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Climate Change Resource Centre
This section of the Article 13 website gives a brief introduction and overview on the subject of climate change and what various governments, NGOs, industries and companies are doing to address this issue. There are also links to further information and useful resources in these areas.
Contents
Standards
United Nations Global Compact (UNGC): the UNGC is a voluntary initiative comprising ten principles. Principles 7, 8 and 9 deal with environment issues and climate change. Members of the UNGC are encouraged to monitor, report and reduce their carbon emissions, responsible for climate change.
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/
Caring for Climate: the business leadership platform: this is a statement made by a group of the business leaders who have signed the UNGC. Businesses joining this platform recognise the importance of early action against climate change and that climate change poses both risks and opportunities. This platform encourages companies to take action to tackle climate change and to work collaboratively to set up standards and take joint initiatives. Article 13 supports the intent of the business leadership platform.
http://www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/Environment/Climate_Change/index.html
The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS): the Voluntary Carbon Standard seeks to provide a credible but simple set of criteria to grade the different offsetting companies. It provides integrity to the voluntary carbon market and underpins the worthy actions that already exist. VCS ensures that all voluntary emission reductions that meet its criteria represent real, quantifiable and permanent emission reductions.
http://www.v-c-s.org/
Gold Standard: this foundation offers a quality label to voluntary offset projects. Renewable energy and energy efficiency projects with sustainable development benefits are eligible. The Gold Standard is endorsed by over 44 non-governmental organisations worldwide. Initiated by WWF, SSN and Helio International the Gold Standard launched a methodology (a set of tools) for voluntary offsetting in May 2006.
http://www.cdmgoldstandard.org/
Cities and local authorities
This section is a non-exhaustive list of local initiatives taken by communities to tackle climate change. To learn more about programmes put in place by cities and regions all over the world to tackle climate change, visit: http://www.theclimategroup.org/assets/resources/cdpu_newedition.pdf
Action Today to Protect Tomorrow: is the programme of the London Mayor's Climate Change Action Plan. The Mayor’s strategy aims at moving from a high energy-use, wasteful economic model to one that conserves energy and minimises waste. This strategy involves corporations, inhabitants and local authorities of Greater London. The programme sets out targets and the commitment of London authorities to report yearly on the results of this programme.
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/climate-change/ccap/index.jsp
EcoCity: Johannesburg, South Africa: In partnership with EcoCity Trust and in response to worldwide encouragement for city councils to adopt Local Agenda 21 (a key output of the Rio Summit) the Johannesburg EcoCity initiative was born. The EcoCity initiative is based on the principles of poverty eradication through self reliance, capacity building, public participation and green transformation. So, whilst some of the major environmental issues of the city may not have been entirely eradicated, and Johannesburg may still be a city divided, small scale examples of what can be achieved gives hope to the future ambitions of the EcoCity initiative on a city wide scale. Addressing issues such as climate change and poverty need not require full scale revolution; even evolution on a grass roots level will take the city one step closer to its vision. To learn more about Johannesburg’s EcoCity challenge, visit the Article 13 website:
http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1120
London’s 2012 Olympics and Paralympics Games (OPG): ‘Towards a One Planet Olympics' is a report written by London 2012 in collaboration with BioRegional and WWF. It details solutions for zero waste and low carbon strategies, local supply networks, and sustainable transport to be put at the heart of the Games whole realisation in order to achieve the first “sustainable Olympic and Paralympics Games”. London’s objective is to reduce OPG’s CO2 emissions by minimising building energy demand and by supplying the Olympic Village with zero or low carbon and renewable resources.
http://www.london2012.com/plans/sustainability/index.php
Whitchurch Hospital: Whitchurch Hospital became the first NHS hospital to install an eco-friendly biomass boiler to serve its energy requirements. The word biomass refers to all wood and plant material. The boiler saves up to 115 tonnes of CO2 a year that would otherwise be emitted into the atmosphere. Wood fuel is an alternative renewable energy, which is almost carbon neutral and switching to wood fuel results in significant financial savings.
http://www.hdmagazine.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=2037734
Woking: this city in the county of Surrey is believed to be the first UK authority to have adopted a comprehensive Climate Change Strategy on a scale that is likely to meet The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's targets of 60% reductions of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2050 and 80% by 2100. A first step towards putting the Strategy into action has been taken with the publication of guidance on Climate Neutral Development. The guidance encourages developers to design and build new development which does not contribute to the causes of climate change, and is resilient to future changes in climate.
http://www.woking.gov.uk/environment/climatechangestrategy/climatechange.pdf
Businesses
This section is a non-exhaustive list of businesses we have selected for their involvement in the battle against climate change.
