Emily A. Chien

Check out this recent IUCN report on the Regenerative Blue Economy if you are interested in what the future of the blue economy should look like. Below, I share my perspective as a member of the advisory committee of this initiative, on the main message and a couple features I found particularly striking. ✅The main message (as I read it): The report builds a historical perspective to explain why the 'blue economy', or even the 'sustainable blue economy', are not sufficient anymore. As the decline of ocean life has already been so dramatic that there is not much left to sustain or conserve, we need to raise our ambition and aim at a 'Regenerative Blue Economy'. One that actively addresses climate change an biodiversity loss. Alexandra Cousteau first convinced me of this in 2018 and it has guided my efforts in the space since. As a member of the advisory committee of this report, this was the main message I tried to pass on. 🧬The report (page 11, box 1) says the Regenerative Blue Economy is based on "scientifically grounded assessments". Indeed, I believe we will succeed in building a Regenerative Blue Economy only if we can embed science at the core of economic decisions. We need to overhaul our economic governance (shareholder meetings, boards, investment committees, etc...) to achieve this. This is why for example at SWEN Blue Ocean we created an Impact Committee composed of science and conservation experts to help us make the right investment decisions. We need to do this at scale, across the economy. 🌟Pages 30-31 of the report recognizes the potential of the impact framework of the Ocean Impact Navigator, developed by 1000 Ocean Startups, to apply to the economy as a whole, not just startups. I have always believed that, meaning the impact of the Navigator may expand beyond ocean startups at some point. Helping characterize what belongs to the Regenerative Blue Economy is a step in that direction. Congratulations to the lead authors, RAPHAELA LE GOUVELLO, Francois Simard, and the IUCN team. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to contribute. Adrien Vincent Minna Epps https://lnkd.in/eNKPxYZ4

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For decades, scientists remained myopically focused on the many independent events as they related to climate change. Finally, the inter-connectedness of our planetary systems are starting to shape a much larger and more startling picture of the crises before us. For two years, leading to the final draft of my novel, “I, Enoch”, I explored the apparent linkages then found ways of presenting them in the narrative. If you haven’t picked up a copy of the book yet, please do. After reading, let me know what you think. Book available on Amazon, or wherever you buy your books. https://lnkd.in/gi58gEb3

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The SBTi just published an evidence review that pretty comprehensively trashes carbon credits: "[V]arious types of carbon credits are ineffective in delivering their intended mitigation outcomes." "There could be clear risks to corporate use of carbon credits for the purposes of offsetting. This includes potential unintended effects of hindering the net-zero transformation and/or reducing climate finance." "All Tier A evidence challenge the legitimacy of offsetting claims, arguing that treating carbon credits as fungible with other sources, sinks, or reductions of emissions is inadvisable, illogical, or damaging to global mitigation goals." https://lnkd.in/eJfTuPyD

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Last year’s COP28 saw bold climate pledges followed by meaningful progress on clean energy. But more needs to be done, especially in partnership with the Global South. At #ClimateWeekNYC, we must go beyond pledges and outline clear plans of action. https://lnkd.in/evWU9pSw

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The Biden-Harris Administration has unveiled a new Climate Capital Guidebook aiming to simplify access to federal capital programs for climate-related start-ups, small- and medium-sized businesses, and their investors. This initiative addresses the challenges smaller enterprises encounter in identifying and accessing federal funding opportunities. Learn more: [Link to the Climate Capital Guidebook](https://lnkd.in/gbjYfis7)

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At #ClimateWeekNYC, focus will be on achieving the 1.5°C temperature rise goal. A Center for Global Sustainability-led study reveals institutional factors can significantly impact a country’s contribution to the global peak temperature rise target: https://lnkd.in/eP5NABtb

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Reuters Simon Jessop’s latest on the Science Based Targets initiatives’ double U-turn on offsets quotes the Net Zero Tracker’s John Lang and NewClimate Institute's Thomas Day: ‘John Lang, who tracks net-zero goals for research group the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said that, as a result of the SBTi's stance on carbon #offsets, he expected more companies will pare back their near-term emission targets. They may, however, focus more on realistic actions to cut emissions, he said. "Recalibrating targets doesn't necessarily mean regressing on ambition." Thomas Day an analyst at non-profit climate research group NewClimate Institute, said companies that are scaling back their efforts are often just abandoning unsubstantiated "lofty-sounding ambitions".’ The full article: https://lnkd.in/efqfp6sA Tracker data shows that 1,180 of the Forbes 2000 have set net zero targets, but only about 5% of company commitments meet the UN-aligned Race to Zero campaign’s ‘Starting Line’, a set of minimum procedural requirements for #netzero target setting. High-Level Climate Champions Reuters

