Making History in Paris
Over the past two weeks, there have been countless news stories about the UN climate negotiations in Paris where representatives from countries around the world came together to tackle the colossal threat of climate change. Ceres is proud that our story stood out among them.
For more than 25 years, Ceres has made the case that addressing climate risk is a top economic issue and worked to bring businesses and investors, a crucial part of the solution, together.
Leading up to COP 21, Ceres’ brought together business and investor leaders from across our networks and beyond to demonstrate unprecedented support for robust action on climate. From the more than 1,600 companies that have signed the Climate Declaration to the 365 investors and companies that showed support for the EPA Clean Power Plan to the six major banks, 14 food companies and seven global apparel companies that called for a global climate agreement, their voices were pivotal in reaching this historic agreement.
The historic agreement reached in Paris to limit global temperature rise to under 2 degrees Celsius, along with a stretch goal of 1.5 degrees, is what businesses and investors were looking for, sending a strong signal that the low-carbon global economy has officially arrived.
Learn more about Ceres’ role in mobilizing business and investor leadership at www.ceres.org/cop21.
Five New Companies Join Connect the Drops to Support Innovative Water Solutions
Clif Bar, Genentech, Fetzer Vineyards, Qualcomm Incorporated and VMware have joined Ceres’ Connect the Drops Campaign to engage with policymakers on the need to “connect the drops” between sustainable water supplies and the economic health of California.
These companies join a diverse group of California businesses that launched Connect the Drops in March this year, including The Coca-Cola Co., Gap Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., and General Mills who have pledged to make and implement business commitments to support water conservation.
“The addition of these new companies brings much needed momentum to the growing chorus of businesses seeking strong policy solutions for California’s significant water challenges,” said Kirsten James, Senior Manager of California Policy and Partnerships at Ceres.
Learn more about Connect the Drops.
Network Highlights
Corporate Program
One of the clear messages associated with COP21 and the Paris Agreement is the critical role the business sector has played in advocating for an agreement and will play in ensuring the agreement leads to real progress, especially in scaling up investment in clean energy technologies. We’d like to acknowledge the following members of the Ceres corporate program who were on the ground in Paris playing an active role, privately as well as publicly, in conveying the message that business supports climate action: Bank of America, Ben & Jerry’s, Bloomberg, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Dignity Health, Ford Motor Company, Gap, General Mills, IKEA USA, JLL, Kellogg, L’Oreal, Mars, Morgan Stanley, Nestle, PepsiCo, PG&E, Unilever, VF Corporation, and Vulcan.
Learn more about the Ceres Company Network
Ceres Coalition
GRI has announced a series of local roundtable meetings to support the professional development of North American sustainability reporters. The GOLD Roundtables will promote collaboration and knowledge sharing among local reporting organizations and empower them to generate better reports and to unlock new ways to use their sustainability data. GRI Gold Roundtables will have a maximum of 30 participants, who will meet quarterly in either of two locations: San Francisco and Atlanta. For more details and to register, please click here.
Learn more about the Ceres Coalition
Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP)
BICEP Welcomes New Member Autodesk
BICEP is glad to welcome our newest member, Autodesk!
From Autodesk: “As the leading design software company, our mission at Autodesk is to help our customers imagine, design and create a better world. For more than a decade, we have committed ourselves to addressing climate change in buildings, infrastructure, and manufacturing. As we look forward, Autodesk want to inspire, engage, and support policy-makers and businesses to act on climate change, and collaborate with other like-minded businesses to accelerate change in policy in support of climate at the city, state, and federal levels. We feel that the best way to accomplish these goals is through a partnership with BICEP and working in collaboration with the BICEP membership.”
Vermont Businesses Call for Climate Action
12 major Vermont businesses-including three VT BICEP members-launched the Vermont Climate Declaration, supporting the promotion of energy efficiency and renewables and a price on carbon pollution. An initiative spearheaded by our friends at Seventh Generation, the statement also appeared as an ad in the Burlington Free Press. You can view the Vermont Climate Declaration at www.climatedeclaration.us/vermont.