WEBINAR: Brazilian Beef Supply Chain – The Main Actors, ESG Impacts, and Business Risks

Chain Reaction Research hosted a webinar on Sept. 11th to review two new reports on the state of the Brazilian cattle industry and how factors like deforestation and COVID-19 create business risks. (more…)

PRESS RELEASE: Deforestation and Other ESG Risks Present Potential $1.3 Billion Hazard for JBS

Washington, D.C. JBS’ supply chain may be linked to 1.7 million hectares (ha) of deforestation across six Brazilian states creating significant financial risks.

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The State of Palm Oil Zero-Deforestation Commitments: Refiners & Crushers

Palm oil crushers and refiners sit within a bottleneck of the palm oil industry. Because of this, they serve as key actors in establishing and enforcing sustainability commitments.

Joined by ZSL’s (Zoological Society of London) SPOTT initiative and BMO Global Asset Management, Chain Reaction Research discusses new insights on this sector’s sustainability commitments and connection to leakage markets.

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PRESS RELEASE: Unilever, Danone and other major consumer goods companies are purchasing palm oil from mills linked to Indonesia’s worst deforesters

Washington, D.C.  A new report from Chain Reaction Research (CRR) has tracked palm fruit from plantations, actively involved in deforestation, to a mill supplying palm products to companies like Unilever, Danone, and others. (more…)

PRESS RELEASE: A coronavirus lifeline for state and city governments

Washington, D.C. The former mayors of Salt Lake City and Charlotte are championing a new policy initiative to put state and city governments in a position to lead our economic and health recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

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New Blueprint for International Ocean-Climate Action Charts Path Forward for Governments

Washington, D.C. To date, the international fight against climate change has largely overlooked the ocean-climate relationship. Yet the ocean and climate are inextricably linked. The ocean plays a central role regulating the climate, including by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide. This imposes a heavy cost through effects such as deoxygenation and acidification, which are decimating ocean ecosystems and damaging the communities that rely on them. At the same time, the ocean is a source of measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

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PRESS RELEASE: Companies Committed to Sustainable Palm Oil Production Have Substantively Stronger Equity Returns

Washington, D.C. Companies in the palm oil supply chain that have committed to sustainable production have experienced stronger equity returns versus its industry counterparts, according to a new report from Climate Advisers, a consultancy specializing in climate and financial risk in the land sector.

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Press Release: Reactions to the Katowice Declaration on Forests for the Climate

Katowice, Poland. On December 12th, The Polish presidency of the 24th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) will announce The Ministerial Katowice Declaration on Forests for the Climate. The declaration is expected to be endorsed by many developed and developing nations. Under the declaration, governments pledge to accelerate actions to protect and restore forests, which they describe collectively as a “key component to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement” and as producing many additional benefits. Those benefits include enhancing water security, improving air quality, protecting human health, empowering indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities, and safeguarding biodiversity and critical natural habitat.

Nigel Purvis, CEO of Climate Advisers and former senior U.S. climate negotiator in the Clinton and Bush administrations, said “The Katowice declaration on forests is helpful but insufficient. While Poland deserves credit for raising the visibility of forests in global climate talks, the world needs action.” Purvis noted that the latest scientific findings indicate that forests and other natural climate solutions could provide at least thirty percent of needed climate action now. Yet, Purvis said, “natural climate solutions tend to receive a trivial amount of political attention and climate funding.” Purvis noted that “many governments endorsed the 2014 New York Declaration on Forests, which set the goal of cutting deforestation in half by 2020 and yet today deforestation rates are actually rising.” Purvis also cautioned that “forests and other natural climate solutions should not be seen as reason for delaying rapid decarbonization of the industrial economy, including moving beyond coal.” He emphasized, “Meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement requires rapid progress on both forests and coal.”

Peter Graham, Managing Director of Climate Advisers’ forest and land practice group and a former top Canadian climate negotiator on forests, called the Katowice declaration “a step forward.” He noted, however, that “saving forests is a race against time that will require many steps taken quickly.” Graham noted that the Katowice declaration begins to respond to calls by NGOs and scientists issued at the Global Climate Action Summit in California this past September. At that time, a diverse coalition of civil society groups called on governments to make natural climate solutions, including forests, represent 30% of climate action by 2030. That statement from civil society can be found here. Today, Graham said, “endorsers of the Katowice declaration on forests should work together to turn their words into action in 2019, including at the climate summit hosted by UN Secretary General Guterres in September. Now is the time for concrete measures.”

For Interviews at COP24:
Peter Graham, Managing Director, Climate Advisers
+1 (202) 509-2306
graham@climateadvisers.com

About Climate Advisers

Delivering a low-carbon economy that creates prosperity in a changing world requires bringing together the best ideas with practical insights about how the world works. To do that, Climate Advisers works to advance policy and politics simultaneously. We craft innovative policy and conduct transformative analysis. We reenergize static conversations with new ideas, information and strategies to produce high-impact results.