Remember when everyone was stealing steel in your city to melt it down for the Chinese building market during the Olympics in Beijing? Grates from storm sewers were being lifted, iron gates gone, slides gone missing from Japanese playgrounds. The thing about raw materials is that once they are melted down, you can’t prove the source of the material. Same is true with gold, cucumbers and even forged products that look the same as the real thing. When it comes to steel, and how we produce it, it has a massive carbon problem. What’s happening in Japan right now could change how we think about heavy industry and climate action.

Related: All about green mining

The steel sector is wrestling with an existential question—how do you prove that the product being smelted is actually “green steel”—steel produced with renewable energy and which doesn’t harm people and planet? And more importantly, how do you make sure that environmental value doesn’t get lost, duplicated, or mysteriously multiplied as steel moves through processors, distributors, and manufacturers through endless countries back and forth? You can’t put a barcode on raw material that gets changed but you can barcode the process and that’s what Fujitsu is doing.

It seems transformative but the technology has been around for 10 years. Enter Fujitsu—before your eyes glaze over, this has nothing to do with Bitcoin or crypto speculation. Think of it more like a digital receipt system that nobody can fake.

Starting in December 2025, Fujitsu launched a pilot project—backed by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry—to trace and track green steel certificates through the supply chain using blockchain. Fujitsu is a technology company that makes computers, servers, IT systems, and digital solutions for businesses—they don’t manufacture steel themselves but provide the digital infrastructure that helps industries track and verify their processes. The pilot runs through February 2026 and involves actual steel businesses testing whether this tracking system works in real-world conditions.

Here’s the problem they’re solving: Japan’s steel industry has developed methods to produce lower-emission steel. One approach, called the GX Mass Balance Method, lets companies pool their emission reductions from various green projects and allocate them to specific steel products. Another method, GX Allocation, distributes emission reductions across different products while keeping total emissions constant.

But the problem is that once a green steel certificate gets issued, it needs to travel through an entire supply chain—from the mill to processors to fabricators to whoever’s building the final product like cars, buildings, bridges, home appliances, or beverage cans. At each handoff, there’s a risk the environmental claim gets duplicated, lost, or disputed. One certificate could theoretically be claimed by multiple parties, inflating the actual environmental benefit. We’ve seen this with BioBee strawberries in Israel. What was once an eco label to show pollinated by bees is now believed to be a symbol for organic strawberries—which isn’t true.

They aren’t organic. Suppliers are printing their own stickers and it’s a forgery that everyone goes along with. It happens in the US too—Kohl’s and Walmart both settled with the FTC in 2022 for $2.5 million and $3 million respectively after falsely advertising rayon products as “eco-friendly bamboo fiber.” McDonald’s also introduced “recyclable” paper straws in 2019 that turned out to be non-recyclable.

What was the Japanese Kobe Steel Scandal?

The Kobe Steel scandal of 2017 exposed how Japan’s reputation for quality manufacturing could crumble when data gets falsified. Employees deliberately falsified strength and durability data on over 600 products shipped to clients, with data manipulation occurring at 23 domestic and overseas plants involving more than 40 employees—a practice that had been endemic since the 1970s according to Wikipedia.

At least 20,000 tons of aluminum and copper products with fabricated inspection data were shipped to around 200 companies =including Toyota, Boeing, and Japan’s bullet train manufacturers. The problem wasn’t poor quality steel, it was lying about the specifications. Products that didn’t meet customer standards were shipped anyway with fake certificates claiming they did. This is exactly why blockchain tracking matters: without a tamper-proof record of what’s actually in your supply chain, you’re just trusting someone’s word.

Fujitsu’s blockchain platform creates a permanent, tamper-proof record of each green steel certificate as it moves downstream. The technology ensures traceability while maintaining confidentiality—companies can verify the environmental value without exposing sensitive business information about who’s buying what from whom. Blockchain allows for complete anonymity while still proving authenticity.

What makes this interesting isn’t just the technology. It’s the recognition that producing green steel is only half the battle. The other half is building trust in those environmental claims across complex, global supply chains. Without that trust and verification, green steel becomes just another marketing claim that buyers and regulators can’t verify.

The steel industry produces roughly 7 to 9% of global CO2 emissions, so decarbonizing it matters enormously. But green steel typically costs more to produce, which means manufacturers need assurance they’re paying for something real. End users—say, a car company promising carbon-neutral vehicles—need proof that the steel in their products actually has the reduced emissions they’re claiming. Otherwise, they are just suckers with a feel-good label that means nothing.

Fujitsu is positioning this platform, which they call the Sustainable Value Accelerator, as potentially expandable beyond steel into other industries facing similar verification challenges. The company employs 113,000 people and reported revenues of 3.6 trillion yen for fiscal year 2025, so they’ve got the resources to push this forward. While products in the 60s from Japan were cheap and lousy, that label has moved to China. Everyone trusts the quality of Japan today like they trust Switzerland. We can trust they will make a system that will be fair and honest and reliable.

Except, not that long ago in 2007, Japan suffered a steel scandal. Top Japanese automakers had to assess the safety of vehicles containing products from Kobe Steel, which has admitted falsifying quality data. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi Motor, Subaru and Mazda joined aviation firms and defense contractors Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI that have used the steelmaker’s products.

Japan’s famous “Shinkansen” bullet trains also used Kobe Steel’s aluminum, as did high-speed trains in Britain, according to engineering firm Hitachi. “Products used (for both Japanese and British trains) met safety standards. But they did not meet the specifications that were agreed between us and Kobe Steel,” a Hitachi spokesman told the media.

Like what Fujitsu is doing? Do you think this is the right way forward? To invest in Fujitsu, you can purchase its stock (shares) through an international or online stockbroker. Fujitsu Limited is primarily listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) under the ticker code 6702. It also trades on the over-the-counter (OTC) markets in the US under the ticker FJTSY. Green Prophet has no affiliation with the company. 