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New report by LBNL on #climate-forcing emissions from plastic. This is really the first definitive study attributing emissions to the plastic chemical industry and it finds about 2.25 GtCO2/yr. This is roughly half of total emissions from the chemical industry and makes up close to 6% of total global emissions. https://lnkd.in/earjZUZY #plasticpollution

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💻 Webinar: #CarbonCredits: Can they be fixed? Tue May 21, 11AM ET, featuring Rohini Pande or EGC/Yale Department of Economics and Danny Cullenward, moderated by Aditi Mukherji. Hosted by CGIAR Register: https://lnkd.in/ebDZshAh Most countries, institutions, companies and individuals will continue to generate greenhouse gas emissions through their activities even as the world decarbonises, meaning many are choosing to compensate for these ‘residual’ emissions. The most common approach for doing so is to purchase carbon credits. The world’s forests store an estimated 861 billion tonnes of carbon—equivalent to approximately 100 years' worth of anthropogenic emissions, at current rates—and with good husbandry could potentially store up to 226 billion tonnes more. Clearly, preserving and repairing forests is a vital element of mitigating climate breakdown. But, worldwide, forests are under threat, and financial and political incentives to clear land can often defeat attempts at regulation. One answer is to transfer some of the global benefits of preservation to forest communities, paying them to preserve the forest that they would otherwise have cleared and thus preserving the forest while compensating communities for foregone income. This is (forest) carbon offsetting – and it is failing. EGC's Rohini Pande will explain why in this exploratory webinar, the third in our series highlighting important areas of climate research that CGIAR does not yet work on extensively.

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In my book, I recommend #boomers front-load their climate giving and support the most radical, disruptive climate organization that they are comfortable with. The Climate Emergency Fund and groups they fund, like Climate Defiance, are great examples.

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Sometimes progress towards climate goals happens rapidly, other times gradually. In the case of NYISO's DER Participation Model, it's a gradual move that's supporting the important goal of reaching 70% renewables on the grid by 2030 on a tight timeline. If you're enrolled in a #demandresponse program in NYISO or are considering it, here's what you need to know to make the best decision for your business: 👉 The DER Participation Model provides DERs with access to more market opportunities, potentially increasing revenue for participating organizations. 👉 The aggregation threshold has been reduced to 100 kW (10 kW per DER), offering DERs more access to cash-generating market opportunities. 👉 Factors like your load profile, curtailment capabilities, response times, and site locations will significantly impact your earnings under the new model. Moreover, there are only 3 approved DER aggregators that can provide access to this new opportunity for your business. Voltus stands out as the sole approved DER aggregator with extensive experience in NYISO's ancillary market. Additionally, we offer a simple platform to help you understand your DR performance, forecasted and actual earnings, and real-time energy usage. For more insights, check out our latest blog by Angel Fernandez Amores, our NYISO Energy Market Director! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. #NYISO #DistributedEnergyResources #DemandResponse #VirtualPowerPlants #RenewableEnergy https://lnkd.in/g7PFmf2c

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Here’s an excerpt this Substack note from Matthew Sekol: "If companies want far upstream suppliers to decarbonize, pressure and incentives to report won’t work. This means there is no simple way out of this challenge. To support change this far up in the value chain, it takes significant cooperation, engagement, and policy support to drive this complex transition. And perhaps at this level, we find the most significant lesson in our never-ending chase for carbon accounting. Every company will have core material issues like this that can only be solved at the systemic level. At this low-lit intersection, we find the impact of material ESG issues with impact. Few companies have reached this destination. A handful of management teams are standing at the well-lit intersection of ESG and disclosures but are curiously looking at this intersection with distant interest. While the world is focused on point solutions focused on mitigation through measuring and managing, we need to be aware of three key points: • Carbon may not be your most material environmental issue. • The further up the supply chain, the more difficult systemic issues are to address without a systemic approach. • Adaptation may take precedence over mitigation for specific industries due to near-term and long-term challenges, like climate risk. For now, rather than pressuring high-upstream value chain players with surveys and emissions reporting, we need to ensure they are focused on adaptation for near-term climate risk issues. Otherwise, they may not survive the short term to be long-term suppliers. Proxy data and averages can help alleviate this pressure. #esg #climate https://lnkd.in/ecm4RArQ

