New York, New York - At an event at United Nations headquarters today, the United Nations Foundation and GOOD magazine announced the launch of Earth To Marrakech, a global movement to raise the volume and profile of the discussion around climate action. Earth To Marrakech will cultivate a global climate conversation up to and through COP22, the United Nations climate conference held this year in Morocco November 7-18.

Building off of the momentum of the first-of-its-kind Earth To Paris movement, which helped to galvanize a collective global voice for the adoption of a universal climate agreement, the Earth To Marrakech coalition will unite partners around the world for the first Earth To convening after the adopting and signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change. This historic climate agreement was adopted in Paris and signed in New York. Now, we look to Marrakech, where leaders of government, business, and civil society will meet to discuss how nations can – and must – take action to meet and exceed the commitments they have made for the future of our planet.

Earth To Marrakech will provide the opportunity for cross-sector, solutions-oriented engagement in climate change conversations around COP22; a platform for amplifying the conversation across social and digital media; and a series of activations through inspiring calls to take bold, meaningful action to address climate change.

Experts, advocates, private sector leaders, bloggers, journalists, digital influencers, and civil society leaders will unite around Earth To Marrakech to discuss creative and impactful global solutions to climate change. Participants around the world will take part through multi-language livestreamed video and real-time interactions across multiple social media platforms using the unifying hashtag #EarthToMarrakech. 

Together, we can raise our voices in a collective call to move from words to action on climate change. As leaders prepare to meet in Morocco to discuss our shared future, we’re sending a message, from Earth To Marrakech: The world has made climate commitments, and now it’s time to act. The time for bold, ambitious climate action is now! 

#EarthToMarrakech event & movement launched in #SDGLive @UN w @unfoundation @good @Connect4Climate @UNDP @UNICEF @MissionBlue pic.twitter.com/sjzjkRzO7k

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) September 21, 2016

Announcing the launch of the #EarthToMarrakech Global Climate Movement today in the @UN #COP22 #ClimateAction #SDGlive pic.twitter.com/FfZcjEhvR4

— COP22 (@COP22) September 21, 2016

We cannot get complacent on #ClimateAction - @maxschorr at #SDGLive #ParisAgreement event @UN #EarthToMarrakech launch pic.twitter.com/PCQMpGtFBX

— Connect4Climate (@Connect4Climate) September 21, 2016

New York, 8 September – Today, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) joined the UN climate change secretariat’s initiative Climate Neutral Now, becoming the first international sports organisation to do so.

The Climate Neutral Now initiative represents a global community of organisations committing to becoming climate neutral by the second half of the 21st century. Climate Neutral Now calls on organisations and individuals to measure, reduce and report greenhouse gas emissions and compensate those which cannot be avoided with UN-certified emission reductions. The initiative was launched in September, 2015 by a founding group of organisations that included Microsoft, Sony, the adidas Group and Marks & Spencer.

Today’s announcement was made during a panel discussion at UN headquarters in New York. FIFA’s Secretary General, Ms. Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, and Mr. David Nabarro, Special Adviser on Agenda 2030 for the UN Secretary General, were in attendance, along with the Director of Strategy of the UNFCCC secretariat, Halldór Thorgeirsson, and FIFA’s Head of Sustainability and Diversity, Federico Addiechi.

The event also featured a video message by actor and activist Edward Norton, champion of Climate Neutral Now and UN Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity. The message invites individuals and organisations to take action, including through the Climate Neutral Now initiative. 

FIFA’s Secretary General, Ms Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura said:

“Each one of us, as well as every organisation, has to take responsibility for the world we live in and lead by example. By joining the Climate Neutral Now campaign, we pledge to continue to strive towards becoming greenhouse gas emission-neutral by the mid-21st century. We also commit, as we did in Brazil in 2014, to measuring, reducing and offsetting our greenhouse gas emissions at the next edition of the FIFA World Cup, scheduled to take place in Russia in 2018. Beyond that and through the power of football, we also aim to inspire greater awareness and best practices in sustainability standards.”

UNFCCC’s Executive Secretary, Patricia Espinosa said:

“The climate talks in Paris this past December highlighted the critical role that non-state actors—corporations, NGOs and individuals—are playing in addressing climate change. Every sector has an important role, but we are excited by the potential that sports organisations represent. More than one billion people watched the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil. There’s enormous potential for inspiring sports fans around the globe, in addition to the action that the sports organizations are taking in-house.”

Actor and Climate Neutral Now supporter Edward Norton said:

“Do something about your personal climate footprint  –  it can be as simple as driving a little less, using  mass transit a little more,  turning of the television or AC in the room when you are not in it, just simple little things to observe and change wasteful habits that we all have.”