The post How you create green steel on a blockchain appeared first on Green Prophet.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reportedly considering repealing the 2009 endangerment finding—a landmark declaration that identified greenhouse gas emissions as harmful to human health and the environment. The decision could have sweeping consequences for climate regulation in the United States. But scientists and climate experts from the University of Michigan say rolling it back now would be a dangerous step backward.

Related: the EPA tries to stop Make Sunsets and home-grown geo-engineering

“The EPA’s potential decision to rescind the endangerment finding on climate change would, in effect, be saying that climate change is not a threat,” said Andy Hoffman, Professor of Sustainable Enterprise. “We can deny that threat, but the insurance industry most certainly is not, with increasing storm frequency and severity leading to rising property insurance rates, reduced coverage, increased deductibles, more exclusions and, at the extreme, complete withdrawal from certain markets.”

The endangerment finding has been the scientific and legal backbone of US climate policy for more than a decade. Without it, the EPA loses its authority to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.

“The role of science in regulation and policymaking has been understated in the current deconstruction of our science enterprise,” said Richard Rood, professor emeritus of climate and space sciences. “The persistent and consistent efforts over many years to dismantle the infrastructure and institutions for climate regulation show that this is more than the actions of a single administration.”

For Ann Jeffers, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering specializing in fire safety, the threat is literal and blazing. “Removing restrictions on carbon emissions will only exacerbate climate-related disasters. If you think America has a wildfire problem now, just wait,” she warned. “Carbon emissions are known to be the leading cause of climate change, which has produced a hotter, drier climate in North America. This, in turn, has resulted in more frequent and more intense wildfires… like the Los Angeles fires earlier this year, which resulted in thousands of structures burned and billions of dollars in losses.”

In Michigan, local leadership is already charting a more resilient path. Liesl Eichler Clark, the university’s first director of climate action engagement, emphasized the momentum at the state level: “Americans are suffering on a daily basis from our changing climate—from devastating floods to hurricanes to the now-commonplace challenge of wildfires. Climate change is causing loss of human life and property and harming human health.

Michigan is making progress on limiting our CO2 emissions in a cost-effective way… led by the MI Healthy Climate Plan roadmap, relying on clean energy solutions that are often cheaper and easier to use. Clean energy jobs in Michigan continue to grow, and our clean economy expands. We will continue to lead.”

The EPA is expected to make a decision in the coming weeks. If the endangerment finding is reversed, it could severely limit the government’s ability to confront climate change—just as the evidence of its toll becomes undeniable.

The post EPA May Repeal Key Climate Health Ruling — But Scientists Warn of Dire Consequences appeared first on Green Prophet.

When Dame Alison Rose assumed leadership of NatWest Group in 2019, she recognised that climate change represented not just an environmental challenge but “probably the biggest existential threat that we will face as a society.” Her response was to position the bank at the forefront of sustainable finance, implementing what she describes as “a very clear strategy on climate” that would fundamentally reshape how NatWest operates and lends.

Under her leadership, NatWest became a pioneer in climate lending, achieving net-zero emissions by 2020 and setting ambitious targets for green financing. Her approach demonstrates how traditional banks can become powerful drivers of environmental change while maintaining their commercial objectives.

A Three-Pillar Climate Strategy

Dame Alison’s climate strategy was built on three clear foundations, each addressing different aspects of the bank’s environmental impact:

Getting Their Own House in Order: The first pillar focused on NatWest’s direct environmental footprint. “We said, ‘Get our own house in order,’ so our own emissions. So net-zero by the end of last year, which we were, and net positive by 2025,” Dame Alison Rose explained.

This wasn’t merely about purchasing carbon offsets but implementing genuine operational changes across the organisation to reduce actual emissions.

Addressing Harmful Activities: The second pillar involved identifying and reducing exposure to environmentally harmful sectors. Dame Alison’s team conducted a comprehensive analysis of their lending portfolio, discovering that only 0.8% of NatWest’s balance sheet was lent to oil and gas companies.

“We identified the exposures on our balance sheet to oil and gas and coal. We’ve said we’ll phase out coal by 2030, and then oil and gas,” she outlined. This represented a significant commitment, requiring the bank to make difficult decisions about existing relationships and future lending opportunities.

Funding the Transition: The third and perhaps most ambitious pillar involved actively financing the transition to a low-carbon economy. Rather than simply withdrawing from carbon-intensive sectors, Dame Alison recognised that positive change required capital investment in sustainable alternatives.

Engaging with Existing Clients

Rather than immediately severing ties with companies in carbon-intensive industries, Dame Alison implemented a more nuanced approach that encouraged transition. With existing oil and gas clients, NatWest’s relationship managers delivered a clear message:

“We will continue to lend to you, but we’re focused on transition, so we need to see a credible transition plan by the end of this year aligned to Paris [Agreement targets] for us to continue lending to you.”

This approach balanced commercial relationships with environmental responsibility, giving companies the opportunity to evolve their business models while setting clear expectations. The bank also introduced financial incentives: “We put incentives into our lending, so that as you hit sustainable goals, we reduce the pricing.”

Measuring What Matters

A crucial aspect of Dame Alison’s strategy was making climate impact measurable and trackable. “From a sustainability perspective and climate perspective and emissions perspective, [it’s] much easier to track, because we have credit policies, appetite policies, guidelines of lending that are very clear and then reportable,” she explained.

The bank mapped emissions across their entire financing portfolio, initially focusing on four major sectors representing approximately 46% of their balance sheet. This granular approach allowed them to set a concrete target: halving the emissions from their financing by 2030.

