The share of green steel project announcements in the EU speaks to the region’s leadership in the transition of the iron and steel industries. Most of these projects are planned to be online by 2030 – just five years away from today. Evaluating and planning the renewable electricity demand for the iron and steel sector with all stakeholders is essential to minimize delays.

How effective the CSDDD will be will largely depend on how it is put into effect at the national level, via regulatory oversight and judicial enforcement. While the new due diligence requirements have the potential to push companies to substantially revise their business practices, poor implementation might lead to a mere tick-box exercise with no benefits for affected rights-holders or the environment.

The Per Geijer mine proposal will be a test case for Sweden. While LKAB’s current conduct might align with current national regulations, it is questionable if it would comply with the new requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.

Greater transparency from steel producers is essential to demonstrate commitment to decarbonisation. While some companies have made initial progress, clearer plans are needed from the majority to reach net zero by 2050, including plans for specific emission scopes reductions. Establishing intermediate targets, tracking progress, and sharing updates publicly can motivate the sector to accelerate its transition towards net zero.

“This research reveals a heart-breaking reality: climate change and migration are reshaping the lives of countless vulnerable children, many of whom are left to navigate the emotional and physical tolls of separation and instability. It is critical that we address the root causes of this distress and ensure that children are at the centre of efforts to create a safer, more secure future”.

By addressing these barriers, the EU has the potential to greatly boost climate action by decreasing consumption-based emissions and setting an example for other nations to follow.

There is therefore a need for policies and measures to promote strong sustainability and focus on shifting consumption patterns, emphasizing not only production efficiency gains but to reduce consumption overall that generates emissions both in the EU and abroad. Both the EU and member states have a role to play in addressing consumption hotspots.

Targeting the individual categories identified above and more uniformly applied pricing and standards could drive behaviour change, but it will also require oversight of the impacts on vulnerable groups.

Policymakers and the private sector must look beyond emissions reductions in animal farming and consider policy implications for public health and animal welfare, since the implications can be positive, negative or mixed. For instance, a dietary shift from red meat to plant-based food can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve public health outcomes in high-income regions, whereas shifting from cattle to chickens would heighten or maintain risks of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance from animal agriculture.

We see an encouraging trend that green steel investment announcements are spreading globally with more and more projects outside the EU. However, this positive development for green steel needs to further accelerate as new investments in unmitigated coal-based blast furnaces are still being made in growing economies despite their large emissions.

We observe more new green steel projects being announced outside Europe for the first time. Do we see a growing confidence in technologies demonstrated in Europe in the last few years – maybe?

Science has provided stark evidence that the world is faced with the triple planetary crisis of nature loss, climate change and pollution, which presents both a risk and an opportunity to sports. It is therefore timely, and I wish to applaud NOC-K for launching a sustainability Program during the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace and championing sustainability actions in their journey to Paris Olympics 2024.

We anticipate a growing focus on Eastern Europe and the eastern partnership region, supporting the region’s economies in their ambitions for pathways to climate neutrality and EU accession. With Kersti Kaljulaid on the Board, this will enhance SEI’s role and opportunities. We also aim to further enhance our scientific excellence and our ability to evaluate and learn from our work. These are domains where Professor Mickwitz will add considerable value.

The call to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems is a significant acknowledgement that has been much needed for some time, but the outcome as a whole includes several conditions that may slow down the phase-out of fossil fuels. What really matters now is how countries choose to act on this outcome in their national policies.

The science is clear that consumption and production of conventional meat and dairy needs to come down globally, with richer countries taking the lead. Existing approaches have not delivered change at the scale and speed necessary. This first-of-a-kind UN report suggests that novel meat and dairy alternatives can play an important role in supporting a transition towards a more sustainable and healthier food system.

Many countries are importing the same commodities, via the same trading companies, from the same producing countries - and often the same deforestation hotspots. The field is ripe for them to collaborate on pushing importers to include action on deforestation at the heart of their sourcing practices, including through legislative and policy frameworks.

LeadIT and the secretariat welcome the partnership and look forward to supporting the collaboration to unlock green industrial projects in sectors such as steel and cement. This partnership will be a key part of the future work of LeadIT as our members push the frontiers of the green industry transition forward to achieve net-zero emissions from industry by 2050.