September has a history of being a pivotal month on the climate calendar and 2016 appears to be no different. China and the US, the world’s largest historical emitters of carbon emissions, rang September in over the weekend, when they announced they would each be ratifying the Paris Climate Agreement. This announcement signaled that September 2016 could resemble the two previous Septembers, which like the weeks ahead, were packed with climate action.

Last year, September saw Pope Francis head to the United States where he delivered a number of messages, including an emphasis on climate change, to the US Congress in Washington, DC and then to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The UN General Assembly in New York last year also saw a number of countries announcing their “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions” or INDCs for what would become the Paris Agreement two months later. Last year the UN also moved forward with its long-crafted Sustainable Development Goals. A year before, in 2014, September saw the the largest climate demonstration in history take place in New York when the People’s Climate March put climate at the forefront of the UN agenda ahead of that year’s General Assembly. The recent US and China announcement about ratifying the Paris Agreement this time around, indicates that 2016 may fit the mold of previous Septembers.

In a lead up to the forthcoming International Day of Peace, youth organisation Green Hope conducted an epoch conference cum workshop on “Peace and Sustainabilty.". It was attended by scores of students from different schools and universities, as well representatives from corporates. The day began with a tree planting session, during which Green Hope members planted over 80 saplings.

The conference stressed on the overriding importance of peace in achieving sustainability. SDG #16 ( The United Nationals Sustainable development goal # 16) specifically focuses on “Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”. Yet peace runs like a thread through all 17 of the Goals. Every year on the International Day of Peace, the United Nations calls on the peoples of the world to remember their common humanity and join together to build a future free of strife.

This year’s theme – the Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace – highlights how ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring broadly shared prosperity all contribute to global harmony.  Green Hope founder/president , 16 year old Kehkashan Basu said “We the youth are the Future Generations and we must take the initiative of breaking these shackles of hatred and bring forth a new order . This is the objective behind our event today , to bring together a diverse section of civil society so that we discuss the ways and means of achieving peace and its profound impact on sustainability. “

The conference, hosted by the Apple International School,  began with a Peace song composed and performed by the Green Hope team after which there were interactive presentations to highlight the critical inter-linkages between peace and the sustainable development goals. The conference attendees were hugely motivated to receive a  video message from  Mr Max T Edkins, the Climate Change Expert at World Bank’s Connect4Climate initiative . In his message, Max emphasized climate change being the most fundamental challenge facing the current generation and its intricate linkage with all the sustainable development goals. The audience also received a video message on the conference theme from Mr Jan-Gustav Strandenaes , Senior Advisor on Governance at the Stakeholder Forum.

[video: https://vimeo.com/181270389]

This was followed by an interactive panel discussion , comprising of an  eminent panel of experts which included Dr. Federica Busa – Director Theme Development Dubai Expo2020, Mr. Stephen King -  Professor at Middlesex University Dubai, Ms Ellen Vroonhof – Program Manager at Netherlands based Kidsrights Foundation, Dr Masumeh Kazmi from the Iranian Salman Farsi school and Ms Panjala Dutta –Principal Apple International School.

The highlight of the conference was a painting competition, wherein the participants used art to convey the theme of Peace and Sustainability. Green Hope believes that peace building begins with conflict resolution and these must  be resolved using a bottom-up approach. Grassroots organizations, as well as local authorities and civil-society representatives, should be the main actors in the conflict resolution process. Thus this conference sought to bring together various stakeholders to determine the pathway to a peaceful and sustainable future.

Rising consumption fuelled by a growing middle class has seen the amount of primary materials extracted from the Earth triple in the last four decades, according to a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme - hosted International Resource Panel (IRP). 

The dramatic increase in the use of fossil fuels, metals and other materials will intensify climate change, increase air pollution, reduce biodiversity and ultimately lead to the depletion of natural resources, causing worrying shortages of critical materials and heightening the risk of local conflicts, warns the report. “The alarming rate at which materials are now being extracted is already having a severe impact on human health and people’s quality of life,” said IRP Co-Chair Alicia Bárcena Ibarra. “It shows that the prevailing patterns of production and consumption are unsustainable.

“We urgently need to address this problem before we have irreversibly depleted the resources that power our economies and lift people out of poverty. This deeply complex problem, one of humanity’s biggest tests yet, calls for a rethink of the governance of natural resource extraction to maximize its contribution to sustainable development at all levels.” The information on material flows contained in the new report complements economic statistics, identifies the scale and urgency of global environmental issues and supports the monitoring of the progress countries are making towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The amount of primary materials extracted from the Earth rose from 22 billion tonnes in 1970 to a staggering 70 billion tonnes in 2010, with the richest countries consuming on average 10 times as many materials as the poorest countries and twice as much as the world average. If the world continues to provide housing, mobility, food, energy and water in the same way as today, by 2050 the planet’s nine billion people would require 180 billion tonnes of material every year to meet demand. This is almost three times today’s amount and will likely raise the acidification and eutrophication of the world’s soils and water bodies, increase soil erosion and lead to greater amounts of waste and pollution.