“We have then going to say, ‘How do we half those emissions?’ We’re not going to be able to do that ourselves. It will need collaboration across the sector, the public, private sector, global targets, but starting by being very clear about what we’re doing,” Dame Alison noted.

Ambitious Green Financing Targets

Perhaps the most visible aspect of Dame Alison’s sustainability agenda was NatWest’s commitment to green financing. In 2020, she set what seemed like an ambitious target: securing £20 billion of renewable financing by 2021.

The response exceeded all expectations. “We’re already at £12 billion, so we expect to beat the 20 billion this year,” she reported in May 2021. The demand was so strong that she extended the target to £100 billion, and by her last results, the bank had reached £78 billion.

This success demonstrated that there was significant market appetite for sustainable financing when banks committed to making it available.

Supporting SMEs in the Green Transition

Dame Alison Rose recognised that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) faced particular challenges in addressing their environmental impact. “Many SMEs lack the resources to measure their climate impact or scrutinise their supply chains,” she observed.

To address this, NatWest developed tools and partnerships to help smaller businesses understand and reduce their environmental footprint. The bank partnered with carbon management solution companies like Cogo to provide consumers with information about emissions from their spending via the app.

Similarly, they created tools specifically for SMEs and suppliers to measure their environmental impact and develop solutions to minimise it. “We need to address the whole system, not just at the top level,” Dame Alison emphasised.

The Economic Opportunity of Retrofitting

Dame Alison identified significant economic potential in environmental initiatives, particularly in home retrofitting. With an ageing housing stock and low energy-efficiency ratings in three-fifths of assessed homes in England and Wales, she saw massive opportunity for improvement.

“There is a £175 billion revenue opportunity for SMEs in the UK to be part of that retrofit and transition. This could create 260,000 jobs and 40,000 new businesses,” she calculated.

To unlock this potential, she advocated for upskilling workers, providing clear information, and making financing more accessible. This vision demonstrates how environmental initiatives can drive economic growth while addressing climate challenges.

Government Engagement and Industry Leadership

Dame Alison’s commitment to sustainability extended beyond NatWest’s operations to industry-wide leadership. She served as co-chair of the Government’s Energy Efficiency Taskforce and as a member of the Net Zero Council, working to align public and private sector efforts.

“This is not something one country, one organisation, can do on its own,” she emphasised at the 2023 Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit. “We really need that alignment between public and private… we do need to move faster.”

This collaborative approach recognised that achieving meaningful environmental progress requires coordination across sectors and organisations.

Balancing Environmental and Commercial Objectives

A key aspect of Dame Alison’s approach was demonstrating that environmental responsibility and commercial success could be mutually reinforcing rather than conflicting objectives.

“I think we have to balance between supporting the economy and not being the moral arbiter of the economy, but a clear part of that is what is our ethical policy? What is our culture? What is our sustainability policy?” she explained.

This balance involved setting clear environmental, social, and ethical criteria for lending while continuing to support economic growth and job creation.

Technology and Data in Sustainable Finance

Dame Alison leveraged technology to make sustainable finance more accessible and transparent. The bank’s mobile app provided customers with information about the carbon footprint of their spending, helping individuals make more informed choices.

This use of data and technology exemplified her broader approach to sustainability – making environmental considerations a natural part of everyday banking rather than a separate, specialist activity.

A Sense of Urgency

Throughout her sustainability initiatives, Dame Alison maintained a sense of urgency about climate action. She described the situation not as a “climate transition” but as a “climate emergency,” emphasising the need for immediate and sustained action.

“We really need to move faster,” she insisted, recognising that while progress was being made, the scale and speed of change needed to increase significantly to meet global climate targets.

Long-term Vision

Dame Alison’s approach to sustainable banking was inherently long-term, recognising that environmental challenges require sustained commitment rather than short-term fixes.

Her vision extended beyond immediate emissions reductions to fundamental changes in how the financial sector supports economic development. By positioning NatWest as a leader in green finance, she demonstrated that banks could be powerful drivers of positive environmental change.

Lessons for Sustainable Business Leadership

Dame Alison’s sustainability strategy offers valuable insights for leaders across industries:

1. Set clear, measurable targets: Make environmental commitments specific and trackable
2. Engage rather than abandon: Work with existing partners to encourage transition rather than simply cutting ties
3. Address the whole system: Consider impacts across the entire value chain, including smaller suppliers and partners
4. Use incentives effectively: Align financial incentives with environmental objectives
5. Leverage technology: Use data and digital tools to make sustainability more accessible
6. Collaborate across sectors: Recognise that environmental challenges require coordinated responses
7. Balance multiple objectives: Demonstrate that environmental responsibility can support rather than undermine commercial success

Dame Alison Rose’s leadership at NatWest shows that traditional financial institutions can be powerful catalysts for environmental change. By combining clear strategy, measurable targets, and collaborative approaches, she transformed how the bank thinks about its environmental responsibilities while maintaining strong commercial performance.

Her work reminds us that addressing climate change requires not just individual action but institutional transformation – and that banks, as providers of capital to the economy, have a particularly important role to play in financing the transition to a sustainable future.

The post Sustainable Banking: Dame Alison Rose’s Approach to Climate Change and Corporate Responsibility appeared first on Green Prophet.

Every business has a carbon footprint. An organization, in its full operation, is bound to leave behind a carbon footprint. This, in fact, is an inevitable reality. But there are certainly a few ways to reduce an organization’s carbon footprint to some extent.

Reducing the carbon footprint is good for the environment and requires adhering to complaints issued by various organizations. One way you can reduce your organization’s carbon footprint is by selecting sustainable freight shipping. But this is just one of several ways. Let’s get into an in-depth discussion of how businesses can reduce their carbon footprint. 