Aviva: the decision to become the first insurer to carbon neutralise its worldwide operations in December 2006 was driven by a number of factors relating to the Group’s desire to among others be responsible and minimize its contribution to causing climate change while encouraging others to do the same. Aviva also wished to create competitive advantage and strengthen opportunities to access new markets or new products with environmental focus. In order to achieve this challenge Aviva considered all the carbon emissions sources relating to its business such as its energy consumption, waste management, paper usage, travel policy in order to put in place innovative systems to cut it down. Conscious of the existing remaining emissions despite their efforts , Aviva has set an audacious carbon offsetting selection policy. To know more about Aviva environmental programme, visit Article 13's website:
http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1376
Belu Water: this British company has launched the UK’s lowest carbon emitting bottle of water .They produce bottles from corn instead of using petroleum so that the bottles are recyclable and compostable. There water is only sourced in the UK and their factories are run on renewable energy. Their carbon footprint is considerably less than other water manufacturers.
http://www.belu.org/
Climate Change Capital: this investment bank is a specialist in commercial opportunities created by a low carbon economy. It advises and invests in companies who recognise that combating global warming is both a necessity and an economic opportunity. By advising on climate change opportunities, and managing investment in related projects, Climate Change Capital Limited has been involved in the removal of the equivalent to tens of millions tons of CO2 from the atmosphere.
http://www.climatechangecapital.com/index.asp
Financial Times / Citi Private Bank Environmental Award: this Award recognises SMEs and large businesses from around the world that have significantly improved their environmental performance in the last financial year. This year Roche has been rewarded as the company with “The Greatest Improvement in Carbon Efficiency Achieved by a Large Enterprise both on a European and a Global level”.
http://www.ftconferences.com/environmentalawards/home.asp
Google: on 19 June 2007 Google Corporation announced that Google would become a carbon neutral company by the end of 2007. In order to meet their short-term goal of carbon neutrality Google has assigned an independent company to calculate its carbon footprint. From these results they have put in place a three pillars strategy to reduce their environmental impact: increasing their energy efficiency, consuming more energy provided by clean and renewable resources and purchasing carbon offsets for emissions they cannot cut directly.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/carbon-neutrality-by-end-of-2007.html
Lafarge: this cement production company was one of the leaders behind establishing the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Cement Sustainability Index.
It has committed to a 20% cut in net emissions per tonne of cement worldwide and a 10% cut in absolute emissions in industrialised countries by 2010, from 1990 levels.
Lafarge has also committed 11% of its R&D budget to carbon capture and storage and employs a range of energy efficiency measures. The company aims to secure 14% of its fuel from alternative fuels by 2010.
http://www.lafarge.com/
Morgan Stanley Carbon Bank: on 15 August 2007 Morgan Stanley Bank announced the launch of the MS Carbon Bank in order to help its clients become carbon neutral. The Carbon Bank will offer carbon verification and offsetting services. Morgan Stanley wants to create an easy and reliable system for reducing its corporate carbon footprint.
http://www.morganstanley.com/about/press/articles/5371.html
Whole Foods Markets: this retail company is committed to buying as much locally-grown seasonal food as it can to reduce food miles and encourage reduced packaging and energy conservation. It also composts its food waste, cutting the amount it sends to landfill, its new stores are built with green building techniques and its fleet is being converted to biodiesel.
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/
UN/International legislation
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: the Convention on Climate Change sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change. It recognises that the climate system is a shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and other emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The Convention enjoys near universal membership, with 191 countries having ratified by 1994.
http://unfccc.int/2860.php
The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: this protocol is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory emission targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the signatory nations. The objective of the protocol is the "stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.”
http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
The 13th UNFCCC Conference of Parties: this event will take place at Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia, between 3 December and 4 December 2007. Negotiations on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol are expected to dominate the conference (the Kyoto Protocol is the result of the third UNFCCC Conference of Parties).
http://unfccc.int/meetings/cop_13/items/4049.php
UK Government
The Climate Change Bill: in March 2007 the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) presented a draft of a climate change bill to the British Parliament. The draft bill could become law by May 2008. It states carbon dioxide emissions must be cut by at least 60 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 and half that by 2020. An independent committee will monitor progress. The Climate Change Act would make Great Britain the first country to set binding legal limits on its greenhouse gas outputs.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/legislation/index.htm
The Carbon Trust: this company was funded by Government to help the UK move to a low carbon economy by helping business and the public sector reduce carbon emissions and capture the commercial opportunities of low carbon technologies.
http://www.carbontrust.co.uk
The Energy Saving Trust: is a non-profit organisation, funded both by government and the private sector. Its aim is to cut emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) by promoting the sustainable and efficient use of energy. It provides individuals with information about saving energy in daily activities, renewable energies and a free household energy report.