Photo Credit: UNEP

The report also ranks countries by the size of their per-capita material footprints – the amount of material required for final demand in a country, an indicator that sheds light on the true impact of a country on the global natural resource base. It is also a good proxy for the material standard of living in a country. Europe and North America, which had annual per capita material footprints of 20 and 25 tonnes in 2010, are at the top of the table. By comparison, China had a material footprint of 14 tonnes per capita and Brazil 13 tonnes.

The annual per-capita material footprint for Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and West Asia is between 9 and 10 tonnes. Africa’s footprint is below 3 tonnes per capita. Global material use has rapidly accelerated since 2000 as emerging economies like China undergo industrial and urban transformations that require unprecedented amounts of iron, steel, cement, energy and construction materials.

Since 1990, there has been little improvement in global material efficiency. In fact, efficiency started to decline around 2000.  The global economy now needs more material per unit of GDP than it did at the turn of the century because production has shifted from material-efficient economies such as Japan, South Korea and Europe to far less material-efficient economies like China, India and South East Asia. This has led to an increase in environmental pressure for every unit of economic activity.

The report, Global Material Flows and Resource Productivity, presents various ways the world can maintain economic growth and increase human development while reducing the amount of primary materials it uses to achieve this.

Decoupling escalating material use from economic growth is the “imperative of modern environmental policy and essential for the prosperity of human society and a healthy natural environment”, states the IRP, which is a consortium of 34 internationally renowned scientists, over 30 national governments and other groups.

Decoupling, which will be necessary for countries to achieve the SDGs, requires well-designed policies. Investments in research and development, combined with better public policy and financing, will be essential. This will create significant economic opportunities for inclusive and sustained economic growth and job creation. But increasing material efficiency alone is not enough. By lowering costs, greater efficiency will allow for higher economic growth and perhaps hamper efforts to reduce overall material demand. The IRP recommends putting a price on primary materials at extraction in order to reflect the social and environmental costs of resource extraction and use while reducing the consumption of materials. The extra funds generated could then be invested in R&D in resource intensive sectors of the economy.

Looking to the future, the IRP warns that low-income countries will require increasing quantities of materials to achieve the same level of development experienced by high-income countries. This expanding demand for materials will possibly contribute to local conflicts like those seen in areas where mining competes with agriculture and urban development.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) established by the United Nations in September 2015 are a demand note for governments, society and companies to elaborate strategies for sustainability in order to make this planet livable and peaceful in the next century.

Photo Credit: Sustainable Development Goals - UN

In the case of Colombia, there have been outstanding efforts of politics as well as the private sector to accomplish the integration of the SDG’s. For example, the Colombian government has established an interinstitutional commission to ensure their integration in the National Development Plan – that happened in February 2015, even seven months before the SDG’s were officially announced, which makes the country a pioneer. Furthermore, Colombia has the largest number of companies publishing sustainability reports in Latin America after Brazil[1], and large national companies such as Nutresa and Argos are included in the exclusive Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, which measure and report the performance of the world's sustainability leaders every year.

Although large companies appear to be conscious of how urgent the adoption of the SDGs is, we must not forget that they only account for a very small part of the economy. In Colombia, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME’s) represent more than 95 percent of the total number of enterprises. In all of Latin America, their share is even higher with 99 percent[2]. The contribution of MSME’s will thus be crucial for the private sector to comply with the SDG’s. However, publications about how MSME’s may achieve this contribution are rare yet, even more in Spanish so that they could serve those enterprises in Latin America.

This is the starting point for the publication “Business and the Sustainable Development Goals – A guide for getting started”. Written by Innove, a sustainability-focused think and do tank based in Medellin, Colombia, the manual launched in Spanish and English equips MSME’s with the basic knowledge they need to start adopting and applying the SDG’s.

The document starts with an overview on the SDG’s, explaining how they differ from their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals and how they are interconnected. Since the issues that are relevant for an individual company can differ across industries and business models, the guide provides steps to help businesses identify which SDG’s are most applicable for them.

Photo Credit: Innove

They also learn how they might interact with other actors of their core business, the community and the public dialogue. Thereupon, the publication suggests how to approach the adoption of the SDG’s presenting an amplified version of the SDG compass launched by the Global Reporting Initiative, Global Compact and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development in September 2015.

This guide is the kick-off for a series of publications related to sustainability and businesses that Innove is currently working on and which shall, altogether, give profound knowledge and support to the private sector to enable their transition to sustainability.  

Click here to download this first publication.