Maersk Line: Developing a ‘Future-Proofed’ Sustainability Strategy | BSR | Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility Network and Consultancy Table of Contents Letter From the CEO The State of Sustainable Business Our People Our Challenges Videos Financial Statements About This Report Download the Report Our Impact and Case Studies Maersk Line: Developing a ‘Future-Proofed’ Sustainability Strategy The Challenge As the world’s largest container shipping company, Maersk Line transports more than 15 percent of all shipped containers. Reduction in CO2 Emissions We helped Maersk Line set a strong sustainability vision supported by clear objectives: reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2015 and striving for zero sulfur-dioxide emissions. Staffed From Hong Kong, Paris, San Francisco Our Strategy BSR and Maersk Line collaborated to build a comprehensive sustainability approach that supports the corporate strategy and responds to long-term trends. Our Impact BSR’s work has helped give Maersk Line a new, comprehensive direction for sustainability—and the company has reaped positive results from this course.
CO2 Now | CO2 Home EPI | Blog Thursday, February 03, 2011 In today’s (February 3, 2011) Financial Times, Ed Crooks reviewed World on the Edge by Lester Brown, saying that it “manages to cover both the grand sweep of global trends and the fine detail of some of the ideas being developed in response.” He also calls it “a provocative primer on some of the key global issues that businesses will face in the coming decades.” “It provides a persuasive vision of the markets that are likely to present the greatest challenges, and the technologies and business models that have the greatest potential, in a world of escalating environmental and social problems.” With concerns about global food security, we appreciate Crooks calling attention to two of the main inputs – water and cultivable land – which are becoming scarce. “With 219,000 people being added to the world population every day, that will mean higher and increasingly volatile prices for water and food, and heightened international tensions over those issues. Sincerely,
How Australians were ready to act on climate science 25 years ago … and what happened next | Environment There’s something about climate change that almost everyone in Australia has either forgotten or never knew in the first place. In 1990 Bob Hawke announced his government wanted the country to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by the year 2005. For a fleeting moment, it seemed the Australian public, politicians and the media were in agreement with the science. But a new book investigates how the industries that stood to lose the most worked to undermine the science and entirely reshape the story being told to the public. “We have been propagandised,” says the author, Maria Taylor. Hawke was ready In 1989 Hawke described a “growing consensus amongst scientists” showing there was a strong chance that major climate change was on its way, that this change was linked to human activity, and this could have “major ramifications for human survival” if nothing was done. The UN’s intergovernmental plan on climate change delivered its first blockbuster assessment of the climate science in 1990.
Bio of Lester Brown Biography of Lester Brown The Washington Post calls Lester Brown "one of the world's most influential thinkers." The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as “the guru of the environmental movement.” Brown started his career as a farmer, growing tomatoes in southern New Jersey with his younger brother during high school and college. Brown earned masters degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland and in public administration from Harvard University. In 1974, with support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Lester Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. Brown has authored or coauthored over 50 books. In May 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide a vision and a road map for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy.
Study Says Frame Global Warming As A ‘Public Health’ Issue | The Daily Caller Tweet A new study is urging activists and the media to talk less about how global warming will impact the environment and more about how it will negatively impact public health. Framing global warming as a public health issue, the study says, will convince people to support policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. “When framed as an environmental problem, this interpretation likely distances many people from the issue and contributes to a lack of serious and sustained public engagement necessary to develop solutions,” reads a new study published in the journal Environmental Communication. The study urges activists to use the legitimacy of the media to barrage the public with coverage on how global warming could make public health problems worse, like asthma and mosquito-born illnesses. This new study basically lays out the same strategy the Obama administration has adopted when it comes to global warming.
Rocky Rex's Science Stuff: The Changing Earth - Farming, food & possible mass migrations Farmers can put up with some bad weather, but climate change will make unusual events more likely. 20-30% of plant and animal species will be more likely to become extinct if the temperature rises by more than 1.5-2.5C. There will be big effects on farming from droughts and floods. The biggest effects will be seen first near the Equator.Just being near the Equator makes it more difficult for countries to make economic progress. Hotter conditions affect how crops grow. Our agriculture is heavily reliant on grasses from the temperate regions. Corn, wheat, and rice are all types of grass. The Tropics is a hard place to grow an industrial society. Countries where food prices rise rapidly tend to become unstable, making conflicts more likely. Providing food for everyone in the world involves farming, fertilizer manufacture, food storage, packaging, transport and many other activities. Those activities are responsible for up to one-third of all human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions.
Hong Kong Observatory lowers storm signal to T3 as Linfa weakens after making landfall in Guangdong The Hong Kong Observatory replaced the typhoon No 8 signal with the strong wind signal No 3 at 10.10pm on Thursday night, after Typhoon Linfa was downgraded to a severe tropical storm and after it made landfall in eastern Guangdong. Tropical storm Linfa weakened rapidly as passed over rural Guangdong on Thursday night, the Hong Kong Observatory said on its website. The Observatory raised the T8 signal at 4.40pm today as Typhoon Linfa approached after making steady landfall in the eastern Guangdong city of Lufeng. Linfa was downgraded to a severe tropical storm before 6pm, but the Observatory continued to warn of the threat of high winds and deteriorating weather conditions. However, as the area of gale force winds associated with Linfa continued to decrease significantly, the Observatory said it would consider lowering the storm signal. "As Linfa moves closer, local weather will deteriorate quickly near dusk and winds will strengthen significantly," an Observatory spokeswoman said.