Choosing a Sustainable Freight Shipping Process

According to a study, transportation and logistics contribute to one-fifth of the world’s total carbon emissions. This trend doesn’t stop here. Almost 30% of this number is contributed by road freight transportation. This is why it is important for businesses to choose a freight shipping structure that is sustainable and reduces the carbon footprint. For instance, one can opt for a shared truckload model, which is designed to reduce 40% of carbon emissions. In STL, the shipper only pays for the space they need. This is different from a full truckload, in which you need to hire the entire truck. This means various shippers consolidate their goods into one truck, reducing carbon emissions.

Implement a Circular Economy

Before discussing how to implement a circular economy model in your supply chain, let’s define the term. A circular economy is a production and consumption approach that aims to reduce waste, utilize fewer resources in the supply chain, and use materials, tools, and machines for a longer duration of time.

Let us understand the circular economy with an example. The food industry is one of the top supply chains and is responsible for 50% of the total carbon emissions. One way the industry can reduce its carbon footprint is by reducing packaging usage and waste. Organizations working in the food industry can design their food packages so that they are easy to reuse. 

Choosing Electric and Hybrid Vehicles for Logistics

When electric vehicles were first tested in the 1930s, who thought they would play such an important role in curbing the carbon footprint of the supply chain? The freight industry is also among the top eight supply chains that contribute to 50% of carbon emissions. To reduce the environmental impact of operations, many shipping providers are opting for electric and hybrid vehicles for logistics. 

Choosing a Sustainably Structured Logistics System

In addition to using electric and hybrid vehicles for logistics, there are numerous other ways to reduce carbon footprint. One of them is choosing a sustainable logistics system. How? Here are some ways: 

• Optimizing the utilization of truck space: If you are shipping your products by road, make sure you are maximizing the utilization of truck space. This way, you will be able to ship a larger volume of goods in one single consignment. 
• Optimizing the route: Optimizing the route to reduce the need for terminals reduces the cost and duration of transit. 

Implementing Proper Waste Management Strategies

Efficient waste management strategies in your supply chain distinguish you from your competitors. Organizations that aim to make a profit while also working for a noble cause are always appreciated by their peers and partners. 

Proper waste management includes encouraging your customers to recycle the final products. In other cases, it also means being able to recycle the raw materials that were used in the production process. 

Conclusion

Managing your organization’s carbon footprint has many environmental benefits. This approach also makes your operation cost-effective. 

By determining the route that leads to fewer carbon emissions, you reduce the cost of fuel and freight transportation. By opting for proper waste management, you ensure that not a single byproduct of your supply chain goes to waste. 

Moreover, when you choose these approaches, you establish yourself as a leader in your niche and get recognition as a business that gives importance to environmental well-being. This helps open up new partnership opportunities that you have never thought of. 

The post How To Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Your Supply Chain? appeared first on Green Prophet.

As the former CEO of NatWest Group, Dame Alison Rose often inspires entrepreneurs by speaking about leadership challenges and her experiences overcoming these in the banking sector.

Many have heard her speak on James Harding’s ThinkIn podcast, where she delves into several leadership topics, from opening opportunities for female founders to supporting small businesses through Entrepreneur Accelerators.

On this podcast, she also explains how, as NatWest’s CEO, she managed the activity happening throughout the UK’s biggest business and commercial bank and kept track of its emissions-related goals.

She goes on to discuss the UK’s entrepreneurial position in the wider global economy and shares how she stayed calm while holding such an influential position.

Here are some highlights from the episode.

Alison Rose on Staying Afloat of Activity Throughout NatWest

As NatWest’s CEO, it was essential for Alison to stay afloat of activity throughout the bank. She oversaw both technical and ethical measures, carving out regular time to communicate with customers, review complaints, and track all emissions activity.

Communicating with customers was a cornerstone of her leadership approach. She often hosted round tables with customers to hear their updates, considering it important to “spend time with customers and talk to them. To ask what’s really going on, so that you get a feel, rather than just looking at the data.”

She would also “get home every weekend with a pile of complaint letters” to personally read and review. On top of this, she monitored NatWest’s whistleblowing process, which encouraged colleagues to share information openly. “We set very high standards of conduct and culture,” she says.

Alison also monitored activity from a sustainability, climate, and emissions perspective. This was “much easier to track” because of NatWest’s “credit policies, appetite policies, and guidelines of lending.”

She gives an example of a balance sheet at the time, which showed that NatWest only lent 0.8% of their funds to oil and gas. She and her colleagues could track and monitor that percentage, “flexing it up and down” as they aligned credit risk policies.

Working Towards NatWest’s Net Positive Goal

In 2020, Alison launched “a very clear strategy on climate” that mapped a route to NatWest becoming net zero by the end of the year. The organisation achieved this goal and aims to be net positive by 2025.

To reach these goals, Dame Alison and her colleagues identified the exposure to oil, gas, and coal on their balance sheet. They decided to phase out coal by 2030, then move on to phasing out oil and gas. The approach was to get their own house in order and then provide the tools and support to guide customers through the transition. They achieved this by:

• Partnering with leading carbon management solution companies like Cogo.
• Providing consumers with information about emissions from their spend via the app.
• Creating tools for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and suppliers to measure their environmental impact and help come up with solutions to minimise this.

Sharing information and offering support was critical to this wholesale rewiring of the economy and management of risk.

Introducing The Transition

To introduce the transition, NatWest’s relationship managers told customers in these sectors about the new goals. They asked the customers to provide a credible transition plan by the end of the year to continue receiving funds. Alison and her colleagues also introduced incentives to reduce fees when customers hit sustainable goals.

Having analysed major sectors for emissions — “which was about 46% of our balance sheet” — Alison and her colleagues decided how to halve these emissions. They knew this would “need collaboration across the public and private sectors” and a focus on global targets.

