Newsletter

Hello to Year 2020 and the Start of the Third Decade of the 21st Century – Climate! Climate! Climate! is The Dominant Theme of News & Commentary!

It is a favorite pursuit of journalists and commentators at each year-end and the start of the new calendar year to look back and look forward to identify “top stories” and significant trends of the year past.  And to look ahead at “what might be” in the new year.  We present a few of these musing for you in this first newsletter of the year 2020.

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, author Andrew Winston (best-seller “Green to Gold”) in reviewing “big themes” of 2020 in sustainability, explains that “changing climate” has always been included in yearly wrap-ups.  After 2019, it is to be a permanent “big story”.

The 2019 weather headlines were about heat in Europe; floods in the USA; fires in Australia and the USA; vicious storms in the Caribbean and in Africa…all of this becoming our norm now. (As we write this in 2020, the Australian nation is in crisis, personal, business, national, as fires consume millions of acres, destroy homes and businesses, kill wildlife, and tragically, humans are dying as fires spread.)

There are eight “fascinating developments” of 2019 presented for you in our Top Story from the HBR/Andrew Winston, starting with the global climate protest movement – and a few forecasts for 2020.

We also present three other 2019/2020 selections from Eco-Business, AdAge and Food Drive on the themes of look back/look ahead.

Our G&A Institute Sustainability Update blog has been featuring commentaries about climate change over the years; we presented a new running series focused on climate as we approached the end of 2019 --  “About The Climate Change Crisis” -- here are the first posts of many to follow:

• The Climate Change Crisis – “Covering Climate Now” Can Shape The Public Dialogue – And Influence Outcomes
   
• Tune In To This Important Report – Today And In Time to Come: The Fourth Official “Climate Science Special Report” Issued by the U.S. Government’s “Global Change Research Program” – Projected the Critical Impacts of Climate Change on the American Society in the 21st Century
   
• About the Climate Crisis — The Hoax? It’s On Us!
   
• It’s “Official” Now: The United States of America Is Withdrawing From the Historic Paris Accord on Climate Change With Notice to the UN
   
• Where Are U.S. Companies on Climate Change Risk Disclosure? New Survey Results from DFIN Are Available…
   
• The Young People Move to the Streets to Protest Slow or Lack of Action on Climate Change Challenges…

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Note to Our Readers
Beginning this week, we are selecting two or three stories in each category for the Highlights newsletter and posting the balance in each category on our G&A’s SustainabilityHQ web platform.  See the “jump” to the rest of the categories’ posts via the links.  And watch for a new look for the weekly Highlights coming later this month!

Top Stories

The Top Sustainability Stories of 2019   
Source: Harvard Business Review - The list of extreme, tragic, and very costly weather events this year — record heat in Europe, hail in June in Mexico, record floods in Nebraska, endless Australian bush fires, and epic destruction from storms in Mozambique and...

Here's a Look-Ahead into 2020

5 Trends That Will Shape Sustainability & Business in 2020   
Source: Eco-Business - As a world in climate crisis enters a new decade, Eco-Business highlights five major trends that will shape society and business in the coming year.

ideas About Sustainability That Stuck With Us In 2019 ... And What They Might Mean For 2020   
Source: AdAge - 2019 saw a marked increase in the roles that corporate responsibility—and particularly sustainability—played in major marketers’ overall business plans. And that trend is likely to accelerate in 2020. Here are some things that...

2020 Will Be the Year Sustainability Goes from Buzzword to Necessity   
Source: Food Drive - Everybody wants sustainable products, and retailers are putting pressure on manufacturers to deliver goods that satisfy consumers' new preference for green and clean options.

G&A Institute Sustainability Update™
Informative, insightful, thought provoking
Governance & Accountability Institute's blog focusing on the sustainable world evolving daily before our eyes. Read it, absorb it, question it and challenge.