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Day 3 #COP29. Yesterday, Secretary General of the ICC, John Denton, shared data from Oxera Consulting LLP that climate-related extreme weather events have already created real economic losses of c. $2 trillion over the past decade. Now that’s a call to accelerate action! I attended an event to review progress against the UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action, signed by 160 countries. One of the key points calls for government support funds to promote activities which “increase incomes, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, bolster resilience, productivity, livelihoods, nutrition, water efficiency and human, animal and ecosystem health while reducing food loss and waste, and ecosystem loss and degradation.” Many of the 7 countries reporting progress also referred to the discussion about financing. Mette Frederiksen, prime minister of Denmark, described how the Danish Government had brought together their national stakeholders for dialogue, acknowledging different interests make it hard to agree on everything. This summer the Danish Government announced there would be a livestock carbon emission tax from 2030 but also with subsidies available already. She spoke of the need to ensure no loss of jobs, affordable food, not losing control of emissions and the need to “build bridges”. Can this be done? I hope so. I noticed that reducing food loss and waste (8-10% of global emissions including a lot of methane) didn’t get much of a mention. Today WRAP will reveal the number of country plans which actually include it! I am at the Agri-Food Systems Summit on Friday hosted by Climate Action Innovation Zone, Baku Marriott. Please come with your experience and join our roundtable at Future Food System Hackathon to share or co-create solutions preventing food loss and waste. Dr Richard Swannell FRSA and Keith James are here with partners like ReFED FareShare and The Global FoodBanking Network to share best practice between countries. WRAP has been tackling organic waste for over twenty years. Last week WRAP, EY-Parthenon and IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) published a UK food sector Net Zero Transition Plan - data-driven and ready for implementation. Not every business will agree with all of it, but every business can get behind at least one of the game-changing programmes to deliver significant impact. The plan models a 25% GHG reduction from 2021 to 2030, with new cost estimates at the national level. It emphasises the need for increased green financial incentives for UK farmers and to drive climate-positive practices in imported food supply chains. Which brings us back to the conversation here in Baku. The step up required is both in the action plans and the financing of those plans. As Andrea Porro asked yesterday “if food and agriculture is 30% of global GHGs, why is only 3% of financing targeted at farmers?” Catherine David Harriet Lamb https://lnkd.in/ewBBgRaV

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Food waste contributes 8-10% of total greenhouse gas emissions (five times more than aviation) and yet features in few NDCs, the UN lingo for country targets and plans. A new WRAP survey of NDCs shows that only 12% of countries so far have plans for food loss and waste reduction in them. This is therefore a massive opportunity to increase the impact of the countries yet to include food loss and waste in their plans. Countries are missing a golden opportunity to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and increase security of food supplies to their citizens by preventing food loss and waste. There are many successful examples of how to do this from around the world that are ready to be applied, which the team at WRAP can share and advise on. And there’s still time for countries to add in a commitment, before the deadline for this round of NDCs closes in February… #foodwaste #COP29 https://lnkd.in/eqRR7-Sp

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How to provide a stable source of funding for urgently needed climate action? and what role does the voters have in legislation. This is Citizen- Governance 101. Have a read: This is not just a story from California, its every city's woeful journey. Bond funds are an appropriate and very effective way to fund many of the climate change-adaptation actions that many cities in USA are planning right now but don’t have local revenue sources to support. Think about it 'Even a short-term delay in adopting strong climate policies dramatically increases the cost of decarbonization and risks irreversible ecological impacts' #Howtounderwriteclimateresiliencyprojects #buildcommunityresilence #climatechange #voting #investinresilence #generationrestoration

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🚨 Weekly Positive VCM News: 🎯 Verra pauses reviewing new methodology proposals for its VCS program for 2024 to focus on advancing priority climate actions 📢 Patch urges SBTi to urgently provide clear guidance on using carbon credits for mitigating Scope 3 emissions 🔙 California's SB 1036 Bill, which aimed to strictly ban low-integrity carbon credits, is pulled after criticism from developers and buyers 🚀 Engineering-based removals startup 44.01 raises $37m to support tech development and international expansion 🤝 Swiss Re and goodcarbon launch insurance for long-term carbon credit purchases, joining others in offering in-kind replacements for insured credits 🔗 in the comments #carbonmarkets #BlueLayer

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Important new book, aptly summarized in this NYT op-ed: R. Jisung Park makes the compelling case that lots -- most? -- of the real climate hurt lies in the "subtler accumulation of innumerable slow and unequal burns that are already underway" https://lnkd.in/eiddxUXm

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Here's my latest for Next Avenue. Friends Matter in This Age of Climate Change https://lnkd.in/eDpzgmdF Thanks to Danielle Arigoni, Meg Mattingly, LPC , and Kim Moldofsky for their insights.

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New data on the quality of ESG audits catches regulators’ attention. https://lnkd.in/gXrkC4Kj A closer look at ESG verification is influencing the debate over requiring corporations to report their carbon Thanks to Stanford University Graduate School of Business and @Alexander Gelfand #ESG #audit #KPI #climatechange #carbonemission #environment

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