United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the launch of a first-of-its-kind initiative developed among the six largest communications businesses globally in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon announcing the Common ground Initiative. Photo Credit: United Nations

“Today, the communications industry is taking a historic, first-of-its-kind step to beat poverty, injustice and inequality,” said the Secretary-General, speaking at the Lions Festival of Creativity, Cannes. “The six biggest communications businesses in the world have risen to what some may have said was an impossible test: they have agreed to put their differences aside in support of a joint unique and exciting initiative to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs.”

The Secretary-General emphasized that success required a serious, 15-year partnership for humanity. He called the new initiative both an example and a challenge to all of us to find our own common ground for the common good.

Ban Ki-moon with five of the six firm leaders at the Lions Festival of Creativity, in Cannes. Photo Credit:

Common Ground was developed by leading advertising companies, including Dentsu, Havas, IPG, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe and WPP.

In a joint statement, Tadashi Ishii, Chief Executive Officer and President of Dentsu; Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Havas; Michael Roth, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IPG; John Wren, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omnicom; Maurice Lévy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Publicis Groupe; and Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said:

“The Common Ground initiative recognises that the global issues the UN has identified transcend commercial rivalry. By working in partnership to support the Sustainable Development Goals, we want to demonstrate that even fierce competitors can set aside their differences in order to serve a wider common interest. We hope others in and beyond our own business decide to do the same.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with winners of the Cannes Young Lions competition in France. Photo Credit: Eskinder Debebe

“The timing is right for this type of innovation,” elaborated the Secretary-General. “We are in the first year of implementing a 15-year plan. Getting it on track at the beginning is critical to achieving our goals at the end. The communications industry is famous for its creativity and energy. The United Nations fully supports channelling this dynamism towards answering the greatest challenges facing our planet and humanity.” 

The sustainable development agenda, unanimously adopted by world leaders in September 2015, is the most ambitious anti-poverty, pro-planet agenda ever agreed, with the SDGs anchored at its centre. The agenda clearly defines the world we want – applying to all nations and leaving no one behind. 

How does the Common Ground work?

The new collaboration will start immediately, with two immediate objectives:

• to come together to help to address the Sustainable Development Goals and
• to encourage other industries to follow suit and find their own common ground.

Kick-starting the Common Ground programme will be a global advertising campaign, with space donated by key business and thought-leadership publications.

In addition, the six companies have agreed to provide a development fund for each of the winning ideas in the Cannes Young Lions competition, which this year was devoted solely to the SDGs. These funds, a first for the Young Lions Contest, will be used to develop the winning concepts and provide them the strongest possible chance of being put into practice. 

You may find more information here.

6,273 km and 71 hours later, Bertrand Piccard lands in Sevilla, Spain. Piccard has been flying from New York City in a solar aircraft, completely emission-free, without the use of a single drop of fuel. This pioneering initiative is the 15th leg of the Round-the-World Solar Flight attempt by Solar Impulse, who want to "demonstrate that clean technologies can achieve impossible goals".

After crossing the Pacific and the Atlantic, this accomplishment means that 90% of the around-the-world flight mission has been completed by Piccard and his partner, André Borschberg.

Bertrand Piccard celebrates at Sevilla airport after a 70-hour journey from New York. Photo Credit: Solar Impulse

“This flight symbolized the step from the old world to the new world; our future is clean and it starts now,” emphasized Bertrand Piccard stepping out of the cockpit.

With a cruising speed of around 43 miles per hour, similar to an average car, Solar Impulse 2 has more than 17,000 solar cells built into wings with a span bigger than that of a Boeing 747. The two environmental adventurers predict to finish the Round-the-World Solar Flight with three more flights, concluding the trip in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Solar Impulse has landed in Spain. Photo Credit: Solar Impulse

"Success will be measured by the number of kilometers we've accomplished, but most of all by the number of people we will have inspired to follow their dreams and make the world a better place", they say.

Their flight ahs already covered 15 cities, almost 36,000 km and zero carbon emissions.

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought was captured beautifully by Adil Moumane, the winner of this week's #Photo4Climate Instagram Challenge. Congratulations! Keep raise awareness on climate change with your unique photos!

