Chris Coulter

#Canada publishes Blue Economy Regulatory Roadmap to create healthier oceans. The Government of Canada has announced the publication of the Blue Economy Regulatory Roadmap, a strategic plan to enhance the country’s oceans. Announced by Diane Lebouthiller, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, at the H2O conference in Halifax, the Blue Economy Regulatory Roadmap will support innovation and economic growth in Canada’s oceans. Following months of public consultation, the roadmap’s development was led by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, Transport Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada. The plan outlines strategic areas to accelerate the development of Canada’s ocean economy, a move that will generate vast environmental and economic benefits. Lebouthillier explained: “Our oceans hold immense potential to combat climate change and drive sustainable economic growth. “This Roadmap marks a significant stride towards eliminating barriers for businesses that rely on the ocean to grow in a sustainable way, which will deliver widespread benefits for all Canadians.” https://lnkd.in/eJQ_d74P #canada #oceans #blueeconomy #climatechange #sustainability

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Ready to dive into Impact Measurement? 🌍   MEDA's Lindsay Wallace joins an expert panel at the Canada Forum for Impact Investment and Development (CAFIID)'s Impact Measurement and Management Community of Practice (IMM CoP) event.   Next Tuesday June 11 in Toronto, learn how to scale impact investing and overcome barriers in measuring impact. Don't miss this chance to gain valuable insights and network with professionals dedicated to making a difference. #impactmeasurement #impactinvesting #toronto #IMM

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New report (launched today!) from B Lab U.S. & Canada and Forum for the Future outlines how businesses can advance #climatejustice, including tangible actions and processes to consider in the operations of your company. In a space that can frequently seem not that well defined, the practical tips are particularly welcome. Credits: Kylie Nealis, Ksenia Benifand and several others. #EarthDay2024 #EarthDay

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Great article from my colleague Mike Colledge on the past, present and potential future of Canada's Carbon Tax. Ipsos in Canada #ESG #Foresight https://lnkd.in/gc5npdp8

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📚 🛠 The Good Lobby and The B Team are collaborating with companies to create tools and an action framework for Responsible Political Engagement (RPE). This initiative will promote transparency, accountability, and positive impact through shared policies and practices. Co-created with investors, experts, and civil society, the framework focuses on community building, shared learning, and benchmarking. It will guide companies in making critical political engagement decisions, ensuring they take the right actions at the right time. Read more ➡ https://lnkd.in/dMf_nsHr Alberto Alemanno Ed Collins Hamish Stewart Dieter Zinnbauer Carlota de Paula Coelho Jorge A. Valladares Molleda Rachel Crossley Robin Hodess Tom Lorber Yukihiko Hamada InfluenceMap Porticus HEC Paris Bloomberg Professional Services EcoVadis Fitch Ratings Fitch Group, Inc. FTSE Russell, An LSEG Business ISS A/S ISS ESG International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) Moody's CRE MSCI Inc. RepRisk S&P Global Morningstar Morningstar Sustainalytics EFRAG Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) FSB Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) AccountAbility

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You’ve got ESG questions. We’ve got ESG answers—straight from the experts. Join us at ESG Learning Labs June 10 in New York: https://lnkd.in/gwQVKv6G ESG Learning Labs are free half-day workshops designed to connect ESG professionals in a community environment. At our New York event, you will hear from leaders at the IFRS Foundation, Verdantix, and Pega. We’ll share best practices for ESG disclosures, demonstrate how to conduct materiality and double materiality assessments, and discuss the latest legislation—from the CSRD to the SEC climate disclosure rule. You’ll gain practical takeaways you can start applying right away. Plus, 2 CPE credits are available. #ESG #CSRD #SECclimatedisclosure #CPE

