And, perhaps, to set us on a more bullish course for 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here, in no particular order, are five storylines that I found encouraging during the 12 months just ending. (All links are to stories published on GreenBiz.com<\/a> during 2020.) What would you add to the list?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Companies accelerated the route to sustainable mobility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The rise of electric vehicles has been a perennial story for nearly a decade, but 2020 saw the pace of change accelerate. Indeed, in January, my colleague Katie Fehrenbacher predicted<\/a> that 2020 would be a key year for EVs. She was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both the private and public sectors delivered big wins for the electrification of transportation. California\u2019s governor signed a history-making executive order<\/a>, banning sales of new gas-powered cars within 15 years. Britain upped the ante<\/a>, with a similar ban but within a decade, helped by McDonald\u2019s plan<\/a> to install EV chargers at its U.K. drive-thru restaurants. On the supply side, General Motors<\/a> and Volkswagen<\/a> planned major EV rollouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, how fast these markets rev up depends on demand from fleet buyers. Amazon continued its aggressive EV buying plans<\/a>, as did both Walmart<\/a> and IKEA<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One reason for all this: Batteries continue their journey down the price-experience curve, where increased demand lowers prices, further pumping up demand. New technologies<\/a> are helping, many still in early stages<\/a>. Some are specifically geared toward truck and bus fleets<\/a>, an indication that the markets for medium- and heavy-duty EVs are about to kick into high gear<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Sustainable fashion became material<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fashion is another long-simmering environmental story that finally has reached a boiling point. The issues are many, from the resources needed to grow cotton or produce synthetic fabrics, usually from petroleum feedstocks, to the waste that ends up in landfills, especially for inexpensive and trendy clothing items that often have a short useful life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2020, several new developments helped put sustainability in fashion. For example, the nonprofit Textile Exchange launched a Material Change Index<\/a>, enabling manufacturers to integrate a preferred fiber and materials strategy into their products. It also launched a Corporate Fiber and Materials Benchmark<\/a> to help the fashion and textile industry take action on biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Circular models<\/a> made the rounds, starting with the design department, where a lot of negative environmental and social impacts are baked into garments, usually unwittingly. Adidas and H&M Group teamed up<\/a> for a project to recycle old garments and fibers into new items for major brands. German sportswear company adidas committed<\/a> to using only recycled polyester across its supply chain by 2024. Markets for secondhand clothing racked up sales, including recommerce<\/a>, where companies sell their own reclaimed and refurbished goods back to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the wings: startups<\/a> touting a new generation of textiles, production methods and business models, suggesting a lot more innovations in store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Forestry took root on the balance sheet<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Saving and planting trees has been a cornerstone of environmental action pretty much since Day One. (Hence, the often-epithetic moniker “treehugger.”) And pressing companies to eliminate deforestation in their supply chains has long been an activist focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, companies themselves are seeing the business benefits of proactive forestry policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, there\u2019s risk mitigation \u2014 ensuring “a company\u2019s ability to sell products into a global supply chain,” as a BlackRock executive put it<\/a>. It\u2019s not just the climate impacts of concern to investors. Deforestation and human rights abuses often go hand-in-hand \u2014 “there\u2019s almost a direct correlation,” said another investor<\/a> \u2014 an additional layer of risk for companies from neglecting forests and those who live and work there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then there\u2019s the opportunity for companies to offset their emissions, as trees are a natural climate solution that can help draw down greenhouse gases, especially firms adopting net-zero commitments (see below). Microsoft<\/a>, JetBlue<\/a> and Royal Dutch Shell<\/a> are among those seeking to offset a portion of their carbon footprint by investing in forest protection and reforestation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, there are the innovators \u2014 entrepreneurs who see gold in all that green. Silicon Valley venture capitalists are beginning to branch out into forestry-related startups<\/a> \u2014 companies such as SilviaTerra and Pachama that provide enabling technologies to facilitate forestry projects. These entrepreneurs likely saw opportunity in the Trillion Trees initiative<\/a> launched in early 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, success requires stopping deforestation in the first place, especially in tropical rainforests. And that remains a problem. Half of the companies most reliant on key commodities that have a negative impact on forests \u2014 palm oil, soy, beef, leather, timber, and pulp and paper \u2014 don\u2019t have a publicly stated policy on deforestation, according