It’s Time for Companies to Step Up on Net Zero
As UN Experts Call for an End to Greenwashing, Companies in the richest countries have still not agreed to climate measures that are in line with staying below 1.5 degrees. Danielle Smith and Hilde Stroot welcome new guidance from a UN panel, released at COP27, to push action by firms on corporate net-zero plans – […]
Transitioning to Net Zero in the Middle East and North Africa: Three Focus Points
As Egypt readies itself to host COP27 and the UAE for COP28, Adithya Subramoni argues that the MENA region must recognise the social dimension in action on climate, emphasise affordability and accessibility in the drive towards renewables, and seize the potential for the transition to create a large number of good jobs. Since the COP26 […]
Why Businesses Must Focus on Putting People at the Heart of Climate Action Strategies
We’ve heard many pledges by businesses and governments to go further, create real and lasting change in cocoa supply chains, and ensure a better future for farming communities and our climate. However, turning those promises into action remains a challenge. Across the world, cocoa-growing communities face daily struggles from low prices to climate fluctuations, resulting […]
The Two-Eyed View of Climate Justice: Combine Net Zero and Poverty Zero Goals
The climate challenge is encouraging us to work together in meaningful ways, yet the path to climate justice globally requires us to go one step further, combining net zero and poverty zero goals. Net zero, at the heart of efforts to slow climate change, is the target to balance any CO2 emissions created by human […]
Climate-Smart Supply Chains: Lessons for COP27 from Fairtrade
One year since COP26, and we have seen minimal action from world leaders to support farmers and workers with a just transition or to deliver on the headline $100 billion promise of climate adaptation finance. In contrast, one year since the launch of Fairtrade’s ‘Alliance for Climate-Smart Supply Chains in Africa’ (FACSCA), and we have […]
Innovative Solutions to Tackle Deforestation
Halting deforestation and restoring degraded forests is critical to overcoming the climate emergency and reversing biodiversity loss. Many in the ISEAL community are embracing innovative solutions to contribute towards the sustainable management of forests. This year’s International Day of Forests centred on sustainable production and consumption. This is a critical focus, since forests play a crucial role […]
Honouring Climate Promises: An Open Letter from Fairtrade
In an Open Letter, Fairtrade calls on Member States at COP27 to ‘honor their climate promises’ and ‘act now’ for our planet’s farmers. Dear Government Leaders, Global Dignitaries, and United Nations delegates: We demand action. As representatives of over 1.9 million Fairtrade farmers and the thousands of global businesses sourcing from them, we see first-hand […]
CEOs as Stewards of Future Generations
Across the world, leaders are increasingly taking responsibility for intergenerational fairness. This is true in the public, private and non-profit sectors. The difficult questions of how to make decisions that are fair for our futures have moved up the agenda. The 2022 CEO Purpose Report, a recent study published by Brandpie, surveyed 1000 CEOs across […]
Climate Change Disproportionately Affects Poor People
Global Public Agrees Climate Change Disproportionately Affects Poor People, Rich Countries Must Support Them to Deal with Effects of Climate Change There is overwhelming global agreement that the effects of climate change disproportionately affect the poor and three-quarters of people around the world say that rich countries must support them to deal with the effects […]
Africa’s Farmers Need Climate Finance. The Private Sector Must Step Up.
In 2009, the global community gathered at the COP conference in Copenhagen and pledged to mobilize $100 billion of annual climate financing for low- and middle-income countries by 2020. It was a historic commitment, and we failed to deliver on it. While the $100 billion target has been pushed out to 2025, the needs of […]
The Climate Clock is Ticking
Ahead of another UN climate conference, Fairtrade once again urges governments for concrete action… but time is running out. In the 1993 comedy film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays Phil Connors, a misanthropic and cynical Pennsylvania weatherman condemned to reliving February 2nd repeatedly until his ethical compass is fully corrected. The film is a comedy driven by […]
Rethinking Shelter: Bangladesh’s New Approach to Protecting Lives and Livelihoods
BRAC and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) are working together to model and scale up efforts to build climate migrant-friendly cities in a country described as an “internal migration pressure cooker,” where catastrophic weather events have pushed migrants into overcrowded urban centers. GCA’s Global Hub on Locally Led Adaptation is located in the GCA South […]
Three Actions for Business in the Face of the Global Polycrisis
If you’re struggling to wrap your head around the multiple crises facing the world right now, the phrase “global polycrisis” may help you get a sense of just how truly awful things are. The term reared its head at the just-completed World Bank Annual Meetings, and is forebodingly described by the Cascade Institute as happening […]
Why is Sustainability a Concept Closer to JUSTICE than to the ENVIRONMENT?
Environmental protection such as packing, renewable energy, climate action, water, and waste management have dominated the sustainability mindset. Today, many people, including experts, thought leaders, and even some sustainability gurus, use the terms “sustainability” and “environmental protection” as synonyms. And they aren’t. Sustainability is a broader concept, and the level of success in achieving it […]
How the Climate Justice Framework Helps put People at the Heart of Net Zero Ambitions
Climate change and inequality are two of the biggest challenges of our time. Tackling one without the other is increasingly seen as not an option, including for business. The Business and Climate Justice Framework helps businesses identify both the opportunities of putting people at the centre of their climate ambitions and the risks of inaction. […]
Companies Need to Wake up to the Urgency of Ending Deforestation in Supply Chains. Here’s How
The announcement in June this year that parties to the COP15 biodiversity convention, billed the ‘Paris agreement’ for biodiversity, will meet in Montreal in December, ends uncertainty about the meeting taking place at all this year, after two years of delays. The urgent need to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis was highlighted at Davos earlier […]
What Is Regenerative Agriculture?
If you feel like you’re suddenly hearing the word “regenerative agriculture” all the time, you’re not wrong. The concept has gained considerable traction in the last year, although it’s not new to the Rainforest Alliance. For more than 30 years, we’ve worked to make agriculture more sustainable by partnering with farmers all over the world […]
Network of Small-Scale farmers in India Tackle Climate Change
“It was a turning point for me,” said Ruchi Jain, Founder and CEO of Taru Naturals, about her trip to the villages of small-scale farmers in India struggling with the effects of climate change. “I realized that if you want to make a big impact on the world, you have to be grassroots-based—it has to be […]
New Report: Women Champion Forest Conservation in Bale, Ethiopia
A new report outlines how Farm Africa and SOS Sahel Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains Eco-region REDD+ forest conservation programme in Oromia, Ethiopia has achieved impressive results in reducing deforestation, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and increasing household incomes and gender equality. Since 2012, Farm Africa has been working in partnership with the NGO SOS Sahel Ethiopia, with […]
The Business Case for Collective Landscape Action
Throughout the tropics, rates of forest and biodiversity loss are accelerating while the global impacts of the climate crisis are escalating. If tropical deforestation were a country, it would rank third in global emissions, behind only China and the United States. Much of this deforestation is driven by commodities such as coffee, timber, palm oil, […]