Alison notes that it was crucial to “start by being very clear about what we were doing, and then, most importantly, funding the transition.” In 2020, she set a target to secure £20 billion of renewable financing by 2021. They were already at £12 billion by May 2021. Demand was so high that she and her colleagues extended the target to £100 billion and, at last results, had reached £78 billion.

Setting A Clear Culture and Policy Suite to Best Protect Customers

Alison believes a bank like NatWest must find the “balance between supporting the economy and not being the moral arbiter of the economy.” To achieve this, a bank needs a clear ethical policy, sustainability policy, and culture.

This means deciding what types of businesses to support and setting environmental, social, and ethical criteria that the bank is prepared to lend by. Having laid this groundwork at NatWest, Alison and her colleagues could ensure they provided “the right support for customers within an ethical and social background.”

Alison gives data protection as an example, noting that NatWest has “huge amounts of data on customers that [it] collects from being in their lives and seeing their payments.” As CEO, she considered NatWest’s “ethical responsibilities as important as [its] data protection responsibility.”

This meant not using or selling the data in any way. “We [didn’t] do any of that,” Alison says. “We [had] a very clear, ethical policy around our use of data for what we [thought was] appropriate in terms of protecting our customers. We almost [viewed] that in the same way as their money. Our job [was] to keep that safe for them as well.”

Alison and her colleagues also “put a lot of systems and controls in place” to prevent financial crime.” Alison managed 4,000 people who specifically managed crime prevention, and NatWest invested almost half a billion pounds in systems and controls to make this possible between 2019 and 2021 alone.

The UK’s “Resilient” Position in the Global Economy

Alison considers NatWest “a bellwether of the UK economy” due to its position as the third-largest retail bank and number-one business bank. This makes it “inherently linked to the success of [its] customers.”

She notes that “regional economies are very different.” NatWest has “regional boards around the country that tap into the local economies,” which “have different dynamics,” she says.

Overall, she considers the UK’s business community “amazingly resilient” and “incredibly entrepreneurial,” as proven by its response to Covid-19. Even with the economy “put into a hard stop for effectively six months,” Alison saw “entrepreneurs and small business owners cope and pivot their businesses” in a way that she considers “really positive” and with “incredible resilience and ambition.” 

Today, “this country still attracts a huge amount of inward investment in terms of fintechs and startups and entrepreneurialism,” Alison says. With many SMEs creating jobs, these “are the lifeblood of the economy.” 

Because of this, Alison believes “there’s a huge amount to be optimistic about in terms of a nation of SMEs and real strengths in our economy through biotech, bioscience, manufacturing, entrepreneurism, and the different sectors.”

She also believes “the ability to export and import talent is a really important one, and we need to make sure we continue to be a place that is vital for skills coming in and being exported.”

“I think that’s a critical part of a thriving global economy,” Alison says. “We’re still one of the global financial centres [that] services the economy more broadly and a big contributor to tax receipts, which drives that.”

How Alison Rose Carried the Weight of CEO Responsibilities

Serving as the CEO of a major bank comes with a huge level of responsibility. A purpose-led strategy, strong team, and customer communication all helped Alison carry the weight of this responsibility.

“When banks get it wrong, I can see the damage we do in people’s lives,” Alison says. This is “because we’re so embedded in people’s lives and providing capital to the economy.” As a result, “having a purpose-led strategy… and knowing that we should be a force for good rather than bad is really important.”

To stay calm running such a big organisation, Alison turned to her “great team,” remembering that running a bank “is a team sport.” She recognises that “sometimes we all make mistakes” and prioritised only focusing on controlling the things she could control.

She also spent “as much time as possible talking to customers and colleagues” so that she and her team could “react quickly and respond quickly like we did during the pandemic.”

“Working really closely and being honest about what we [were] doing” was crucial, as was “trying to make sure we [were] always doing the best job we possibly [could],” Alison says.

Lastly, recognising that she held a “privileged position” helped Alison manage her CEO responsibilities. She would remember, “I have a fantastic job, and I’m very privileged to do it, and I love my job.” This helped “ease the days when you’re lying awake at night wondering what you need to do,” Alison says. “That’s how I [did] it.”

About Alison Rose

The former CEO of NatWest, Alison Rose is the first woman to lead a major UK bank. Having joined the organisation in 1992 as a graduate trainee, she progressed her career within the bank and became CEO in 2019. That same year, she launched the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, which has supported hundreds of thousands of women with their entrepreneurial ventures. 

The government commissioned this seminal report, which highlights the challenges that many women in business face and explores the opportunities they can leverage to overcome these barriers. Alison also served as chair of the Rose Review Board until 2023, when she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for services to the financial sector. 

Today, Dame Alison is a senior adviser to the private equity firm Charterhouse and a member of the Board of Trustee Directors of Business in the Community (BITC). She also advocates for industry action on climate change and has served on the Net Zero Council and the government’s Energy Efficiency Taskforce.

The post From Meeting NatWest’s Emissions Goal to Managing CEO Responsibilities: Alison Rose on the Thinkin Podcast appeared first on Green Prophet.

About 25 years ago when the environment movement was becoming a thing, we heard the strangest idea: that people were opting out of having children to save the planet.

We spent a few days with an editor at Grist magazine in Helsinki who told us she is child-free and proud –– here is her essay. And it’s been a topic of shame and ridicule in the eco movement if you do have kids.

Environmental concerns and climate change has been a top reason for at least 5% of Americans to remain childless, data from the Pew Research Center shows.

A relatively obscure movement believes there is a more radical way for us to save the planet: by depopulating to the point that people go extinct.

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT) is an environmental movement, led by  Les Knight that calls for all people to abstain from reproduction in order to cause the gradual voluntary extinction of humankind. VHEMT supports human extinction primarily because it would prevent environmental degradation.

