Earth Day 2021
Key Contact: Begonia Filgueira
Thursday 22nd April marks Earth Day 2021, a day to commemorate environmental activism and protecting the Earth. 2021 is a special Earth Day year for two reasons: First, President Biden will host a Leaders Climate Summit on Earth Day, a perfect signal to the world that the USA is back in the game of fighting climate change. A huge climate win as the USA ranks second in world emissions, behind China with roughly double the USA’s emissions.
Secondly, due to the lockdowns in 2020 scientists expect a 7% drop in global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. This is the annual largest absolute drop in emissions ever recorded. If the world returns to its old normal, these gains will be lost. Scientists are expecting a rebound in emissions and therefore it is crucial to take action this year.
Upcoming Earth Day events
Earthday.org is holding 3 days of interesting events. The Global Youth Summit on 20 April will give an insight into current climate activism trends which will pick up again post-pandemic. Youth activists, and therefore future consumers and workforce have very different priorities when it comes to climate change. This trend already follows a YouGov survey from 2020 which found that 46% of 18–24-year-olds are ‘very concerned’ about climate change compared to 24% of those aged over 65.
On April 21st, you can pick up educational tips on transforming climate education and see what children are being taught about climate change and the economic actors that will make a difference to this world.
On April 22nd, there will be a digital event covering emerging green technologies, innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystem, environmental justice, and much more. Acuity Partner Begonia Filgueira will be reporting on both this event and President Biden’s parallel event.
How to keep your business ‘green’
What can you do as a business or charity to make sure you help sustain the climate gains of the last year? Show you are prepared for the inescapable future regulation to decarbonise our economy by incorporating climate change governance into your business strategy.
This means going beyond an internal environmental audit of your business. You are ahead of the curve if you have audited, but governance is about understanding how your business, your clients, customers, and your supply change will be affected by climate change. This leads to putting processes in place that help you become a resilient organisation, to ensure that your business is not boycotted by consumers, held to ransom by shareholder activism, reputational damage, or left with stranded assets due to new regulation. It is also about seizing economic opportunities provided by new regulations and of course morally doing the right thing.
For further reading, we’ve also covered Climate Change Governance & Reporting and future mandatory climate change reporting for businesses.
For more information on making your business environmentally friendly, contact Begonia Filgueira in our Energy team, or speak to our Sustainable Development or Planning & Environmental teams today.