Brief Updates on Corporate Audit Committee and Auditor Oversight

Purpose – This Was the Buzzword of 2019 for The Corporate Sector & Investment Community. The “Purpose” Debate Will Continue in 2020

UPCOMING EVENTS

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G&A RESEARCH

FLASH REPORT: 60% of Russell 1000® Are Publishing Sustainability Reports, G&A Institute’s 2018 Inaugural Benchmark Study Shows

FLASH REPORT: 86% of S&P 500 Index® Companies Publish Sustainability / Responsibility Reports in 2018

Learn More About G&A Research

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G&A IS THE GRI DATA PARTNER FOR USA, UK & IRELAND

Sustainability Standards Setters & Policy Makers

Sustainability rating scheme encourages restaurants to source responsibly, treat staff and environment better   
Source: South China Morning Post - Many Hong Kong restaurants have embraced sustainability – not using straws, for example, and shunning fish and shellfish that isn’t on an approved list of sustainably sourced seafood.

Shopping For Sustainability text/audio   
Source: NPR - Dec. 21 is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. As Americans shop for gifts, they now say they prefer products made ethically and sustainably — and companies market accordingly.

Jump to More Sustainability Standard Setters & Policy Makers Stories

ESG / Sustainable & Responsible Investment

Sustainable Investing Strategies to Start 2020 Off Right   
Source: US News - Sustainable Investing is one of those terms that looking up in the dictionary only leads to needing to look up even more terms in the dictionary. What should be a straightforward process is actually the fork in a trail that..

Breakingviews - Sustainable investing will wind up in the dock   
Source: Reuters - The business of adding some kind of environmental, social or governance analysis to investment decisions is snowballing. Such practices grew 34% in the two years after 2016 and are now a factor in $31 trillion of assets...

Jump to More ESG / Sustainable & Responsible Investment Stories

Corporate Sustainability / ESG

The Importance Of The Financial Services Sector To The Sustainable Development Goals   
Source: Forbes - There are four ESG issues which are particularly important given the number of SDGs to which they are relevant: lifecycle impacts of products and services (impacts 11 SDGs), environmental social impacts on assets and operations...

EU Airlines Face Greater Environmental Pressure But Are More Sustainable Than U.S. Counterparts 
Source: Forbes - We might call it the Paris divide in the skies. EU airlines are more efficient and sustainable, but face increased public pressure, with punitive policy proposals for more taxes. U.S. airlines operate less efficiently but face...

7 Small Brands on How They're Acing Sustainable Fashion   
Source: Yahoo/UK Style - Small e-commerce shops have like the Sustainable Department Store, inNEOSS, and Joan the Store have been bringing these brands and voices together, showing that by collaborating and supporting each other, we can show that...

Jump to More Corporate Sustainability / ESG

Global Sustainability News: Forward Momentum!

There's a Genius, Sustainable Economic System We Could All Be Using. Here's How   
Source: Science Alert - When we compare this idea to what we're currently doing – digging up resources, manufacturing a product, using it for a short time, and then throwing it away, generating massive amounts of unusable waste that takes up space and...

Moving toward sustainable energy in New York City   
Source: Phys.org - Over the past few years, a variety of laws have been enacted in New York State and New York City as we accelerate our transition to a more efficient and decarbonized energy system. One new rule that is bound to attract attention...

Why 2020 will be the year of sustainable business   
Source: CSO Magazine - As the start of a new decade peers over the horizon, many business leaders will be looking back on how much has changed over the last ten years.

Jump to More Global Sustainability News: Forward Momentum! Stories

Consumers & Sustainability

Source: GreenBiz - Future historians will have plenty to debate on the state of sustainable business in the 2010s. Was it the decade when the business community finally woke up to address the world’s pressing environmental, social and governance...

2019 Was a Big Year For Sustainable Seafood   
Source: Triple Pundit - 2019 was a big year for sustainable development in seafood. From the Venetian Hotel partnering with FishWatch to Tyson Foods investing in a plant-based shrimp startup, brands took initial steps to foster sustainable seafood...

Jump to More Consumers & Sustainability Stories

Sustainability Data That Matter

Source: Channel News Asia - The spread of the internet came with claims of a huge reduction in printing, and by replacing paper with bytes, we thought we’d reduce our negative environmental impact

Jump to More Sustainability Data That Matter Stories

The Sustainability Highlights eNewsletter is prepared by Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. based on continuous monitoring of trends and developments in Sustainability and ESG. Copyrights for other providers are noted where appropriate. Please credit the source if quoted. Content © 2009 - 2020 - All Rights Reserved.

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