It’s voluntary head Les Knight advocates: “May we live long and die out.” He posts material on X that support women’s rights in Iran but which denies that rapes by Hamas in Israel were committed, not linking to the fact that the dehumanization of women in Iran is directly caused by the Iranian jihadists who are funding Hamas terror.

Some gene lines should be discontinued.

The Shakers, a now defunct sect of Christianity practiced celibacy, communal living, confession of sin, egalitarianism, and pacifism. According to material from the Alfred Shaker Museum in the US, the Shaker population started to decline slowly in the 1860’s not because people were dying off: one of the reasons the Shaker population started declining was because of the fact that many people didn’t believe in the Shaker’s religious views.

Shakers were minimalist designers and are admired for that in today’s design world.

As time went on, more and more people practiced other religions instead, such as Catholicism.

You also needed to be celibate to be a Shaker.

The post These environmentalists want people to go extinct to save the planet appeared first on Green Prophet.

The city of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean Sea received the advanced grade A- in the ranking of the CDP, the largest international platform for measuring, managing and reporting the environmental data of companies and cities. This is a significant step up compared to the grades the municipality received in previous years, and its position is higher than the global average of all the reported cities.

The CDP is an international non-profit organisation based in the United Kingdom, Japan, India, China, Germany, Brazil and the United States that helps companies, cities, states, regions and public authorities disclose their environmental impact.

Tel Aviv has been reporting to the CDP voluntarily for a decade, and after joining C40 in 2018, an international network of cities committed to reducing the effects of the climate crisis and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reporting became mandatory.

The report to the CDP includes the presentation of consumption and performance data on carbon emissions, energy consumption and runoff management, along with the presentation of a comprehensive climate plan that includes adaptation to climate change and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions while meeting the municipal goals of this plan.

Tel Aviv is a city that makes a lot of sense in the face of climate change. First of all the moderate weather means less heating in the winter. The environmental footprint of city-goers is low thanks to e-scooters, above ground trains and buses. New projects make Tel Aviv very walkable. Food is hyper local, usually sourced from farms not more than 50 miles away. The Mediterranean Diet! Low key, low cost recreation at night and on the beach make it a great city for locals and travellers. You can live in flip-flops. There are impact investors and super cool startups dealing with climate and the environment.

We interviewed Tel Aviv visitors this summer about climate change. Here is what they say.

Problems in Tel Aviv? Asbestos is everywhere. Noise pollution. Violence from electric scooters on the sidewalks in Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Pollution and plastics in the sea. High cost of living, rents and dining out. Over-fishing.

More good sides? Its sister sister Jaffa. Ariel Weil writes a green guide to Jaffa here.

Tel Aviv’s mayor Ron Huldai says, “Thinking about sustainability, green energy, runoff management and climate change assessments is part of the DNA of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, and the significant increase in the ranking in the CDP index proves this.

“The city of Tel Aviv-Yafo is one of the leading cities in the world in climate protection policy and we are members of the C40 leadership organization along with a network of leading cities in the world, working together on the issue. These are not words, we are committed to actions. We will continue to promote and implement the urban climate plan, formulate new plans and expand the green areas in the city, to ensure that we, our children and grandchildren can continue to enjoy life in the city and in Israel as a whole.

There is no doubt that the municipal efforts that include climate risk assessment, the implementation of the action plan to prepare for climate change in broad municipal cooperation, together with the channels of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions place the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo on the international map. Reporting to the CDP plays a significant role in promoting sustainability and corporate responsibility.

Having a great CDP score means taking responsibility on the urban carbon footprint and encourages it to take significant steps to improve performance and reduce emissions, including risk management from climate change. Investors are increasingly considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions in the city. Reporting to the CDP demonstrates the municipality’s commitment to addressing climate-related risks and can improve investor confidence in the assets and companies that operate within it.

Outlining Tel Aviv’s journey

The first step jump in the Tel Aviv- Yafo municipality’s score in the CDP index occurred in 2020 after the publication of the action plan for preparing for climate change. This program is the first program in Israel for preparing for climate change, and was built after mapping the main threats that the city faces in the context of climate. The action plan focuses on two key tasks – cooling the city and water management.

The channels of action include a variety of nature-based solutions such as planting trees as part of an urban goal of 100,000 trees by 2030 (well Tel Aviv also wants to cut down important trees, let’s not forget) and improving natural percolation in the city by adding runoff retention ponds. This year’s report included a reference to all the actions that were taken, and the high score received indicates a good implementation of the plan in the municipality, and meeting the goals while referring to the climate risks.

We would like to add that this is the first year that the municipality has reported on actions included in the mitigation program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The plan will soon be published to the public and includes reference to three main sectors: energy, waste and transportation with measurable targets for reducing emissions. The goals set in the program are ambitious goals that are in line with leading cities in the world and refer to a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and zero emissions by 2050.

The high rating received by the Tel Aviv- Yafo municipality in this year’s index indicates that it places the climate and sustainability field at the top of its priorities. The municipality invests resources in the field of climate and deals with it in a serious and professional manner; Both in terms of analyzing the risks and understanding them, setting ambitious long-term goals and in terms of applicable channels of action in the variety of sectors and arenas of action.

CDP-ICLEI Track is the world’s leading climate reporting platform and progress accountability mechanism for cities. Tracking over 1,100 cities’ climate action in 2021. There are now 119 cities on the ‘A List’, show that action to tackle climate change is becoming mainstream for many of the world’s urban areas, including in the Global South.

Amman, Istanbul (great for second hand clothes!) and Kadıköy also made the A list.

The post Tel Aviv gets an A- for sustainable city appeared first on Green Prophet.

