Green News

From nurturing ocean carbon sinks to encouraging marine clean tech, there are steps all businesses can take to accelerate progress towards SDG14

Billions of people depend on the oceans for their food and livelihoods, but progress towards SDG14 remains stubbornly stuck in the slow lane. As the UN reflected in its most recent progress report, "increased efforts and interventions are needed to conserve and sustainably use ocean resources at all levels." Critics would argue that with coral reefs in rapid decline, over-fishing widespread, and oceans warming and acidifying at an unprecedented rate the UN's downbeat assessment is putting it mildly.

The transboundary nature of the seas can make effective government action difficult, as policy initiatives inevitably get bogged down in interminable negotiations and geopolitical power-plays. As such businesses have a key role to play in driving change so as to enhance and protect the marine environment. After all, it is the private sector that is both the primary cause of many of the pollution pressures placed on life under water and one of the main beneficiaries of the many economic benefits that flow from marine resources.

But what then can businesses do to advance SDG14 and get the world back on track for meeting this most critical of development goals. BusinessGreen takes a look at what businesses in a range of industries - from fishing to financial services - can do to develop an effective SDG14 strategy and better support the health of the world's marine ecosystems.

Shift perspective on the seas

As fish stocks have plummeted, so has the profitability of the commercial fishing industry. But rather than work with scientists to restore healthy populations, in Europe, the powerful commercial fishing lobby has pushed for catch limits far beyond scientifically recommended levels - even using press passes to gain access to critical ministerial negotiations.

For their part, officials have often been more than happy to accede to industry representatives demands for higher quotas, according to Professor Callum Roberts from York University.

"In Europe, fisheries ministers get together to agree quotas for fish stocks, but instead of accepting the size of the cake and dividing it up, they start by saying let's make a bigger cake," Roberts argues.

A key starting point, then, is for businesses to treat the oceans not as an alien wilderness, but rather as a key asset base for their profits.

"If you establish a hatchery, you don't just use what's there at the start and then let it go to rot - you invest in maintaining it," says Essam Y Mohammed, head of blue economy at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). "The same mentality is needed for marine resources."

Harness ocean-based solutions

While most people are aware of the role forests play in soaking up carbon dioxide, fewer know that oceans do the same. Both coastal habitats, such as mangrove and seagrass, and plankton on the open oceans, can act as highly effective carbon sinks.

Experts suggest that businesses should look for ways to harness this capacity to make their operations carbon neutral - or even carbon negative. A land-focused 'nature based solutions' sector is fast emerging as carbon intensive industries look to fund forest and peatland programmes that can help soak more emissions out of the atmosphere, but the oceans crucial role as a carbon sink risks being overlooked.

One sector with scope to deliver ocean-based offsets is aquaculture, an industry that is expanding at a rapid rate, but which has faced criticism over its environmental footprint.

Professor Sverre Steen from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology suggests that aquaculture firms should cultivate seaweed to offset their greenhouse gas emissions.

"Prognosis has shown that seaweed can absorb really large amounts of carbon dioxide when grown in large-scale farms," he says. "This can then be used simply as a deposit, or as a raw material for marking different types of food stuff or energy."

Aquaculture and other avenues for enhancing the ocean's capacity as a carbon sink come with inevitable risks and challenges, especially when it comes to ensuring promised long term emissions savings are delivered. But if these issues could be overcome then a potentially massive new green industry could quickly emerge, playing a critical role in tackling escalating global temperatures.

Prepare for and support regulatory change

Dealing with the crisis afflicting the world's oceans is going to require deep-reaching regulatory change. This will affect many industries, but shipping firms in particular need to make sure they are prepared, argues Erik Giercksky from the UN Global Compact.

"If you build a ship today it will last 30 years, and the only thing we know for sure is that emissions regulations will be much stricter 10 years down the line," he says. "Companies need to listen to experts and make sure they're aligned."

Firms can do more than just passively accept new regulations, however. Private companies have a big influence on policy, and they can use that influence to support industry-wide regulations to tackle environmental degradation. Some progressive shipping companies are already doing this with wide-ranging calls on the International Maritime Organisation to strengthen its climate plans. But these progressive trail-blazers could use with vocal support from more of their peers.

Marine scientist Marcus Eriksen says such an attitude is also urgently needed in the context of plastic pollution. "There needs to be much tougher regulation," he says. He points to revelations last year that a front group for the Plastics Industry Association was lobbying for bills that would make it impossible to ban single-use plastics in US state legislatures. At the time, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and SC Johnson were all Association members, although all have since quit following a public outcry.