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/commit/
Climate challenge: is a climate change communication initiative taken by Defra in partnership with other organisations concerned about climate change. The aim of this initiative is to spread information about climate change and to encourage voluntary actions.
http://www.climatechallenge.gov.uk/
Collectives and NGOs
Green Thing: is a not-for profit initiative to get as many people as possible to be a little greener in the way they behave. By suggesting the things you can do with exclusive pieces of great entertainment every month, Green Thing will tempt and encourage a community of “green things” across the world to act against climate change.
http://www.dothegreenthing.com
Stop Climate Chaos Coalition: this coalition includes many of the UK’s leading environmental organisations, international development agencies and other national campaigning bodies. It aims to build public pressure on the UK Government to act at home and abroad to prevent global warming from exceeding the widely-accepted danger threshold of two degrees centigrade. In October 2006 the coalition launched its “I Count” mass public campaign. This has inspired thousands of people to take action against climate change and is the coalition's prime vehicle for engaging the public.
http://www.icount.org.uk/Default.asp / http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/
The Climate Action Network(CAN): this worldwide network of over 365 non-governmental organisations works to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels. CAN members work to achieve this goal through the coordination of information exchange and NGO strategy on international, regional and national climate change issues.
http://www.climatenetwork.org/
Other Climate Change Resources
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Bazaar web-portal: this portal was launch by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) secretariat and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It is an information exchange platform designed to create opportunities. The website allows stakeholders in the clean development mechanism (CDM) to post information, such as potential emission reduction projects, advice on financing or partnering, buyers looking for carbon credits to purchase, and carbon market related events.
http://cdmbazaar.net/
The Carbon Disclosure Project: the goal of this independent not-for-profit organisation is to facilitate a dialogue between corporations and shareholders, supported by quality information, from which a rational response to climate change will emerge. They issue each year a Climate Leadership Index (CLI) which gathers together the best fifty companies’ solutions to integrate climate change issues into their business strategy.
http://www.cdproject.net/
The Climate Report: this web-based news service provides independent information on climate change related issues.
http://www.theclimatereport.com/
Climate Change News Digest (CCCND): this internet information portal has been created to spread climate change awareness. It compiles newspaper articles coming a wide range of sources.
http://www.climatechangenews.org/
Guardian Unlimited Environment: this subsection of The Guardian’s website contains an archive of the latest climate change articles, blogs and pictures.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climatechange
The Cambridge Climate Leaders Reference Guide: this document is part of the Climate Project, the Al Gore training initiative run in the UK by the University Of Cambridge programme for industry. It comprises information about climate change, the policy responses and case studies of innovative solutions put in place by businesses.
http://www.cpi.cam.ac.uk/gore/pdf/Cambridge%20Climate%20Leaders%20Reference%20Guide.pdf
Green TV: this channel is dedicated to the environment. Its aim is to raise awareness of climate change. It broadcasts engaging films dealing with environmental issues.
http://www.green.tv/
Our website also contains a wealth of information about corporate responsibility in general and climate change issues in particular. Here are some documents relevant to the climate change debate which we have selected for your reference.
Climate change - A road map for government: Elliot Morley MP, Minister for Environment and Agri-environment, writes exclusively for Article 13 on the UK governments role in Kyoto and beyond, at the start of a year which many believe will be ‘make or break’ for global climate change.
http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1129
Climate Change: A Road Map for Business: this article deals with the global “step-change” needed so that countries and business can act in unison, thereby creating a level playing field for all. Some businesses recognise the benefits of cost savings that can be made through improving energy efficiency or reducing the amount of energy they use. However there are costs associated to such actions and many UK companies do not want to lose business to a competitor because they have been not legally required to take action on climate change and so have lower costs.
http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1121
Climate change and poverty - A business opportunity?: this report is a debate on how businesses can contribute to addressing climate change and poverty, two of the most crucial issues facing the world today.
http://www.article13.com/csr/ourpublications.asp
Combating climate change with hydrogen energy…: this document deals with the way Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest coal producers, is combating climate change by finding new and better ways of using and producing energy.
http://www.article13.com/csr/viewfromthefield.asp
Case studies: Article 13 also provides a very complete source of case studies relating to business opportunities and action toward climate change.