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June 2024 #Greenwashing and #Biodiversity #RegulatoryUpdates 🇨🇦Canada enacted Bill C-59 amending competition law - it includes prohibitions against greenwashing. https://lnkd.in/gRd8hVz5 🇦🇺Australia released its #SustainableFinance roadmap, which includes a plan for #mandatory #climatereporting standards to come in the next couple of months. https://lnkd.in/gT6_7Caj 🇪🇺 The EU Green Claims Directive to protect consumers against greenwashing has taken another step forward with agreement from the European Council; looking toward a final by the end of 2024 or early 2025. https://lnkd.in/gWN6darF 🇨🇭Switzerland's Federal Council will let the financial sector self-regulate when it comes to greenwashing. https://lnkd.in/gicRA54i 🇪🇺EFRAG and the TNFD release a map of commonalities between nature and biodiversity-related disclosures in the TNFD and ESRS https://lnkd.in/girSirUN

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The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) is poring over scads of responses to its call for input into plans to adopt international rules for #sustainability and climate-related reporting. They show a stark divide between pension funds and asset managers demanding detailed comparable data and companies that say some factors are still too uncertain and implementation too burdensome. #climatefinance #ESG

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Two more important drivers for CDR in Canada right now: 🇨🇦 Canadian-based project developers: CO280 and Deep Sky are innovators in this space. 💸 Tax Incentives: The Government of Canada's Bill C-59 offers a 60% tax credit for direct air capture (DAC) capital expenditures (this is from the air, not point source carbon capture). -- In addition to what Timothy Bushman, Carbon Removal Canada and Carbon Gap share in their post, here are a few of my thoughts. 🇨🇦 Canadian-based developers like CO280 and Deep Sky draw significant attention to the potential for CDR here. While not necessarily the highest concentration of novel suppliers (although we do have some - shoutout to Arca and Planetary), Canada is ideal for commercial-scale projects. 🤔 Project developers like CO280 and Deep Sky are increasing carbon dioxide removal (CDR) awareness in and for Canada. We need to ensure that Canadian corporations and institutions accesses the credits generated here, too. 🌟 Canada's tax incentive could attract projects from global DAC leaders like Heirloom, further boosting Canada’s position in this space. -- #ClimateTechCanada #CDR #CarbonDioxideRemoval #ClimatePolicy #BillC59 #CDRPolicy

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G’day 👋 Welcome to the The Raaise Rundown—your weekly climate funding fix—designed to digest in less than a minute. Let’s dive in to the 3 climate startups, 2 climate investors and 1 essential insight, for this week.  3 CLIMATE STARTUPS Rainstick: Darryl’s combining indigenous knowledge systems and modern electrokinetics for the future of agriculture. Seed 🇦🇺 Bendi: Mandeep is cleaning up the fashion industry’s supply chains with AI driven fast traceability and 24/7 risk monitoring for easier due diligence. Seed 🇬🇧 Metrikflow: Alessandro's building an all-in-one ESG Platform for industrial companies. Empowering companies to track, reduce and report the impact of their supply chains with AI. Pre-Seed 🇩🇪 For details on these (and more) climate startups > raaise.co  2 CLIMATE INVESTORS The First Thirty Ventures 🇬🇧: Focused on regenerating nature through soil by supporting early-stage data-driven tech companies that enable us to understand nature's value and its impact on economic productivity. Geo Focus: UK, Europe Backed: UNDO Carbon, Ignitia Tropical Weather Forecasting, Rebel Meat, Wildfarmed and more. Wedgetail 🇦🇺: Financing nature-positive projects to accelerate the Earth’s regeneration — and show others it can be done. Geo Focus: Global Backed: Zorzal, Xylo Systems, Agronomeye, Sumday and more. To connect and put your startup in front of these (and other) climate investors > raaise.co  1 ESSENTIAL INSIGHT Early Traction Wins Investors: Why Metrics Matter For early stage startups, demonstrating your ability to hustle and build an audience by showcasing a go-to-market strategy (GTM) with some early traction, even if it's pilot programs or a basic MVP, can impress investors. Investors want to see your GTM thinking and evidence of your execution. Remember, investors back teams who can execute, and these early wins signal your potential for future success. So, focus on progress, not perfection – even small wins show you can move quickly and experiment, key skills for navigating the startup journey.

