Hello, and welcome to another edition of Transform. I hope that 2024 is bringing everything that you hoped for professionally and personally.
It’s the time of year when New Year’s resolutions may fall by the wayside. My planning at the start of the year always includes ‘being a better leader’. But after what some have described as a failure of collective leadership on fossil fuels at the COP28 talks last year in Dubai, what does it take to be a good environmental leader? Chris Seekings finds out.
One of the highlights of COP28 for many of the negotiating teams from developing countries was the agreement of a fund to help mitigate the loss and damage that countries in the Global South are facing as a result of a changing climate. And other, previous COP successes are making a difference to finance in the developed world. TCFD (which has its origins in COP21 in Paris) and TNFD are two acronyms that you will be hearing a lot more about this year. Business leaders have told me that these instruments are going to bring some of the most radical changes we have seen in the way companies do sustainable business. Huw Morris investigates.
Another much-welcomed declaration at COP28 was the announcement of a food and farming compact; many commentators found the absence of food and farming at COP26 in Glasgow surprising, given the impact that industrialised food systems have on carbon emissions, biodiversity and ecosystems. But what does good look like for food and farming, and is the pace of change fast enough to ensure healthy populations and a healthy planet? David Burrows has been finding out more.
As always, we welcome your thoughts, comments and ideas for articles. Please do get in touch if there’s anything you’d like to see more (or less) of. We value your feedback immensely – it has led to some fascinating content and useful innovation.
Have a great and productive couple of months, and best wishes from the IEMA team.