Here is the original caption:

I took that one in a village called Mhamid elghezlain , a lot of people her lose their houses because of#desertification and They moved to other places and let their houses #climatechange.
Photo Credits: Adil Moumane

World Day to Combat Desertification 2016.This year, the world comes together to celebrate this day under the theme of “Protect Earth. Restore land. Engage people”.

Desertification, land degradation, drought and climate change are interconnected.  As a result of land degradation and climate change, the severity and frequency of droughts have been increasing, along with floods and extreme temperatures.  More than 50 per cent of agricultural land is moderately or severely degraded, with 12 million hectares lost to production each year.  

Every June 17th, the global community celebrates World Day to Combat desertification (WDCD). In his annual message to mark the day, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged all actors to work together. “Without a long-term solution, desertification and land degradation will not only affect food supply but lead to increased migration and threaten the stability of many nations and regions.  This is why world leaders made land degradation neutrality one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.  That means rehabilitating at least 12 million hectares of degraded land a year,” he said. Last year, 193 countries pledged to strive to become land degradation neutral by 2030. This means that if one hectare of land is degraded, we should try to restore back to health an equal amount of degraded land.  

“Ninety countries have already signed up to the challenge and are setting their national targets. This is admirable. But it is not enough when at least 169 countries are affected by land degradation or drought, and all countries are indirectly impacted by them,” said UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Executive Secretary Monique Barbut.“Actions to avoid, halt and reverse land degradation must begin now with everyone fully engaged. The prospect of a land degradation neutral world grows dimmer if we procrastinate. But it shines brighter each time a person or country joins the campaign to restore degraded land or the battle against the degradation of new land.”

Addressing the UNCCD COP12 in Ankara, Turkey, last year, the GEF CEO Naoko Ishii announced a contribution of USD 3 million for countries to support their target setting under the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) concept. Using set-aside resources of the 6th replenishment allocations for the Land Degradation Focal Area (LDFA), this enabling activity should enhance capacity of recipient countries to speed up target setting in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Read the original post at the GEF website.

We are warming our world by emitting greenhouse gases from the buring of fossil fuels and changing our landscapes and already we are feeling the impacts of a changing climate, the poor the most. We need to advance the solutions for a carbon-neutral future, to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, aiming to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. We need to drastically advance climate-friendly solutions that reduce our emissions and also build our resilience to adapt to the sea level risees, melting snow-packs, extreme weather events and shifting seasons that we are already facing.

We need to accelerate the climate movement for a sustainable future. In that sense, we've asked you to share your picture on #Environment to raise awareness on Climate Change, through our weekly #Photo4Climate Instagram Challenge. Submitted photos really captured solutions, situations or simply facts that our planet is changing, but we have chosen our favorite: congratulations Róbert Blaško. Your beautiful photo really explores a positive solution for climate change. It makes us feel comfortable and peacefull.

Take a look at the Original Caption:

Clean Energy.
Photo Credits: Róbert Blaško

Sustainia launches the 2016 Sustainia100 publication. This year’s edition contains 100 solutions from all over the world that provide social, financial and environmental returns, whilst also addressing the Sustainable Development Goals. We believe these 100 solutions can help us build the world of tomorrow.

This is the fifth year of the Sustainia100. More than ever before, our research confirms that there are countless companies and organizations using new mindsets and innovative thinking to deliver on everything from good health and affordable and clean energy, to improved infrastructure and sustainable urban development.

What’s different this time around?

• More people than ever before are aware of the case for sustainability, thanks to the unifying call of the Sustainable Development Goals. A sustainable future feels inclusive, desirable and possible – if we meet the global goals, and leave no one behind. The Sustainia100 maps each of the solutions against the global goals, to show where the opportunities sit.
• More people than ever before are acting on sustainability, thanks to the leadership behind the UNFCCC. At the end of 2015, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal. The Sustainia100 reveals where in the world people are acting on sustainability, as global markets become primed for investment and innovation.

The Sustainia100 provides an accessible format to explore the solutions – just like a sustainable future, there is something for everyone.

Make the Sustainia100 your first stop for sustainable action, and help us build the world of tomorrow – starting today. Head to www.sustainia.me to find out more. 

You can read and download the complete Press Release here.