to one report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, some firms are making progress. Mars, for example, announced that its palm oil \u2014 used in food and pet care products \u2014 is now deforestation-free<\/a> after shrinking the number of mills it works with from 1,500 to a few hundred, a clear-cut sign that progress is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Food equity showed up on the menu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For all the talk about Big Ag and Big Food, there\u2019s a growing recognition of the smaller players in the food chain, from farmers and producers to those who prepare and serve meals. And, of course, the 821 million or so humans who face food insecurity, according to the United Nations. And that stat was from 2018, long before this year\u2019s pandemic and global recession created millions more hungry bellies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With restaurants closed and other foodservice operations curtailed, one lingering question is what the world\u2019s largest food companies are doing to help their suppliers and other partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Retailers and brands are recognizing that if they don\u2019t step in to help their producers and distributors, the links holding together those supply chains may crack in ways that aren\u2019t easily repaired,” my colleague Elsa Wenzel reported<\/a> back in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collecting uneaten food or unsellable produce for distribution to those in need is one activity that accelerated during the pandemic<\/a>. A newish concept, “upcycled food”<\/a> \u2014 goods that “use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment” \u2014 is being promoted by a nonprofit consortium called the Upcycled Food Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Increased concern for farmers is also on the menu. Fair Trade certified crops continue to rise<\/a>, ensuring a living wage for many smallholder farmers, and there\u2019s growing interest in supporting Indigenous farmers<\/a>, who have long practiced regenerative techniques. The Regenerative Organic Alliance developed a standard<\/a> to support farmers who promote soil health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All this will require making capital and assistance available<\/a> to growers around the world, including the data and analytics that increasingly are core to 21st-century farming. And to do this quickly, before the ravages of a changing climate create further hardships<\/a> for both food producers and consumers around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Net-zero commitments found infinite potential<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And finally, zero \u2014 perhaps a fitting coda to a year that boasts two of them in its name. What began just a couple years ago blossomed into a full-on movement as the number of net-zero commitments doubled in less than a year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The list of companies making such commitments cut across sectors and international borders, among them BP<\/a>, Delta<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, HSBC<\/a>, Nestl\u00e9<\/a>, Walmart<\/a>, even Rolls Royce<\/a>. Verizon, Indian IT services giant Infosys and British consumer goods brand Reckitt Benckiser became the first global companies to join Amazon’s Climate Pledge initiative<\/a>, committing to reach “carbon neutrality” by 2040.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some went further. Microsoft said it would become “carbon negative” within a decade<\/a>, with a stretch goal to remove all the carbon it has emitted since it was founded in 1975. The travel-intensive strategy firm BCG said it aspires to be “climate positive”<\/a> by removing more carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere than it emits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But getting to zero \u2014 or neutral or positive or some other goal \u2014 is not without controversy. As one report noted<\/a>, net-zero commitments vary widely in terms of their metrics and transparency, among other things. That is, no single standard governs the way net-zero is defined or measured, or how it should be communicated. As such, net-zero could soon be in the crosshairs of activists eager to point out corporate greenwash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Help could be on the way. In September, the Science Based Targets initiative unveiled plans to develop a global standard for corporate net-zero goals, including the role of carbon offsets, a practice whose massive expansion is itself problematic and controversial<\/a>. How it gets resolved will be an enduring storyline for 2021 and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s more<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Those were hardly the only 2020 storylines of note. There was a significant uptick of Wall Street interest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting<\/a> \u2026 a surge of attention by companies to environmental justice<\/a> \u2026 the continued rise and empowerment of corporate sustainability professionals<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, and the advent of a new U.S. presidential administration that promises to reengage with business<\/a> and the global community on addressing the climate crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is to say, 2020 wasn\u2019t all about the pandemic, recession and you-know-who.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This article<\/a> was originally published by GreenBiz<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was a very long year. True, just 366 days (it was a leap year, after all), each one, I\u2019m told, containing only the standard 24 hours. 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