, NGOs/civil society and academia to devise share-valued approaches and develop inclusive partnerships.

I look forward to connecting with peers who are making the world a better place, advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. Please contact me at:  

sam@reputation-dynamics.com

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