Published on June 8th, 2015 | by Natural Awakenings Publishing Corp.

Corporate Climate

Companies Slowly Embrace Sustainability

The 2015 State of Green Business report (Tinyurl.com/2015GreenBusinessReport), which assesses the environmental performances of companies worldwide, along with the trends to watch, is produced by GreenBiz, in partnership with Trucost.

Collectively, companies have been nibbling at the edges of challenges such as climate change, food security, ecosystems preservation and resource efficiency. One measure of corporate engagement going forward will be proactive involvement on political issues that could accelerate the transition to a low-carbon and more sustainable economy. It remains to be seen whether companies can afford to sit on the sidelines, letting the political process unfold, or worse, play defense against changes that might roil their status quo.

2015 will be an interesting year on multiple fronts, especially with the launch of the new sustainable development goals at the United Nations (UN) in New York this fall, along with UN climate talks in Paris in December. Both will be tests of corporate engagement and resolve in driving the kinds of change many of their CEOs publicly call for. The reports’ findings of companies’ progress in greenhouse gas and emissions, air pollutants, water use and solid waste production are all leveling off or even declining.
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