Governments are literally doubling down on fossil fuel production; that spells double trouble for people and planet. We cannot address climate catastrophe without tackling its root cause: fossil fuel dependence. COP28 must send a clear signal that the fossil fuel age is out of gas — that its end is inevitable. We need credible commitments to ramp up renewables, phase out fossil fuels, and boost energy efficiency, while ensuring a just, equitable transition.

Southern Africa has an incredible wealth of biodiversity, and edible insects present a fantastic opportunity for sustainable food production. By expanding our efforts to empower women and youth, we hope to create a thriving insect-based food industry that can make a significant positive impact on nutrition, livelihoods and the economic development of the nation.

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Edible Insects: Food for the Future cookbook, an exciting culinary exploration of the world of edible insects and their role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.

A shift away from industrial animal production should be prioritised, given the high levels of animal product consumption this kind of system enables, its relatively high environmental toll, linkages to increasing risks of antimicrobial resistance and zoonoses emergence, and harm to animal welfare.

First, world leaders need to show that they stand by the promise and take decisive action to achieve the goals. Secondly, they must strengthen international cooperation and ensure longer-term financing for sustainable development. The world's rich countries have a great responsibility here.

The current pace is too slow, and our efforts are insufficient. Since the last follow-up four years ago, the world has backtracked on several sub-goals where we had previously made progress. Additionally, several interim goals have been heading in the wrong direction for a significant period, especially in the environmental domain. Therefore, we need extensive societal changes across multiple areas.

The 2030 Agenda is the world's most ambitious sustainability agenda. While research and future scenarios indicate that achieving all the goals will be challenging, it is important to remember that every single step forward counts. The transition is both necessary and inevitable.

The Mekong Region, with its rich biodiversity, diverse landscapes, and vibrant communities, is vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and ecological imbalances threaten the region’s societies.

Air pollution poses a severe threat to public health, the environment and economic well-being. Nakuru city, like many urban areas across the world, is not immune to this problem. SEI is pleased to co-host this important celebration in line with our work to bridge science, policy and practice. We will continue to support the county of Nakuru, the national government and other institutions with the science to enable them make sound decisions to address air quality and climate change issues for the betterment of our people.

In order to empower the industry and policymakers committed to emission reductions, our goal is to provide comprehensive tracking of public announcements of investments in low-carbon cement technologies.

Unleashing technology such as CCUS is key to achieving our net zero mission in our sector. Carbon capture pilots, projects and announcements are picking up pace across the world. This technology works, and our next goal is to scale up, working with stakeholders such as governments and the investment community to help transform the industry worldwide.

Progress on the climate and sustainable development goals has stagnated and, in some cases, even decreased over the past three years. This raises questions about political will and commitment to implement both agendas. The NDC-SDG Connections show both the low-hanging fruits and the gaps that need to be filled. It is particularly important to strengthen action on the social dimension of sustainability to change course while leaving no one behind.

Evidence shows that transboundary climate risks are a global concern, yet the international, national and local mechanisms to adapt to climate change are not yet equipped to meet this common challenge. We need a global response to transboundary climate risks if we are to build collective resilience to climate change.

This provides a unique opportunity to gather high-level representatives from EU member states to reflect on the outcome of the informal ministerial meeting and focus on the EU’s sustainability goals achieving the common vision described in the European Green Deal.

If we want an equitable and sustainable future that limits global warming and addresses its ongoing impacts, the ambitions for climate action need to be increased significantly and the implementation of climate mitigation and adaptation measures needs to be deeper and more sustained across all sectors and systems and across all world regions. These measures need to be transformative and equitable to ensure the most effective societal response, including not only technological advances and broader deployment of best practices, but also behavioural changes and institutional reforms.

There are concerns that a transition to LPG or grid-based electricity, which are both fossil-intensive options, would increase emissions that contribute to climate change. However, we find that even when we account for ‘upstream’ emissions from extraction, processing, long-distance transportation and last-mile distribution, both LPG and grid-based power result in lower emissions of all the major pollutants that contribute to climate change. Equally important, the transitions also result in dramatically lower health risks.

In all we do at SEI, we have a dual mission to produce robust, trustworthy science, and communicate the results so they are clear, compelling and actionable. Robust evidence is as crucial as ever, but what drives people’s actions is their values, and their sense of their place in the world. By combining our organizations’ respective strengths, we have produced a booklet that I believe will be very compelling and useful to readers. At a time when many people feel hopeless, like they can’t possibly make a difference, this guide shows they can – both individually, and by advocating collectively for systemic change.

