Read the latest sustainability news from the United Nations, Chile, China, Ghana, India, and the EU.
UN: Updated Guide Facilitates SDG Reporting by Businesses
The UN Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), together with partners and stakeholders, have released an updated guidance for companies to effectively integrate the SDGs into their reporting processes. The 2022 version includes an updated list of possible disclosures.
Among additional sources of disclosures included in the 2022 edition are the AWS International Water Stewardship Standard, CDP questionnaires, Corporate Human Rights Benchmark Methodology 2021 for several sectors, Culture of Health for Business (COH4B) framework by GRI and Robert Wood Johnson, Ellen MacArthur Foundation MCI tool, and UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework.
The guidance is intended to be used in conjunction with a 2018 publication, ‘Integrating the SDGs into Corporate Reporting: A Practical Guide.’
UN: General Assembly Declares Access to Clean and Healthy Environment a Universal Human Right
On July 28, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a historic resolution declaring access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, a universal human right.
The text includes a call for ‘states, international organizations, businesses and other relevant stakeholders to adopt policies, enhance international cooperation, strengthen capacity building, and share good practices to ensure a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for all’.
Countries will be expected to prioritize and accelerate actions to implement the resolution, supporting efforts to address environmental crises in a more coordinated and effective way, including human rights impacts. The development follows a related resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021.
SDSN Report: SDGs in the Balance
During the opening day of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, July 5, 2022, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s (SDSN) released a publication titled “SDGs in the balance”.
The publication’s 22 articles are structured around three categories aligned with the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development:
- Protecting society: Among other issues, articles in this cluster address ways to protect open societies, conflict resolution after Russia’s war in Ukraine, tackling illicit financial flows, funding those most in need, and managing “information wars.”
- Sustainable economy: This group of articles discusses, inter alia, ways to achieve a climate-safe future, create a “more natural” cityscape, ensure cleaner economic growth, and create sustainable energy networks.
- Securing the planet: Articles in this category focus on a range of environmental issues, including how to reverse nature loss, boost natural systems to mitigate climate change, combat plastic pollution, clean up the air, and restore the ocean’s health.
Chile: New Sustainability Standard for Prunes
According to the Association of Processors and Exporters of Prunes of Chile (Chileprunes), the industry is advancing in the development of a sustainability standard.
This work will be supported by the Foundation for Agrarian Innovation (FIA), an agency of the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture, and led by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which develops and implements a sustainability standard for this agribusiness sector.
China: Financing the Transition to Net Zero
China has declared itself fully committed to having a decarbonized economy by 2060. A recent World Economic Forum’s (WEF) report analyzes the roadmap and policies to achieve this target. According to WEF, critical sectors include mobility, construction and real state, and steel.
Ghana: Five-Year Strategic and Implementation Plan for Cashews
According to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Ghana is set to launch an ambitious five-year strategic and implementation plan geared towards the development of a competitive and sustainable tree crops industry. The plan is set to be implemented by the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The authority has a mandate for regulating and creating a conducive environment for the development of tree and industrial crops such as cashew, oil palm, rubber, shea, coconut and mango.
India: Mission LiFE
At the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP26), Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi announced Mission LiFE, to bring individual behaviors at the forefront of the global climate action narrative.
In this context, NITI Aayog (Behavioral Insights Unit) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), in partnership with the United Nations, World Resources Institute, Centre for Social and Behavior Change (CSBC) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), are inviting ideas from across the world for one of the following, or related, areas:
- Behavior-change solutions aimed at individuals, households and communities to drive climate-friendly behaviors in sectors, including: water, food, transport, electricity, recycle and reuse.
- Innovative solutions that promote wider adoption of traditional, climate-friendly practices and/or create livelihood options for communities that may lose their jobs with a shift towards climate-friendly production.
- International, national and/or local best practices that can be feasibly scaled-up for driving behavior change related to climate action.
Deadline for applications is December 31, 2022.
EFRAG: Public Consultation on the first set of ESRS
The European Commission’s proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) envisages the adoption of EU Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
In order to meet the deadlines for submitting the first set of draft ESRS to the European Commission by November 2022, the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) opened a public consultation period on all aspects of the Draft ESRS. It ended August 8, 2022.
EU: New EU Framework for Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans
On August 25, 2022, the European Commission launched an online public consultation on the upcoming legislative proposal for a new EU framework for forest monitoring and strategic plans, as foreseen in the EU Forest Strategy for 2030. The aim is to develop an EU-wide forest observation framework to provide open access to detailed, accurate, regular and timely information on the condition and management of EU forests.
Consultation period ends November 17, 2022.
EU: Possible EU Soil Health Law
The European Commission has launched an online public consultation on the development of a possible EU Soil Health Law. The EU Soil Strategy, adopted on November 17, 2021, sets the vision to have all soils in healthy condition by 2050 and to make protection, sustainable use and restoration of soils the rule.
All stakeholders are invited to share their comments before October 24, 2022.