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At CORE Strategic, we focus a lot on outcomes. Of activist campaigns. Of public policy. Of major decisions. The proposed federal emissions cap is another example of a national government deliberately pushing policies that are fuelled by professional environmental activists. It's one more attack on an industry that is critical to the country, that no doubt can improve and continues to invest in technologies and new ways to both fuel our present and support the transition in the future. In keeping with the consideration this federal policy push needs to go through, we're sharing a great opinion piece in today's Calgary Herald, offering a different perspective on the impact of the proposed federal emissions cap. Well worth the read and more to consider to oppose this devastating example of virtue signalling backed by professional activists with little regard for the harm they cause. Thanks to Tracey Bodnarchuk with Canada Powered By Women for putting pen to paper on this important issue. We hope others find this perspective as informative and thoughtful as we did! https://lnkd.in/gWqNJ7ja #professionalactivists #Canadianenergy Rebecca Schulz #energytransition

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The Canadian Green Winter Is Coming There has been much talk within sustainability circles in Canada around Bill C-59 (https://lnkd.in/gA9d5sKe), and its stringent anti-greenwashing provisions, which includes fines up to 3% of worldwide revenues. Energy companies in Canada were swift in pulling back on their environmental communications (https://lnkd.in/gXUdnS35). However, the sector most impacted is not the energy sector, but rather the financial sector. The communication intensity of the Canadian financial on topics such as net zero and carbon neutral is more than three times that of the energy sector (chart below). One has to wonder if the term “financial sector” is actually appropriate when talking about a Canadian banking sector were merely 6 banks control 93% of all banking assets in the country (https://lnkd.in/gypnxaS3 ), but this is a topic for another time. It is worth noting that Canadian banks are among the largest funders of oil, gas and coal globally, with a fossil fuels to clean energy investment ratio of 3.9 to 1 (https://lnkd.in/gEHCagBS). And yet, these banks are some of the most prolific generators of net zero and climate neutral rhetoric in the country. According to the attached chart, a Canadian financial institution references positive climate terms in over 160 documents on average (compared to 45 for the average company in the TSX). In this context, the greenwashing bill is very welcome. Having said that, without clarity as to how green claims are to be substantiated (the bill lacks details on that front), sustainability communications by Canadian companies will diminish a great deal. Even companies undertaking genuine initiatives to manage their environmental impacts will likely pull back on communicating their green credentials until they have clarity as to how to do so without exposing themselves to legal liability. I believe Canadian sustainability advisors and consultants will experience a material decline in demand for their services in the coming months and so until clarity is achieved on the above, or until sustainability disclosure becomes mandatory. Long term this is a win for consumers, for climate and for our country, but short term, many sustainability professionals are likely to struggle.

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🌍 Greenhushing: A New Risk in Sustainability Communications 🌍 We’ve spent so much time tackling greenwashing that we’re now facing the opposite problem: greenhushing. See latest case in Canada 😓 Companies, afraid of being labeled as greenwashers or facing heavy penalties, are pulling back from communicating their sustainability efforts. And what’s the answer to this? More regulation? 🤔 No! I find this trend very worrying. While greenwashing rules are welcome to standardize what we mean by "sustainable," the overzealous approach risks creating a culture of caution, where companies retreat instead of stepping up. It’s not about conspiracy theories—greenwashing is complex, and we need to understand the context. Let’s encourage companies to explain their sustainability efforts, not silence them out of fear. 🔑 The solution? A supportive legal framework, thoughtful questions, focus on your sustainability efforts as a whole not shining the light on one aspect AND inspiring companies to continue their green efforts—not hush them! If you’re in Luxembourg, join me at the Academy of IMS Luxembourg - Inspiring More Sustainability for my upcoming training on sustainability communications. Learn how to confidently navigate greenwashing risks while avoiding the pitfalls of greenhushing. It’s all about inspiring businesses to speak up about their progress while increasing their efforts for a sustainable future! 🆕 New format for smaller companies and teams! 🆕 You can register for the online training 15 October 14.00 here: https://lnkd.in/e8HyFJFa #Sustainability #Greenwashing #Greenhushing #SustainabilityCommunication #ESG #LuxembourgTraining #SustainabilityAcademy https://lnkd.in/e3SsHcsN

