Penguin Perspectives Blog

If short-term profits are prioritised above all else, our planet's resources will be over-consumed without the time to regenerate. Sustainable finance offers an approach that may help us avoid future calamities, not to mention long-term topics like climate change.

In 2019, humans produced more than 43 billion tonnes of CO2*. The global aviation industry was responsible for around 2% of those emissions*. When comparing the CO2 emission contributions across different forms of transport, road transport accounts for 74% of CO2 emissions compared to 12% from aviation*.

Climate Neutral Checkout allows customers opt-in for climate neutral shopping - including shipping - How Online Retailers Can Empower Their Customers to Tackle the Problem in One Click.

Gaining momentum in the retail sector is a Black Friday spin-off campaign that addresses the environmental impact of consumerism. We've rounded-up some key insights into how consumer pressure has led to the rise of Green Friday, what this looks like in the wake of a global pandemic, and how your retail brand can take climate action today.

In unserer ersten Episode spricht unser Sustainability Advisor Roman Bolli mit Frank Hasselmann, Geschäftsführer von Galaxus Deutschland. Der Deutsche Ableger des Schweizer E-Commerce-Marktführers Digitec Galaxus will sich von anderen E-Commerce-Unternehmen auf dem deutschen Markt unterscheiden, indem sie nicht nur einfach ein Onlineshop sind, sondern auch ein ehrliches Fachmagazin und eine aktive Community fördern.

Flash forward: it is 2075 and we’ve set sail for the RCP 8.5 trajectory for 2100, the worst case climate scenario according to the IPCC. Imagine this: Pacific islands such as Tuvalu have long sunk into a rising ocean, heat and pollution take a toll on the global population, hurricanes and fires devastate poor communities on a regular basis, and huge swaths of Asia and Africa have become uninhabitable due to heat and drought. Quick shift back to the present: luckily we are not there. However, we are still far away from the emissions trajectory necessary for a 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming.

US$750 billion – that’s the amount that Goldman Sachs has committed to deploy across sustainable investing, financing and advisory activities within the next decade. And they are not alone. Mainstream banks, asset managers and heavyweights such as BlackRock have made large, high profile financial commitments to grow sustainable finance and sustainable investing by integrating ESG considerations into their financial products and services. But what is needed to genuinely mainstream sustainable finance, to move from the talk to the walk?

The Paris Agreement brings about two fundamental changes that affect the case for carbon offsets in the transition to a low-carbon economy – high ambition and universal scope. The agreement introduces ambitious long-term targets and demands climate action and engagement from all parties to the Agreement to ultimately reach net zero targets by 2050. So how can offsets be effectively integrated into compliance schemes in a way that upholds the principles of environmental integrity and raises climate ambition post-2020?

The coming year will see countries seek robust mechanisms to effectively increase the climate ambition of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Climate Agreement. Given the concerns on the economic costs of stronger climate action, certain compliance schemes are incorporating offsets as a way of containing costs.

Many businesses are responding to growing stakeholder pressure by making commitments to reduce their impact on the environment and boost company sustainability. This includes committing to a net zero ambition. Meeting such targets depends on a combination of variables: consistent senior management ownership, internal buy-in, sufficient resources, and effective technologies. This article - exploring Step 3 of the South Pole Climate Journey – guides you through the essentials to ensure you are well prepared for a net zero target, maintaining your climate actions through successful completion.