A recent BlackRock survey reveals that an overwhelming 99% of insurers have set climate transition goals within their investment portfolios, marking a significant shift towards sustainability in the insurance industry.

The Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders has successfully reduced its aggregate emissions by 10% while achieving an 18% revenue growth over the past three years. This demonstrates that significant climate action can coincide with robust economic performance.

The EU’s latest energy report reveals a remarkable 32.5% decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since 1990, despite a 67% growth in the economy. This achievement highlights the EU’s successful integration of sustainability into its economic development strategies.

On Tuesday this week, the European Parliament formally approved a new law that will effectively ban the sale of new combustion engine cars in the European Unition as of 2035. This new law has been approved in hopes to combat climate change and accelerate the shift from petrol and diesel cars to electric.

Of the 18,600 companies which provided information to CDP, less than one in 200 companies disclosed information against 21 key indicators that CDP includes in a questionnaire which represents a credible climate transition plan. This means of 18,600 only 81 companies - a mere 0.4% - were able to disclosure against key indicators and prove that their climate transition plans are credible. While the number of organizations reporting to CDP has been rising rapidly, increasing by more than 40% in 2022, this 81 organizations is actually a decrease from the 153 companies that provided a credible climate plan the year before.

Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest investor, has warned company directors to take more specific climate on climate change or risk being voted out. The head of governance and compliance of Norges Bank Investment Management, Carine Smith Ihenacho, said that the fund was getting ready to vote against 80 company boards due to their failure to set or hit environmental or social targets.

"We have for a long time focused on better company disclosure... Now we are focusing more on actions. So now you need to go from numbers to action, concrete steps that companies are taking to meet the expectations," - Carine Smith Ihenacho

This week, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released their new report "Net Zero Buildings - Halving construction emissions today." This report highlights that we need to cut emissions in half in the built environment by 2030, and then outlines practical steps that could be taken to do so. Through the report and executive summary, we’ve put together our own summary of what you need to know.

This month, The Circularity Gap report of 2023 was published in collaboration with Deloitte. This report being the 6th annual report of its kind, is looking at how close we are to a true circular economy on a global scale compared to years past. A circular economy could not help to fulfill people’s needs, but could do so with just 70% of the materials we currently use, making human impact more sustainable and safer for our planet. This report highlights that while a circular economy is ideal, we are currently nowhere near that goal. In fact, this report outlines that we are down to only 7.2% circular compared to the 9.1% circular that was seen in the first ever report of 2018.

The Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) launched this week the first ever target-setting protocol for insurers at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. This protocol is expected to accelerate the transition to a global net-zero economy by enabling NZIA members to set science based intermediate targets to transition insurance underwriting portfolios to net-zero. Version 1.0 requires that existing NZIA members will set and discloser their target(s) by July 31st 2023, which is just around the corner.

Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, recently announced a cap-and-invest program to fund a sustainable and affordable future for all New Yorkers are part of the 2023 State of the State. This new cap-and-invest program will charge large greenhouse gas emitters and fuel distributers in New York more than $1 Billion per year. The proceeds from this will hen be reinvested in emissions reduction initiatives as well as supporting vulnerable communities facing rising energy prices.

In the first mandate of its kind, the Japanese capital’s local assembly now requires all new houses built in Tokyo by large-scale homebuilders after 2025 must install solar panels.

Recently, the European Union added shipping to its carbon market. What this means, is now shipping vessels will be required to pay for their emissions, putting a financial incentive on being more environmentally conscious and forcing the entire sector to begin reducing emissions.

This deal which was agreed to by lawmakers and negotiators from the 27-country block would all to the carbon market all carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen emissions from maritime voyages within the EU.

This week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the first federal building standards designed to reduce energy use while electrifying equipment and appliances in 30% of the building space owned by the Federal government by 2030. This announcement was partnered by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announcing a proposal to electrify new Federal buildings and Federal buildings undergoing major renovations. Last and certainly not least, to further drive home the cause, the State of California announced that it will be joining President Biden’s National Building Performance Standard Coalition that has committed to reducing the emissions of existing buildings. These three changes represent massive progress for the U.S. and will certainly have a ripple effect across the US.

Last week news broke that JetBlue along with Britian’s Virgin Atlantic signed an agreement with a sustainable fuel start up, Air Company, to purchase fuel made from captured carbon emissions.

On Sunday the United States Senate passed The Inflation Reduction Act and it’s expected to pass in the House of Representatives later this week. The Inflation Reduction act is a package that would fulfill multiple longstanding goals including addressing climate change, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and adjust tax codes.

On Wednesday this week, New Zealand’s government released it’s first-ever climate action plan. This climate adaptation plan depicts how New Zealand plans to prepare for floods, fires, and rising sea levels that are expected in response to the climate crisis. A big point of interest is around how the country planning to have entire communities either relocate or change the structure of their homes in response to rising sea levels.

In a new report by McKinsey, Climate impact of plastics, the total green house gas contribution of plastic versus the alternatives is scientifically measured. McKinsey looked at examples from the top five plastic consuming sectors and measured not only the product lifecycle of plastic vs other options, but also the impact of our use. The results may come as a bit of a surprise to many

This week, the supreme court came to a conclusion regarding the interpretation of the 1970s Clean Air Act. Essentially, This ruling limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate green house gas emissions and says that the EPA does not have the authority to shift power generation from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

Yesterday, The European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) published their final report on the European Union Carbon Market. Key findings from the ESMA website note that while there weren’t any major deficiencies found, there are a few policy recommendations that to no surprise, end up centralized around transparency and monitoring.