Alex Kennedy

What a privilege to attend the Climate Leaders Forum at the UK House of Lords this morning, and kudos to David Over and Sammy Fry for convening an all-star cast of CSOs, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders for some truly engaging discussion. Far too much covered to relay in a single post, but consistent themes included: ⏱️ Solving short-termism to unblock support for the solutions we need; 💡 Making it all relatable to end consumers; 🌿 Bringing #biodiversity and social themes into the mix, and; 🚀 Elevating sustainability through an innovation lens. All echoed by my own sustainable finance round table, alongside some solid debate on the utility of a more sophisticated approach to climate risk, the role of financial services as arbiters of sustainable progress or not, the potential for sustainable missions to channel focus, the critical value of taxonomies and the #transitionfinance market review for clarity, and the need for blended finance solutions to plug the “#valleyofdeath” in scaling solutions, to name a few. Topped and tailed with a rousing tale of despair and optimism from Lord Adair Turner; thought provoking debate over the pitfalls, challenges, and evolving role of corporate sustainability and CSOs from Hannah Jones and John Elkington; insights on sustainable approaches to government procurement from Joe Tilley; and a helpful tour of the nuances and considerations for acting on carbon removals or avoidance from Brennan Spellacy. Great to reconnect with Rishi Madlani, Tony Greenham, Elizabeth Corse, Kat Bruce, and Ben Knight (MIEMA, CEnv) amongst all the great minds in the room, and thanks to Tech Nation, Founders Forum Group, Informatech, and London Tech Week for bringing it all together. #climateleadership #sustainability

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The concept of #materiality sits at the heart of #bestpractice identification, management and reporting of #sustainability risks and opportunities. It guides the prioritisation of those risks and opportunities that can significantly impact our business and/or are most important to our stakeholders. As a demonstration of our #sustainabilityleadership, New Forests regularly assesses materiality, guided by globally leading sustainability-related reporting frameworks including the Integrated Reporting (IR) Framework, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the FSB Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the nascent International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). Done well, a materiality assessment should do more than inform our sustainability management and reporting. A refreshed understanding of the environmental, social, and governance themes that are most important to stakeholders is a valuable input to strategic planning, helping to inform business strategy and resource allocation and guide performance measurement. This year we evolved our Materiality Assessment to incorporate a double materiality approach to understand the environmental, social or governance themes of significant to our stakeholders (impact materiality), the themes which most affect New Forests’ business going forward (financial materiality) and those themes which are material from both an impact and financial lens. We also expanded the number and types of stakeholders engaged, for example, including Environmental NGOs as a proxy for the environment, given our reliance on nature as manager of nature-based real assets and natural capital strategies. Well done Carly Hammond for pursuing a novel approach to gaining input from our stakeholders and her considered way of bringing it all together. If you want to know the findings from our 2024 Materiality Assessment, I encourage you to read our Report, that can be found here https://lnkd.in/gepKBiq6.

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Thank you United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) & United Nations 🌎🌍🌏 Planet - Short term gains, long term risks & or Short term risks, long term gains. How would your carbon budgets, energy budgets & cash budgets be benchmarked to ensure your transition to net zero is inevitable? 🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻People - Clean air is a basic human right regardless what type of society you operate in, how would you feel with your credit score inclusive of a metric based on the metric tons of carbon emission alongside your borrowing score alongside green premiums. ♻️⚜️Profit - Human 2 human consciously of the integration and enablement of regenerative practices, the accumulative basic level income for all of society in both basic level healthcare insurances & providing data for open sourcing should be credited in royalty payments to each individual as data & hydrogen is the new oil. Which prompts the formulation of data legislation.... In conclusion, how are debenture systems meant to shape & thrive the future for multi-generations if the fuel is no longer the same? 💭 https://lnkd.in/gNFwtJxX

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This goes much further than political bodies. The need for joined-up collaboration on the food system is critical, and time is running out. Since 1920, agricultural practices have shifted to industrial (or conventional) agriculture in three main ways: - Mechanisation: heavy machine tilling - Usage of chemicals: fertilizer and pesticides - Specialization: monoculture While these changes have boosted yields over the past century, they have also harmed soil health. Unfortunately, the UK is among the most nature-depleted countries globally, with less than one-tenth of its biodiversity intact. According to the latest 'State of Nature' report, one in six plant and animal species in Britain faces extinction risk. Despite the UK's relative self-sufficiency in wheat, most meats, eggs, and some vegetable sectors, challenges persist. Sectors like soft fruit have seen progress towards greater self-sufficiency, displacing imports. The UK currently produces about 75% of what its population consumes, a figure that has remained stable over the past two decades. The government aims to maintain this level moving forward, as outlined in the food strategy for England. However, the shifting landscape towards sustainability, including the rising costs of production and the investments required for regenerative agriculture, poses significant challenges. The future of this 75% self-sufficiency goal will face rigorous testing in the coming years.

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These are just a few examples of the work of Soroptimists

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In the lead up to #COP16, Morningstar-Sustainalytics, alongside investors, continues to discuss Biodiversity and Natural Capital risks and opportunities with companies. #stewardship

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