This week, Singapore has proposed mandatory climate reporting for both private and public companies. This new regulation represents a significant move towards Sustainability and ESG in the Asia Pacific Region and aims to drive greater transparency, accountability, and responsible corporate behavior. Aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) this new regulation is lining Singapore up to rapidly become a sustainability leader in the region.

This week, global management and consulting firm, McKinsey & Company released a new report highlighting that a $4 trillion investment would be required to tackle the material shortages of key materials and achieve global decarbonization targets. This investment would be required to bridge the materials gap that is crucial to sustainability.

This week, The World Bank approved $1.5 billion in financing to support India's low-carbon transition. This approval represents a massive step towards addressing climate change and promoting sustainable development in India.

Since June 2019, the concept of achieving net zero emissions has gained significant traction across the globe. In 2021 following the UN Climate Summit in Glasgow (CO26) 90% of the global economy was on board with net zero plans. As the urgency to combat climate change grows, governments, subnational entities, and corporations are setting net zero targets to align with the goal of limiting global warming. As defined by the Net Zero Stocktate 2023 report there are three phases of net zero; accepting the principles of net zero, pledging to get there, and delivering on those pledges. Today we will provide a brief summary of the Net Zero Stocktake 2023 report, which analyzes the status and trends of net zero target setting.

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Sustaira Summarizes: Net Zero Stocktate 2023

With Sustainability and ESG disclosures becoming more and more prevalent across the world, the public sector is now seeing its first climate-related disclosure standard for governments and other private sector entities. The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) has taken a proactive step towards developing a climate-related reporting standard specifically tailored for the public sector.

Today, in an effort to further enhance sustainability practices the European Commission has proposed a new regulation that seeks to foster greater transparency and regulatory scrutiny in the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings industry. This development marks a crucial step in ensuring accurate and reliable ESG information for investors, companies, and stakeholders. The proposed regulation aims to address concerns surrounding the quality and reliability of ESG ratings, which play a pivotal role in guiding investment decisions and corporate sustainability strategies. By subjecting ESG ratings providers to greater regulatory scrutiny, the European Commission hopes to establish a robust framework that instills credibility, accountability, and transparency in the industry.

In recent years, with the rise of Sustainability and ESG across policies and media across the globe, there has been a surge in companies making green claims. However, these claims are not always what they seem to be raising concerns around greenwashing and misleading practices. To address this issue, the European Parliament is passing more policies to fight against greenwashing and promote genuine sustainability and ESG efforts and claims.

The modern workforce is undergoing a significant transformation as younger generations step into the spotlight, bringing with them a distinct set of values and priorities that challenge conventional notions of employment. Deloitte's recent report, titled "The Shifting Workforce: Exploring the Impact of ESG and Climate Concerns on Gen Z and Millennials," highlighted that the newer generations are leaving jobs due to misaligned ESG values and ESG concerns. Here, we will highlight some of the key takeaways from the report.

This week, there was a major turning point in the United States’ commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship. The Biden-Harris Administration's recent announcement of an unprecedented $11 billion investment plan for the creation of clean energy programs across rural America is the largest investment of this kind that the states have ever seen and is guaranteed to have residual impacts. This significant investment has the potential to accelerate the shift to renewable energy, stimulate economic growth, and combat climate change challenges.

The Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO), managing €10 trillion in assets, has called on corporations to accelerate action on plastics to reduce their environmental impact. The VBDO has called for corporations to set ambitious targets to reduce plastic use and eliminate single-use plastics to reduce their environmental impact. This call to action is expected to have significant effects on corporations across the globe in terms of sustainability and ESG.

In the the United States, flooding is the most expensive type of natural disaster and yet a new study highlighted this week by The Economist, suggests that including flood risk in the price of American homes could significantly lower their total value. The study estimates that accounting for flood risk could decrease the total value of American homes by as much as $187 billion, or 4.4%.

This week, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), which includes the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), have proposed amendments to extend and simplify sustainability disclosures for financial market participants under the EU's Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). These proposed amendments come from the ESA requesting a review of the SFDR's indicators for principal adverse impact (PAI) and financial product disclosures.

The United Nations, commonly known in the world of Sustainability and ESG for their leadership and advocacy in promoting sustainability particularly through their 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) also offers completely free sustainability classes to all who would like to learn more! The United Nations has created what they call the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC). The UNSSC houses over 100 courses with topics to choose from that include but are not limited to: Diversity, equity and inclusion, sustainable development goals, stakeholder engagement, climate change, human rights, women leadership, and more.

The U.S. Energy Department (DOE) has proposed new fuel economy rules that would lower the mileage ratings for electric vehicles (EVs) in an effort to comply with existing fuel economy standards. The new proposal would reduce the efficiency ratings of electric vehicles by about 10%, lowering the mileage rating for an EV from 125 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) to 113 MPGe. This current system of calculating the petroleum equivalent fuel economy has not been updated in over two decades.

According to a recent analysis by EY, only 5% of FTSE 100 companies have disclosed transition plans that would be deemed “credible” or detailed enough to meet the draft UK government guidance on decarbonization. With looming regulations and policies, along with the growing pressure to set standards that enable the world to achieve the goal of avoiding 1.5 C warming from the Paris Climate Agreement, organizations needs to act now.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Shift just recently released a primer for CFOs on advancing the “S” in ESG. With social issues becoming a higher priority on the business agenda, it is important for CFOs to begin to understand and communicate social performance as an essential part of their roles. This is immensely important as reporting and disclosure standards around ESG develop across the globe.

This week IRENA’s Director-General Fancesco La Camera shared the World Energy Transitions Outlook 2023 Preview and warned that our world needs a dramatic shift in the energy transition to avoid surpassing our 1.5 C climate target. What this translates to is a total of $35 trillion is needed by 2030 to expedite this energy transition.

Today, the European Union countries gave their final approval to adopt a new regulation that will require a 100% reduction in emission from new cars and vans. The EU policy will require all new cars sold to have zero CO2 emissions from 2035 and 55% lower CO2 emissions from 2030, versus 2021 levels. This is in line with the European Commission’s “Fit for 55” roadmap to cut GHG emissions. However, Germany won an exemption for cars running on e-fuels, leading to concerns that traditional combustion engine cars could still be sold beyond 2035.

This month, Deloitte released a new a new poll that shows that private equity investors (PEI) could be paving the way when it comes to ESG diligence procedures and considering ESG provisions in M&A. According to the poll, PEIs are leading by factors of two or three compared to their corporate peers when it comes to the use of ESG clauses in deal contracts and routine ESG due diligence.

On Sunday, national governments gave their final approvals on the latest IPCC report after approval was delayed due to battles between rich and developing countries over emissions targets and financial aid to vulnerable nations. The IPCC report was intended to be approved last Friday, but was repeatedly delayed as officials from big nations such as China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the European Union negotiated around specific wording of key phrases found in the report. After approvals finally happened, the report was publish Monday afternoon and made some very clear statements regarding what is possible and what the stakes are when looking at climate change.