Will Richardson covers ten major sustainability stories this week, from the EU's new Green Claims Directive banning vague eco-labels to banks launching forestry investment platforms and tools to measure AI emissions. Global cropland could feed 14.5 billion people, but most calories go to livestock. Japan is building solar farms on former golf courses.
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Before we start, the world's farms already grow enough calories to feed 14.5 billion people. Where most of those calories actually end up is the most surprising thing I read all week. And it's waiting for you at the end. This week in sustainability, here are your top 10 stories ranked by what the world is talking about most. Number 10: The carbon accounting rulebook grows. This is relevant to all companies, but particularly food and beverage. Whatever your size, the way you report emissions is about to give you more room to show real action. And food and— Food and drink firms are getting their own rulebook. Trellis reports the GHG Protocol received more than 430 responses to its plan for 3 new emission ledgers alongside Scopes 1, 2, and 3, and 84% backed the idea. ESG Today and One Stop ESG report that GRI has picked food and beverage as the first pilot for a faster sector standard. With 43% of food and drink companies already using GRI. If you want to say, GRI is recruiting up to 20 experts until 23rd of October. Number 9, the big banks move into nature. This is relevant to larger companies, but particularly financial services. For larger organisations with land, forest, and farm supply chains, Nature is becoming an asset class, and that changes who comes knocking. ESG Today reports Crédit Agricole has launched a new natural capital division starting with forests, while JPMorgan Natural Capital and Paraguay launched a $200 million forestry platform. Green Digest adds that Mombach signed a carbon removal deal with Salesforce as it second Amazon Reforestation Fund reached its first close. My take? When the big banks build whole teams around something, the rest of the market do tend to follow. Number 8: Carbon credits get a rethink. This is relevant to larger companies. For larger companies buying credits, the question is moving from how cheap to how credible New kinds of credit are arriving. ESG Today, Green Digest, and One Stop ESG all covered Canada exploring an Article 6 framework so its companies can trade emission reductions across borders. Trellis reports the first credits issued under Verra's new food rescue rules— more than 720,000 of them for Brightly, covering almost 7 million tonnes of edible food kept out of Landfill. And the Trellis opinion piece argues older credits aren't automatically worse. Quality matters more than the year a credit was issued. Number 7, measuring AI's footprint. This is relevant to all companies, but in particular tech and data centers. Every business using AI now carries parts of its emissions in Scope 3, and the tools to measure it are finally turning up. Trellis says Etsy plans to license data from Cleed—
Clear—
a free new method that turns the tokens a company uses into energy and emissions estimates. One Stop ESG reports Nvidia's indirect emissions have risen 725% since 2020, while Oracle has set a 2035 goal to match its AI data centers with 100% carbon-free power. And Ceres, via Trellis, found that data center water use happens at the power stations, not on-site. Number 6: Fashion follows its clothes overseas. This is relevant to larger companies, but particularly fashion retail. For retailers and brands, responsibility for what happens to a product after it's sold is moving from optional to expected. Trellis reports Adidas, Bestseller, H&M, and Inditex launched the Apparel Recovery Coalition on 29th September to test a producer-led system for the 1.4 million tonnes of used textiles the EU reports every year. ESG Today, Eddy, and Business Green all covered Primark's deal with Circ putting recycled polyester made from textile waste into its clothing from 2029. Closer to home, Eddy reports New Look, M&S, Sainsbury's, and Oxfam are joining forces to scale textile recycling. Number 5: El Niño hits the balance sheets. All companies— agriculture, food, and beverage— for anyone buying crops, commodities, or insurance, this winter's weather is near-term cost risk, not a 2050 scenario. David Carlin's Weekly Digest reports NOAA puts the chance of a very strong El Niño this autumn and winter at more than 90%. Bloomberg Green reports T. Rowe Price now runs custom climate models to protect its 165 billion emerging markets portfolio. As El Niño hits maize and bean crops in Central America, Sembaphore adds that it's set to push the global sugar market into deficit. Number 4: The FCA softens UK climate reporting. This is relevant to larger companies. For UK-listed companies, the ISSB-based rules are not still coming, But you'll be able to explain rather than comply when you're not ready. ESG Today, Eddy, Business Green, and Sime Thor all reported the FCA's final rules. Listed companies will report against the new sustainability reporting standards on a comply or explain basis, rather than the mandatory approach first proposed. David Collins Digest notes the rules apply to accounting periods from 1st of January 2027. with a year's relief on Scope 3. My take? An explanation still has to stand up to investors, so the data work doesn't go away. Number 3: ISO's Big Standards Week. And this is relevant to all companies. For every organisation that sets targets, the global standards behind them moved in 2 directions.
At once.
This one ran. From last week, ESG Today, Green Digest, and David Carlin All confirmed ISO's draft net zero standard ISO 1460 comes back for revision after nearly 5,000 comments. In the same week, ISO and UNDP launched ISO UNDP 53001, a management standard for building the UN Sustainable Development Goals into strategy. This was covered by Trellis, Eddy, ESG Today, and Business Green. And Eddy reports BSI and ISO have launched a global standard on food waste. Number 2, the EU's Green Claims Rules are live. This is relevant to all companies, but in particular retail, media, and advertising. If you sell to EU companies at any size, works— words like eco-friendly and carbon neutral now need proof or they need to go. We flagged this since July, and as of 27th of September, it's in force. Trellis reports the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive bans generic claims like green, stops neutral claims based on offsets, and demands an independently verified plan behind any future pledge. ESG Today, Eddy, Green Digest, and One Stop ESG all covered it, and it reaches services too, from banking to energy and tourism. Number one, climate is now being sold as security. All companies. For every business making the case for decarbonization, the argument that won this week was resilience and energy security, not carbon on its own. Trellis reports one theme united more than 1,500 Climate Week New York City events: decarbonization wins support when it helps a company withstand supply chain shocks, and rising insurance costs. CTVC, Green Digest, and Eddy saw the same shift, with the green premium now pitched as a security premium. Meanwhile, Sembaphore and Axios tracked diesel export bans spreading and a UN report warning fossil fuel subsidies could top $1 trillion this year. Top 3 mind-blowing environmental facts From this week, the world's cropland grew enough calories in 2020 to feed 14.5 billion people. Around 40% of crop calories go to feed livestock, which give back just 5% of the calories people eat. This came via Project Drawdown.
About 9%—
at number 2— of Japan's utility-scale solar capacity now sits on old golf courses, This is according to the analysis of Bloomberg NEF data via Bloomberg Green. And number 3, in one secondhand shop clothing hub in Accra, Ghana, close to 25 million garments are repaired and put back into circulation every month. This came via Trellis. If you want to be a part of our network, please DM me or comment below.
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