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We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the Nature Roadmap yesterday at the JCK Sustainability Summit. This year's Summit brought together industry leaders, experts, and visionaries to discuss the critical challenges and opportunities in sustainability. We were honoured to have Marie-Claire Daveu, Chief Sustainability and Institutional Affairs Officer, Kering and M Sanjayan, CEO of Conservation International join our Executive Director and Secretary General, Iris Maria Alexis Van der Veken, in panel on Empowering the Change: A Fireside Chat on Nature & Climate Solutions, where we introduced the Nature Roadmap. Our industry depends on the biological diversity, natural resources, and ecosystem services provided by nature. With biodiversity loss and climate change posing significant risks, it is crucial to take collective action. The Nature Roadmap is designed to help companies understand and manage their relationship with nature, ultimately creating value for both their operations and the environment. What the Nature Roadmap offers: Practical tools and insights to integrate biodiversity into business strategies. As a living document, it will continuously evolve, staying relevant and effective in a rapidly changing landscape. Why now: The urgent nature and biodiversity crisis require immediate action. The world is losing biodiversity at an alarming rate, and climate change is accelerating the loss of ecosystems. This moment calls for nature-positive solutions that can halt and reverse biodiversity loss. The Nature Roadmap offers a clear path for our industry to make meaningful contributions to this global challenge. Join us: The Nature Roadmap is a significant step towards a sustainable future for our industry. We invite all industry players to engage with it and contribute to creating a nature-positive future. You may access the Nature Roadmap here: https://lnkd.in/dMvV7cAM Deep gratitude to our Board, our members, the experts at The Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd, and our partners for their invaluable contributions to the creation of the Nature Roadmap. Together, we can empower our industry and create nature positive solutions. #EmpowerTheChange #Biodiversity #NatureRoadmap #WJI2030 #JCKLasVegas #NaturePositive

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#COP16 is soon upon us. 🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘🆘 #biodiversity needs #IndigenousPeoples BUT at all levels and especially at international conferences such as COP16. Donating to cover the costs of independent Indigenous leaders and professionals can lead to massive impact. Profile of a potential donor? #esg #carbonmarkets #biodiversityunits #csr #climatedisclosures #climateaccounting #brokers #traders #nonprofits #philanthropy #bcorp #corporate #government

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Pretty big news yesterday announced by Chrystia Freeland at the #priinperson conference: 1) A plan to deliver Made-in-Canada sustainable investment guidelines aka taxonomy; and, 2) Mandatory climate-related financial disclosures for large, federally incorporated private companies The goal is to increase foreign investment into Canada. I'm sifting through the details but here's some highlights on taxonomy : "At a high level, the Canadian taxonomy would define which economic activities are green or transition in line with SFAC recommendations, as follows: Green: low-or zero-emitting activities, such as green hydrogen, solar, and wind energy generation, or those that enable them, such as electricity transmission lines and hydrogen pipelines; and, Transition: decarbonizing emission-intensive activities that are critical for sectoral transformation and consistent with a net-zero, 1.5°C transition pathway, such as installing lower-emitting (electric) furnaces to produce steel. Green activities are expected to be those that: Do not have material scope 1 and 2 emissions; Have low or zero downstream scope 3 emissions; and, Sell into or benefit from markets that are expected to grow in the global net-zero transition. Transition activities are expected to be those that: Have material scope 1 and 2 emissions but make significant emission reductions; Have low or zero scope 3 emissions; and, Do not create carbon lock-in and path dependency. As well as activities that: Have material scope 3 emissions but significantly reduce their scope 1 and 2 emissions; Do not face immediate demand-side risk (i.e., market contraction); and, Have lifespans proportionate to when global demand for their products is expected to decline." More info: https://lnkd.in/gCNT9FF8 And https://lnkd.in/gdxWGZnQ

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Our founder Ben Moscona with some thoughts on the false dichotomy between individual and collective action: "How do we move from individual to collective action, and is one more effective than the other? In the context of climate communications, this distinction can lead to misunderstandings if not fully explored. Both types of action can have real impact, and people rarely (read never) make decisions in isolation. It’s the psychological and social contexts that define when individual actions scale up to the collective, and only a systems-based analysis of an action will tell us if it can have real impact at scale." See the full blog at our website:

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