Adapted from the 2022 “State of Green Business,” published today by GreenBiz Group.在这里下载报告。
我们发现自己处于未知和陌生的领域。再次。
The worlds we collectively inhabit — corporate sustainability, sustainable finance, the circular economy, climate tech — are all reaching inflection points, growing and changing faster than many could have imagined. Along the way, they’re roiling industries, companies, jobs and career paths — mostly for the better but also in a be-careful-what-you-wish-for kind of way.
Covid的年龄与可持续业务的几乎各个方面的兴起相吻合：公司致力于实现净零温室气体排放的承诺；绿色债券和可持续性与可持续性贷款的吸引人的吸收；竞彩足球app怎么下载可再生能源的不可避免的增长，价格下降；电动汽车主流化；对生物多样性损失及其经济影响的关注兴起，等等。
The worlds we collectively inhabit are reaching inflection points, growing and changing faster than many could have imagined.
确实，过去两年的流行生活似乎使可持续的业务相对毫发无损。有充分的理由：尽管我们自我隔离，但Klieg的灯光集中在公司的环境和社会承诺以及绩效上，越来越明亮，更热，随着人们对变化规模，范围和变化步伐的关注而增加。随着气候变化的迹象变得越来越明显，而且昂贵 - 商业世界终于认识到可持续性不仅是一项不错的活动。竞彩足球app怎么下载
Which is not to say that companies are solidly on the case. True, the pace of change has quickened, with more companies making bigger commitments, but it’s far from what’s needed to address the challenges before us. Carbon emissions, which dropped in tandem with the tanking global economy during 2020, resumed their relentless climb in 2021, faster than many scientists predicted, according to the Global Carbon Project. And scientists expect emissions to rise even further in 2022 as the global economy continues to pick up steam.
That’s just one data point, albeit a significant one, casting a pall over the corporate sustainability landscape. There’s the continued loss of biodiversity spurred by land-use changes from economic growth coupled with the ravages of a changing climate. There’s the ongoing loss of fisheries and marine ecosystems upending the seafood industry. There’s the growth of water stress due largely to population and economic growth: Just over half — 52 percent — of the world’s projected 9.7 billion people will live in water-stressed regions by 2050, with most in developing economies, according to the MIT Integrated Global System Model Water Resource System.
这就是可持续业务世界的二元性：令人印象深刻的进步，创新和成就，但远远不足以阻止可怕的环境和社会经济挑战的潮流。
压倒性，令人叹为观止
尽管如此，不可否认的是，变革的步伐正在加快公司内部。财团，合作伙伴关系，倡议和创新的数量有时可能是压倒性的，甚至令人叹为观止。尽管不久前，重力可以在少数几个领域（消费品，信息技术，零售和服装）中找到，如今，没有可持续创新的经济中没有任何部分。
见证气候技术的兴起，速记的速度，以旨在脱碳业务和商业的令人惊叹的技术和解决方案。它们代表了人工智能，区块链，绿色化学，合成生物学，高级材料，遥感以及其他学科和技术的领先思维的融合。这些面向未来的进步是单独和协同的，可以重新发明大量的经济发展。
We’re already seeing the fruits of those innovations: plant-based proteins, textiles and chemicals; advanced, low-carbon steel, concrete and other materials; the electrification of buildings and vehicles; cleaner and more resilient energy systems; adaptive, climate-resilient infrastructure.
One challenge, and opportunity, is whether and how these innovations scale quickly enough to offset the growing global economy, and whether they will be accessible to those at every rung of the economic ladder — in particular, communities, businesses and individuals in rapidly growing economies in Asia, Africa and South America.
It won’t be easy. If the inequitable distribution of COVID vaccines is any indication, the world’s richest countries are ill-prepared to adequately care for those in need. To the extent that we can view the current pandemic as a peek into the kinds of global emergencies we may increasingly be confronting — well, it’s a sobering reality check.
One bright spot in all this is the world of finance, which has finally recognized both the business risks and opportunities of a climate-changing world. The world’s largest banks, insurance companies, institutional investors and pension funds are increasingly moving funds out of polluting industries — or, at least, companies within those industries deemed to be least prepared to meet the new environmental realities — and into companies and funds that seem to be part of the solutions.
这是一个极不完美的过程。准确区分气候领导者和落后者的能力继续困扰着世界上最大的投资者和金融市场。许多自称正在从污染公司和行业中转移资金的银行仍在支持煤矿和石油井。投资基金声称专注于在环境，社会和治理（ESG）问题上得分良好的公司仍在其投资组合中污染公司。
假设我们可以就“好”的含义达成共识，将完全从坏事转移到好处是一个漫长而缓慢的过程。令人清醒的挑战：我们没有这样的时间。
重点越来越多的领域是公司的游说努力以及对立法和公共政策的政治支持，这些方面可以加速科学家所说的各种变化。多年来，愿意与资金充足的化石燃料大厅站起来的公司相对较少，而且相对遥远。那才开始改变。激进主义者和倡导团体推动企业摆脱场外并立场的压力正在上升。
If corporations do — and that’s a big "if" — the private sector could further burnish its credentials as a positive force for change. However, if businesses opt for short-term profit over longer-term survival, it will be that much tougher to make progress. Either way, the story of corporate climate advocacy will be one of the more interesting to watch in the year ahead.
我邀请你去在推特上关注我，订阅我的星期一早上的通讯，GreenBuzz, from which this was reprinted, and listen toGreenbiz 350，我的每周播客与希瑟·克兰西（Heather Clancy）共同主持。