After ten years our ongoing study on peatland management is finally providing some of the answers on how heather burning compares to mowing or uncut approaches. Concerns around burning, for example, are often focused around the large emissions from fire, but we found that whilst carbon loss from the burnt areas is higher in the short-term than from mowing, it then falls as vegetation regrows and takes up a lot more carbon.

This comes hot on the heels of the climate COP27, where nature's role in achieving climate goals gained prominence. Biodiversity’s COP15 is a once in a decade opportunity to set out a framework for addressing the biodiversity crisis. It is vital that we address the multiple global crises in a coherent way. We are pleased that the GEIC indicator can help governments and stakeholders to understand how consumption drives impact across biodiversity and climate, driving aligned action.

There's no question poor, climate-vulnerable countries need more international financial support for climate adaptation. But adaptation finance is a question of ‘how’ in addition to being a question of ‘how much’. Funders that want to get adaptation finance right need to understand power dynamics on the lower levels of government as well as informal power structures. Otherwise, finance is likely to benefit those households whose political connections and powerful positions already make them better positioned to adapt to the impacts of climate change and fail to improve the situation of those already at a disadvantage.

Trase is marking a major milestone in releasing these new supply chain, deforestation and emissions data for Brazilian soy. This release, and the vital transparency it brings, is the result of over two years of intensive research on one of the most important commodities and sectors linked to deforestation and conversion of native ecosystems across the tropics.

By identifying consumer groups at risk of losing from the fossil-free transition, this study emphasises the need for a targeted and well-planned emissions reduction policy and a transitional assistance policy to support a fair and just low-carbon transition for all. Focus must be on how to support those who will have a harder time to cope with the necessary transition.

Climate change risks and impacts expose vulnerabilities for most businesses today. A just transition for climate adaptation can help businesses integrate environmental and social work into their core business strategy and ensure long-term resilience for companies, their workers as well as local communities.

While the cover decisions from last year’s climate change conference COP26 embarked on a new and ambitious path, by mentioning the need to phase down fossil fuels, the COP27 outcome only represents a standstill on that path. Sadly, the overall outcome lacks the sense of urgency that emanated from the science presented in the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

This assessment comes at a timely moment, as COP27 is focused on implementation. Through this report, African governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and local communities now have the scientific evidence on different options for action that can enable the continent to meet its development objectives while mitigating pollution and GHG emissions.

The Agenda 2030 Compass provides a practical, structured way for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to inform decisions that companies or government face in strategic planning. "The versatility of the 2030 Compass is one of its unique features. The tool has been used to test the sustainability of product design, housing development and municipal planning strategies. The method could be applied in almost any sector or country.

Climate change, the biodiversity crisis, human health and animal welfare – there are many urgent reasons to act. In some countries, such as the Netherlands, we’re already seeing efforts to scale down meat production, but many are still avoiding the issue. It is time to engage proactively with stakeholders to start moving towards more socially just, sustainable and humane food systems.

It is clear from the reports published today that there’s an urgent need for national governments to act decisively to deliver a long-term strategy for phasing out oil and gas extraction in the region. By engaging with a broad group of stakeholders, it is evident that all groups need clarity and bold visions for the North Sea oil and gas transition. National governments must act to deliver these strategies, or risk short-term decision making, related to the energy crisis, locking in increased oil and gas production for decades.

This is the first clear evidence of a link between ZDCs and lower deforestation risk in palm oil supply chains.

Deforestation for palm oil in Indonesia has declined significantly in recent years, and our data show that the greatest declines have occurred in supply chains governed by zero-deforestation commitments. However, these achievements are fragile, and rising palm oil prices and the growing role of traders who have lower levels of public transparency threaten to undermine progress.

Sector specific initiatives to combat deforestation can be invaluable, and new measures to prohibit imports of commodities linked to deforestation in consumer markets, such as those under negotiation in the EU, UK and USA represent a major step forward from largely voluntary efforts to combat deforestation to date.

In many ways, the world is at a boiling point – with extreme temperatures in South Asia, escalating fuel and food prices, and war and conflict. In our report, we seek to connect the big picture of intertwined planetary and inequality crises with the promising momentum for change that we see in public awareness and key technologies reaching mass market, to shift from urgency to agency.

The combination of detailed cargo data and vessel operations data brings a very powerful product, and shines a light on what has long been a blind spot.