Not a day goes by without hearing about the fragility of our natural ecosystems and the repercussions that extractive economic activity are having on them.
This state of affairs is not recent — it has been ongoing at the very least since the Club of Rome non-profit warned us back in 1972 that infinite economic growth and rapid demographic development are incompatible with life on Earth.
The situation today is even worse. Despite numerous historical conferences and countless promises to make economic activity more compatible with the capacities of our planet, the environmental progress of the last three decades is not enough to meet the challenges posed by climate change.
While the focus of climate action has often been on greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, we are finally starting to realize the impact of human and industrial activities on biodiversity loss.
Earth’s diminishing biodiversity is exacerbating climate change by inhibiting Earth’s ability to protect and regenerate itself. The services biodiversity provides us are countless, and the situation remains clear: nature does not need us, but we need it.
We believe a paradigm shift is possible, and that part of this shift will involve the integration of a true sustainability approach in business. But for this approach to work, it needs to be two things: genuine and authentic.
A landmark report
A true “Brundtland moment” — in reference to the landmark 1987 report on sustainable development — is how Global Reporting Initiative co-founder Allen White described the United Nations’ Authentic Sustainability Assessment report.
White argues that historians will look back on this publication a decade from now as a great historical moment in the trajectory of sustainability. Many other leaders and experts in the sustainability ecosystem agree on the importance and relevance of this report.
Earth’s diminishing biodiversity is exacerbating climate change by inhibiting Earth’s ability to protect and regenerate itself.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Released in November 2022, this report represents the first comprehensive guide to using planetary limits as …