"Industry has fought intensively against any semblance of responsibility to design products and packaging to be truly recyclable," Eriksen says. "This really needs to change."

Again, changes are already afoot with a growing band of green trade bodies calling for a more progressive approach, but if governments are to have the confidence to introduce robust new regulations then such groups need to keep growing in size and influence.

Support ocean-related clean tech

The oceans are set to provide a critical crucible for the global clean tech revolution. The offshore wind industry is already transforming the economics of clean power in northern Europe and has the potential to rapidly emerge as a globally significant source of energy, while developers retain high hopes that wave and tidal energy could yet follow suit. At the same time the global shipping industry will only be able to decarbonise if new clean technologies that enable battery, fuel cell, wind, and biofuel propulsion are commercialised fast. Similarly, the fledgling 'fake meat' alternative protein sector - as well as the fast expandingf aquaculture industry - could yet play a crucial role in curbing over-fishing.

Not all companies are in a position to invest directly in crucial R&D efforts to advance these three ocean-based clean tech industries, but virtually every company is a customer, directly or indirectly, of the energy, shipping, and food sectors. As such, all businesses can help apply pressure by calling on their suppliers and supply chains to demonstrate how they are planning to decarbonise and deliver on the SDGs over the next decade.      

Consider the risk and insurance implications of changing seas

Finally, rising seas and changing weather patterns will put trillions of dollars of coastal infrastructure at risk over the next few decades. These escalating risks have huge implications for everyone, but two industries in particular are right in the climate impact firing line: insurance and investment.

Investors need to quickly recognise that rising sea levels could trigger massive stranded asset risks, especially if some of the worst case scenarios come to pass. It is entirely plausible that some of the world's largest economic hubs and most expensive seafront properties could succumb to worsening storms over the course of the century.

Similarly, insurers face some tough choices as they weigh up the risks posed by the changing seas. However, there are opportunities here too if industry's as influential as investment and insurance crank up pressure on companies to embrace more sustainable practices.

As Giercksky concludes: "if firms are finding it difficult to get insurance or to finance shipping vessels, they'll soon be out of the game. It's an effective way to apply pressure."

Brunel Pension Partnership also promises to ditch asset managers who fail to act on climate

Brunel Pension Partnership, one of the UK's eight local government pension fund pools which holds around £30bn of assets, will today set out an aggressive new climate policy promising to align its holdings with the goals of the Paris Agreement and lean heavily on asset managers to do the same.

Brunel, which manages the investments of ten local government pension schemes, promised today to challenge the "not fit for purpose" asset management industry to deliver more climate-friendly investments.

The body's new climate strategy includes a promise that between now and 2022 Brunel will demand that its holdings move towards alignment with a sub-2C warming trajectory, with those that fail to take action risking divestment as part of a 2022 stocktake exercise.

In addition, Brunel promised to challenge investment managers to demonstrate they have reduced exposure to climate risk and effectively engaged with corporates on climate change. Managers who fail to comply risk having their mandates removed, Brunel warned.

The Partnership said it had adopted the new stance because it believes the finance sector is "part of the problem" when it comes to the climate crisis. It accused the sector of focusing too much on short term performance rather than long-term value, of failing to invest enough in the low-carbon economy, and not accurately analysing and responding to climate risk.

"Our clients have high ambitions on climate change, but the finance sector does not currently offer a sufficient range or quality of climate-aware products and expertise across all asset classes to meet their needs," said CEO Laura Chappell. "We want to enable our clients to integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation across their investment strategies in a substantive way."

Brunel also said it would do more to push policymakers to deliver a low-carbon financial system, by lobbying for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and the introduction of "meaningful" carbon prices. It said it had consulted extensively with stakeholders before committing to the new strategy, including the pension funds it manages.

"This groundbreaking policy sets out ambitious expectations for our investment managers and assets, which will enable us to protect our beneficiaries' pensions well into the future," said Tony Bartlett, head of business finance and pensions at Avon Fund, one of Brunel's clients. "And it demonstrates the power of partnership - within the Brunel pool and beyond - that will be required to respond effectively to the financial risks posed by climate change."

