We should begin 2024 with a reality check, and that old fashion word ‘gumption’ – the brave, get-up-and-do-it-NOW attitude that finds unique opportunities amidst turmoil and make undertaking difficult things possible.

The 2024 Global Risk Report highlight a deteriorating global outlook with economic uncertainty and rapid technological changes in a world plagued by two dangerous crises: climate and conflict.

On climate change, the report described environmental risks that could hit the point of no return, with extreme weather identified as the top risk.  The Global Risk Perception Survey concluded an even bigger risk – the disagreement about the urgency of environmental risks between younger respondents and older age groups which will likely affect decision making and risk missing vital interventions.

In 2023, temporarily breaching both 1.5°C and 2°C was another dire warning that our planet is getting steadily hotter. To secure a liveable future, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that emissions worldwide will have to peak before 2025 and drop sharply by 43% before 2030 to keep global warming at ‘well below’ 1.5°C threshold, or even 2°C.  Passing the 1.5°C threshold is currently anticipated by the early 2030s, triggering long-term, potentially irreversible changes in our planet’s ecosystem that can amplify impacts and threaten climate vulnerable populations.

In our battle against climate change, urgent and smart action is vital.  Advancing sustainability is about preserving, protecting, and regenerating the places we love the most. Funding climate action to achieve net negative emissions is about buying us more time to enhance the resilience of our planet and societies. To truly make a difference, innovation and foresight to rebuilding trust and resilience, systems change and inclusion, global governance and greater efforts at collective action for the long term must be where we take our stand.

WHATLEY MANOR ACHIEVES NET NEGATIVE EMISSIONS

Businesses that are driving an environmentally responsible business model include decarbonisation in their strategies, and the most ambitious target that companies can aspire to achieve is Net Negative Emissions. A place, entity or product can be defined as Net Negative Emissions if it removes more harmful emissions than it creates during its life cycle or activity by insetting or offsetting more than 100% of its carbon footprint.

Leading the way in an important industry sector that needs to step up and take greater responsibility, the purpose led Whatley Manor Hotel recently announced it has achieved the milestone as the first Net Negative Emissions hotel and spa in the UK. This remarkable milestone underscores the hotel’s commitment to urgent climate action and environmental stewardship by removing more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits each year starting 2022, pioneering a transformative approach that redefines sustainable luxury in hospitality.

Whatley Manor have partnered with NOW Transforming Hospitality GmbH and EarthCheck for an accountable and transparent integrated sustainability programme that use a science-based approach to measure, benchmark, audit and certify; to build capacity and report its sustainability actions to inform and engage the support of its stakeholders; and to avoid accusations of greenwash. The hotel spent 5 years maximising the reduction of its Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions and achieved EarthCheck Silver Certified in September 2022, then joined the NOW Force for Good Leaders Programme to access extensive support and a selection of high integrity, climate action projects. 

Whatley Manor funded climate action by investing in a Cookstove Project in Kenya and purchased high-quality carbon credits certified by Gold Standard to offset more than its residual 1778 tonnes of CO2 emitted in 2022 to achieve Net Negative Emissions and  support the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDG): SDG 3 Good Health & Wellbeing by replacing traditional cookstoves in low-income households and improving indoor air quality.  SDG 5 Gender Equality by stopping the need to collect charcoal and fuelwood so women can spend time on education and other opportunities. Companies manufacturing and distributing the cookstove technology provide employment. Livelihood is improved through financial savings in fuel purchase. SDG 7 Affordable & Clean Energy by providing efficient bio-ethanol fuel cookstoves. SDG 13 Climate Action by reducing deforestation, black carbon and other greenhouse gases. 

GREENWASHING & STRICTER REPORTING

Since 2021, the discussion around ‘ESG’ (environmental, social, and governance) has become more common.  The term ‘sustainability‘ is present everywhere, but it is also used ambiguously and even deceptively as a selling point, while climate change worsens. When businesses present themselves as sustainable by providing false or misleading communications about their practices and spin it with creative PR and advertising to deceive consumers and exploit investors, that’s greenwashing.

More businesses are issuing some form of sustainability report and have pledged goals up to Net Zero, and many more are speaking out on societal issues – diversity, inclusion and racial inequity – they used to avoid. More business leaders are addressing sustainability and moving from incremental improvements to bolder, systemic approaches but many are also still greenwashing.

Regulatory agencies worldwide are cracking down and businesses can expect stricter rules and laws going forward on carbon offsetting, carbon tax, Due Diligence, ESG, greenwashing and Sustainability Reporting.

In September 2023, the EU announced it will ban sweeping environmental claims by 2026 unless companies can prove the claim with evidence and will outlaw claims such as ‘carbon neutral’ based on emission offsetting and certifications that are not approved schemes. Approval from the EU parliament and member states is expected soon.

SUSTAINABILITY MINDSET & LEADERSHIP

We are almost half-way into the United Nations Decade of Action which calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world’s biggest challenges – ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap – and we should be acutely aware that we are not on track to meet the 2030 deadline to transform our world.

Making sustainability sustainable depends on leadership and people. Research on Leadership for the Decade of Action – aimed to answer the key question: How can organizations make sustainability core to the DNA of their leadership teams? It revealed that there are a set of differentiating leadership attributes that fuel sustainable leaders’ success, and they combine a sustainable mindset with four critical capabilities: multi-level systems thinking, stakeholder inclusion, disruptive innovation, and long-term activation. All attributes require a great deal of courage to stay the course.

STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE

The international regulatory landscape continues to evolve.

The EU is one of the toughest regions of the world in its approach to sustainability reporting which demands submission from companies of all sizes.  It is the toughest on greenwashing claims that deceive the public.

According to PwC, a Swiss audit and advisory company, it would be wise to take a close look at regulatory developments in your country and abroad when devising a sustainability reporting strategy. For Switzerland, EU regulations serve as a compass and much of its sustainability regulations are set to shape Swiss rules.

SMEs and other companies that are not yet required to report on sustainability should be aware that they risk losing any competitive advantage if they do not proactively disclose non-financial information in line with international best practices.

It must be NOW!