Upgrading, or retrofitting, the world’s iron and steel processing plants early could reduce carbon emissions by up to 70 gigatonnes by 2050, roughly equivalent to two years’ worth of net global carbon emissions, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

Published in the journal Nature, the researchers found that by upgrading the world’s iron and steel production facilities, carbon emissions can be reduced by 58.7 gigatonnes between 2020 and 2050, roughly equivalent to two years’ worth of net global carbon emissions. In addition, they found that by bumping forward emissions reduction retrofits five years ahead of when they would be typically scheduled, it would reduce emissions by 69.6 gigatonnes over that time frame. Iron and steel production contributes about 7% to total global carbon emissions.

To develop this schedule, the team created a comprehensive database of 19,678 individual processing units located in 4,883 individual iron and steel plants around the world, inventoried by their technical characteristics, including their locations, processing technologies, operating details, status and age.

Iron and steel production is a carbon emissions heavy process. The researchers found that as of 2019, the last year that data is available, 74.5% of the world’s steel was produced in coal powered plants that release considerable carbon emissions. Technologies exist to reduce these admissions, but upgrades are expensive and time consuming and so are usually only undertaken at the end of a processing unit’s operational lifetime.

Refining is also hard on the equipment, and the individual processing units within each plant need to be retrofitted periodically to prolong their operational lifetimes. Overall, 43.2% of global iron and steel plants have been retrofitted with new technologies or have otherwise enhanced their processes to extend their operating lifetime. The frequency of their retrofits depends on the technique they employ and how old they are, but typically they occur after 15 to 27 years of use.

The researchers found that if all currently operating processing units were upgraded to incorporate low-emissions technology at their predicted time of their refit, total emissions from the iron and steel sector could be reduced by 58.7 gigatonnes between 2020 and 2050, but if all the refits and upgrades were bumped forward and completed five years early, the total carbon savings would be 16% greater at 69.6 gigatonnes.

But the team also emphasises that mitigation efforts will have to take place at the individual facility level, and that the decarbonisation of the entire iron and steel industry depends on the efforts undertaken by every single plant. Because of the complexity and variety of methods involved in steel production around the world, there’s no one-size-fits-all decarbonisation technology or solution for the entire sector, and each processing unit should be upgraded individually according to its technical specification.

Senior author Professor Dabo Guan from the UCL Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction said: “Our results lend vivid background to the possibility of achieving net-zero carbon emissions in iron and steel production in the future. By retrofitting existing plants with low-carbon technologies, and improving scrap collecting and recycling, the iron and steel sector can dramatically reduce its carbon emissions. This study sheds light on the specific emissions reductions that are possible within the iron and steel industry.”

About 63% of the world’s steel production is from some type of blast oxygen furnace, while most of the remaining capacity is produced by electric arc furnaces. Upgrading the global inventory of blast oxygen furnaces will yield the greatest net carbon savings, about 74% of the total projected carbon savings. Upgrades to electric arc furnaces would account for the second highest net carbon savings, at about 16% of the projected whole, though this may be limited by the total amount of stock scrap available worldwide as the technique is dependent on recycling existing metals.

The researchers hope that this data can be used to identify improved ways to update ageing steel plants with emission reduction technologies in order to reach net-zero carbon emissions more quickly. Compiling this publicly available global database of iron and steel plants and tracking all their ages and technologies has significantly improved the detail of data around the carbon emission of global iron and steel production.

The researchers emphasise that because of the wide range of production methods and plant designs, the particulars of individual upgrades and mitigation effort of each processing unit will have to be done on an individual basis. Their research will help policymakers create a roadmap of when and how to upgrade iron and steel plants to meet emissions reduction targets.

The top five carbon emitting iron and steel plants contribute 7% of the total CO2 emissions from the global iron and steel industry but only make up 0.1% of the total 4,883 plants.

They are:

1. Anshan Iron & Steel (China)
2. Posco – Pohang Iron & Steel (South Korea)
3. Shanghai Baosteel (China)
4. Jiangsu Shagang (China)
5. Maanshan Iron & Steel Group (China).

The researchers say that retrofitting these plants to lower their carbon emissions would demonstrate the feasibility for other, similar plants. The research was led by UCL and conducted in collaboration with Tsinghua University, Peking University and King’s College London.

The post Upgrading China’s steel plants could save the world years of carbon emissions appeared first on Green Prophet.

Who is a better recruit? The guy who rides his bike to work to save carbon emissions or the one who flies to vegas every weekend for fun? You can determine who will fit your ESG policy before you hire.

When you hear the word “sustainability”, you’ll be more likely to think about green energy and environmental conservation than HR departments and hiring practices. However, sustainability is more than a buzzword: it’s a philosophy. Reducing waste is the central tenet of sustainability, and that goes for both carbon footprints and staff retention.

Inefficiency and waste are as bad for business as they are for the planet, and tackling these problems requires the same approach in both instances. Businesses wish to build more sustainable practices because they reduce waste, improve net profits, and help ensure commercial success. After all, a company is defined by its workforce, and pushing sustainability through recruitment practices can bring clear benefits to every level of a business. 

What is Sustainability?

Once a business reaches a certain size, sustainability can become as important as growth. When a company begins to turn a consistent profit, stakeholders need to begin reassessing business processes to look at the parts of the firm that aren’t running as efficiently as they might be. In some cases, finding ways to pare down operating costs could be just as vital as incoming revenue in maintaining net profits.

While wasteful business practices exist, companies may as well be flushing their earnings down the drain. Furthermore, corporate inefficiency on a grand scale is something that the modern consumer is likely to take a very dim view on, resulting in sometimes irreparable damage to the brand. 

On the other hand, a focus on stability could head off these problems before they even come to pass. Areas where sustainability is likely to prove a priority include material requirements, energy usage, productivity, and, especially, recruitment.

It’s almost impossible to disentangle commercial sustainability from environmentalism because it’s very rare to find one without the other: a firm that’s cut down on industrial waste and bloated business processes will, by design or otherwise, probably be generating a smaller carbon footprint. 