Hubbub's Trewin Restorick asks the burning question on plastic waste

Every year, three billion hot drink cups are used in the UK and it's estimated that less than five per cent are sold to people bringing a reusable cup.  This relatively low percentage is despite the fact that many coffee chains provide a 25p discount for coffee bought in a reusable.  For all the chatter inspired by the BBC's Blue Planet, it seems people are reluctant to make even a fairly simple change away from disposable products.

Hubbub undertook research to discover why the change is not happening.  There seems to be a desire to make the shif,t with public polling revealing that over two-thirds of people have their own reusable coffee cup. But tellingly only one in six say they remember to use them every time they buy a hot drink. 

The most common reason for this gap in reusable cup usage is consumers forgetting to take their cup with them when they leave home in the morning.  The number of people using reusable cups drops off during the day as people feel uncomfortable asking retail outlets to wash their cups and refill them.   People also felt awkward asking coffee chain staff to fill reusable cups - particularly if that cup was from a competitive brand.

Based on this insight, Hubbub decided to run an experimental campaign in Manchester to see if nudge communications could change behaviour.  The campaign was funded by the 5p voluntary charge that Starbucks has added to the cost of coffee bought in disposable cups.

Our first challenge was how to remind people to take their disposable coffee cups with them during their busy morning routines when a mass of other things, such as how to get children to school on time, fight for attention. 

Our solution was to create a short ‘earworm' radio jingle encouraging people to grab their cup before heading out.  The jingle was devised by Huey Morgan of Fun Lovin Criminals and 6 Music fame.  It must be the first time a radio jingle has been used to encourage reusable cups.  The animated video and audio track by Huey Morgan can be downloaded from here. 

The second challenge was how to make people feel more comfortable about taking a reusable cup into coffee stores.  To deliver this objective Hubbub persuaded Caffe Nero, Costa, Greggs, McDonald's, Starbucks and independent stores across Manchester to share the same ‘Bring your Cup' branded messaging in outlets.  This provided city-wide communication illustrating the collaborative nature of the campaign.

The final challenge was how to demonstrate to people that it should become the social norm to drink from a reusable cup.  Theoretically this would nudge people who were wavering to change their behaviour.   To deliver on this objective digital advertising was bought through-out the city centre reinforcing the reuse message.

The behaviour change campaign was built around consumer insight with specific interventions created to address each barrier to action.  The campaign is being independently monitored and Hubbub will be openly sharing results.  This will be the first of a number of campaigns that Hubbub will deliver over the coming year with the objective of doubling the take-up of reusable cups.

Trewin Restorick is co-founder and CEO of Hubbub.

Firm tells BBC it wants small modular reactors up and running across the country before the end of the decade

Rolls-Royce is aiming to have mini nuclear power stations up and running across the UK from 2029, claiming its smaller reactors can produce energy at a cost comparable to renewables projects.  

The engineering giant is leading a consortium bid to build Small Modular Reactors (SMR) at old nuclear sites in Cumbria and Wales. The SMRs, which can be built in factories, are about one acre in size, with a 10 acre total plot required - one sixteenth of the size of a full size nuclear plant.

The government believes nuclear power will be an essential zero carbon baseload energy source for the UK as it heads towards net zero emissions, and that SMRs can prove a morecost effective way of rolling out new nuclear capacity than traditional larger stations. But some experts warn smaller reactors could push costs up, citing the nuclear industry's long history of cost-overruns with new reactor designs. Meanwhile, many environmentalists remain concerned about the nuclear industry's waste legacy and believe the UK should abandon nuclear entirely. As such any attempt to secure planning consent for new reactors is likely to face fierce opposition from some quarters.

However, Paul Stein, chief scientific officer at Rolls-Royce, insisted SMRs will be a cheaper and more attractive option than full size reactors. "We think we can get the cost of a power station producing 440MW - that powers a town about the size of Leeds - to about £1.75bn," he told BBC Radio 4. "If you go through the maths of the cost of capital, it means we are selling electricity below £60 per MWh, which puts it into the territory of many of the renewables."

The most recent offshore wind projects to secure clean energy contracts through government-backed auctions tabled bids of just under £40/MWh, although the sector is optimistic it can continue to deliver further cost reductions in the future. However, nuclear advocates argue nuclear is worthy of government support given its promise of long term zero emission power and relatively reliable baseload supplies.

"Our plan is to get energy on grid in 2029," Stein added, with 10 to 15 SMRs eventually rolled out across the UK.

This article was amended on 27/01/20 to correct the results of the most recent wind auction, which contracted offshore wind at under £40 per MWh, not £60 per MWh as previously stated.