To read the full text case studies visit: http://www.article13.com/csr/cbi_csrcasestudies.asp
- British Airways: has created a climate change programme comprising its own voluntary actions to tackle climate change. The company also promotes industry solutions to policymakers and research into areas of uncertainty in climate change science and aviation.
- Ernst and Young: the role of communications efforts to reduce environmental impacts through staff engagement and behavioural change.
- First Group: how participation in the trial of hydrogen fuel cell buses with zero carbon emissions has helped develop a potential solution to mitigating carbon change.
- Ford UK: investing in renewable energy generation on its operational site, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Liftshare.com: this case study profiles the emergence of ‘climate change’ as a CSR issue which is also providing an opportunity for ‘social entrepreneurship’
- Pennon Group: reducing the company’s contribution to climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions from its operations.
- Severn Trent: Severn Trent’s climate change programme includes the development of a carbon strategy to help to manage the threats arising from climate change.
- SJ Berwin: carbon neutrality programme has lead to wider consideration of the environmental impacts of its operations.
Business in the Community: this organisation provides a very detailed case studies portfolio, classified by theme and years.
http://www.bitc.org.uk/resources/case_studies/index.html
Carbon down, profit up new edition: this report, issued by the Climate Group, is a compilation of initiatives taken by companies and communities to tackle climate change. It provides accurate case studies and statistics relating to climate change.
http://theclimategroup.org/assets/resources/cdpu_newedition.pdf
Ethical Performance: this organisation provides online examples of best practice in corporate social responsibility on the part of both large and small companies. This includes best practices in fighting climate change.
http://www.ethicalperformance.com/bestpractice/casestudies.php?issue=epbp10
Getting ahead of the curve: corporate strategies that address climate change: issued by the University of Michigan, this report gathers together case studies of climate change initiatives taken by companies. It also provides accurate data about climate change facts, risks and opportunities relating to it.
http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/Alcoa%20case%20study.pdf
Act On Co2 Calculator: this calculator was created by the British Government to provide private individuals with a visual, user friendly and reliable carbon footprint calculator and spread awareness about climate change amongst the British population. It also suggests simple changes to help tackle climate change.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/ActOnCO2/
Climate Care: this website calculates your CO2 emissions, dividing your carbon emissions into three sections: house, car and flight, this enables you to evaluate the amount of carbon emitted by each activity. http://www.climatecare.org/
The Carbon Neutral Company Calculator: this calculator allows you to calculate separately your carbon footprint associated to your household, your plane travel and the transport you use.
http://www.carbonneutral.com/calculators/index_shop_calculator.asp
WWF Footprint Calculator: this website provides an easy-to-use calculator taking into account the basic carbon emissions from individuals.
http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/
Atmosfair: this offsetting company is dedicated to carbon emissions from air travel. They calculate the amount of carbon emitted during one flight and propose to offset it through. The offsetting money is then invested in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. They also provide information on how to avoid air travel. This company is certificated with the Gold Standard.
http://www.atmosfair
Climate Care: this company was set up to tackle climate change by reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They do this by offsetting - making CO2 reductions on behalf of individuals and companies. The offsetting projects comprise investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy (to replace non-renewable fuel) as well as forest restoration.
http://www.climatecare.org/
Co2 Balance: this company offsets businesses and private individuals’ carbon emissions by investing in funds in sequestration or energy efficiency projects that absorb or prevent the release of a tonnage of CO2.
http://www.co2balance.uk.com/
The Carbon Neutral Company: this organisation sources and supplies carbon offsets for businesses and private individuals from projects including investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency, methane capture and forestry. Once a company has successfully reduced its emissions to zero it can carry the Carbon Neutral Brand.
http://www.carbonneutral.com/
Rainforest Concern: this charity is committed to purchasing and replanting threatened tropical forests.They help individuals and companies offset their carbon footprint and get a forest full of other benefits.
http://rainforestconcern.org/
Disclaimer: the links and summaries provided in this section of Article 13 website are designed as a reference guide for companies and individuals wanting to learn more about climate change and practical steps that are being taken to reduce carbon emissions. Unless stated otherwise the views on these eternal links do not necessarily represent Article 13 own views nor should inclusion on this list signify Article 13’s verification of the organisation, event or accompanying activity.
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