Business Sustainability 101

There’s nothing stopping stakeholders and department heads from getting together to look at the ways a business can reduce waste and improve efficiency. However, a genuine commitment to sustainable business practices is an intensive process that requires a dedicated team. Sustainability departments usually employ a three-tier structure:

• Chief sustainability officer: The chief sustainability officer (or head of sustainability) represents sustainability at a board level and will decide with other executives and stakeholders about the direction of a company’s sustainability policy.

• Sustainability team members: This will usually be a small team comprised of a few members who report to the chief sustainability officer and help execute and administrate sustainability policy.

• Sustainability Embeds: These will be staff integrated across the company’s business structure. They don’t report directly to the chief sustainability officer, but they do interface with the sustainability department to ensure sustainable practices are being followed across the company.

Sustainable Recruitment

Poor hiring practices can take a lot out of a company, both in terms of costs and efficiency. Hiring, onboarding, and training a single candidate costs the average company thousands in front-end investment, and if that hire is unsuitable or unmotivated, they can slow down a department and negatively impact the work rate of more competent staff.

Sustainable recruitment, therefore, is a drive to create productive long-term employee relationships that can prove mutually beneficial. Leveraging candidate data with the right online resources is the best way to find new prospects who tick all the boxes for a position and can bring a proven track record to the role.

Sustainable Employment Roles

Sustainability recruitment networks aim to give employers access to a wide talent pool of accomplished and motivated staff who can help enact sustainability practices and best advise a business where policy can be improved. Of course, the kinds of sustainability positions your company can benefit from will depend greatly on your industry. Some positions might include:

• Air quality analyst
• Emission trading manager
• Climate Change Consultant
• Energy director
• Renewable energy specialist
• GHG policy analyst

These are just a small sample of the different sustainability positions many companies will hire for. Sustainability recruitment networks and agencies can identify the positions most likely to bring about positive change for your company.

Sustainable Employee Retention

Sustainable recruitment puts the emphasis on finding the recruit most suited for a long-term future in a role. They will intermittently check back in a few months’ time to see how the new hire is getting on in their role. Sustainability recruiters aren’t just there to find a fit for a job; their role is also to educate firms about how to get the most out of their sustainability hires. In this way, both employees and employers have a mutual obligation to each other to help both parties further the goal of stability within the business.

To this end, it’s critical that new hires possess values that align with the brand values of the company they’re moving to, or they are likely to have trouble excelling in the position. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to avoid this: integrate sustainability into the way you market your brand during the hiring process.

Members of the modern workforce are more environmentally conscious than their forebearers, and the best and brightest will want to be able to go home and sleep at night knowing that the company they work for is one of the good guys. Sustainability can boost employee engagement, but it can also attract talented candidates who are onboard with your company’s values before they’ve even walked through the door on their first day on the job.

Elsewhere, you can look at the micro-processes within your company that can make sustainability happen. Converting your application processes to paperless systems is one obvious way you can save money and make your intentions known to prospective candidates. As more business processes move to digital, this is a small but important step in enacting greener business processes.

Final Thoughts

Sustainability needs to be more than just lip service to corporate respectability politics: it needs to be an influence on the orientation of your entire business, and recruitment is the best place to begin your journey to true sustainability. Hiring a sustainability department can set your company on the path to more efficient and environmentally friendly business practices which could also help save money and drive profits.

The post What Is Sustainability Recruitment and Why Does It Matter? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Going green has never been a higher priority for the world. With threats of climate change knocking at our door, many car companies have taken to creating electric or eco-friendly models of their iconic vehicle brands. Businesses like Research America conduct automotive research in order to find current trends, consumer demands, and sales projections that help the automotive industry make informed decisions.

With that in mind, the companies we feature here have decided that electric is a trend that is here to stay and these are some of the highest-quality eco-friendly vehicles produced for both consumers and the planet during 2021.

Mustang Mach-E

This electronic pony is Ford’s first all-electric crossover. It might feel strange to hop into a Mustang and know you are technically driving an SUV, but this is one of the sleekest and sportiest SUVs to hit the pavement. It retains the iconic style of previous Mustangs combined with a bulkier rear frame that allows for more storage and cabin space for passengers. Depending on the components, the Mach-E’s specs can range from 270-460 HP, as well as a battery range of around 210-305 miles.  You can saddle up in this horse for roughly $44,000. 

Polestar 2

Carbon emissions are a thing of the past thanks to the Polestar 2. This electric monster gives Tesla a run for its money with its stylish design and functionality. The medium-sized hatchback with a five-door design makes it great for groups or packing for a trip. With a price tag of nearly $60,000, the Polestar 2 comes equipped with a 230-mile battery life and just over 400 HP, making it a heavy contender for your next eco-friendly vehicle. 

Tesla Model S

Arguably the most popular brand of electric vehicles, Tesla offers plenty of different options in terms of efficient gas-free rides. Their 2021 Model S is particularly impressive, offering the longest battery range at 390-520 miles, combined with a horsepower of 670 to an astonishing 1,020.

All that torque will cost you a brow-raising $70,000 to $80,000, depending on the augmentation. If you’ve got the wallet and don’t mind the occasional head turn, this luxury car is not to be ignored. 

Final thoughts on our sustainable car picks

Not only are these electric and sustainable vehicles sleek and eye-catching, but they also help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are harmful to the environment.

They come in a variety of styles and brands, cars, trucks, and SUVs, as well as varying price ranges, from affordable to expensive. Whatever your taste might be, the next time you’re in the market for a new vehicle, consider a more environmentally friendly option that can help save the planet. If only a little. 

The post 3 of the Best 2021 Eco-Friendly Vehicles appeared first on Green Prophet.