By: Karen Abramson, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Corporate Performance & ESG Sustainability considerations are now at the top of the corporate agenda for organizations of all sizes – as strong ESG performance is increasingly linked as a key performance indicator of a healthy, thriving business. A recent KPMG study showed that while 47% of businesses use spreadsheets to manage ESG…
Retail giant Walmart announced today that it has achieved its goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion metric tons across its product supply chain, hitting the milestone accomplishment 6 years ahead of its 2030 target. The target was initially set by Walmart in 2017, at the launch of the company’s Project Gigaton, its initiative to engage suppliers, as…
Microsoft and climate finance company Catona Climate announced today that they have signed a new 6-year offtake agreement, with Microsoft purchasing 350,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits generated through agroforestry projects in Kenya, and marking the latest in a series of large-scale nature-based carbon removal deals for the tech giant. The carbon removal credits for the new agreement stem from…
Steady growth in the green, social, sustainability, and sustainability-linked bond (GSSSB) market could see assets surpass the $1trn mark in 2024, however levels of avoided carbon from the products were down in 2023 compared to the previous year. According to the S&P Global Ratings report Sustainability Insights | Research: Sustainable Bond Issuance To Approach $1 Trillion In 2024, GSSSB issuance…
In 2023, our ongoing relationship with higher inflation defined the economic landscape. Between September 2022 and March 2023, the UK faced seven months of double-digit inflation, which peaked at 11.1% in October 2022. Notably, food prices increased by 17.3% in June 2023, while housing and energy rose by 12%. The last time overall inflation rose comparably was in 1992, when…
Medical device company Medtronic announced the appointment of Raman Venkatesh as its first Chief Sustainability Officer, with responsibilty for leading the development and execution of the company’s environmental sustainability strategy. Venkatesh joins Medtronic from Danish sustainability technology company Aquaporin, where he served as Executive Vice President, responsible for global market solutions, including commercial activities. He has also been serving for Tau…
Closed-loop battery materials solutions provider Ascend Elements announced today that it has raised $162 million in new equity investments, with proceeds aimed at supporting the building of a new 1-million square foot sustainable lithium-ion plant in Kentucky. Founded in 2015, Westborough, Massachusetts-based Ascend Elements provides closed-loop battery materials solutions, ranging from EV battery recycling to commercial-scale production of lithium-ion battery…