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This year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) was held in Baku, Azerbaijan. For reasons ranging from an impending change of US president to political positions on human rights, to personal injury, several key world leaders chose not to attend the 29th annual event.
As with all COP Conferences, the objectives were ambitious. The headline targets of addressing collective climate financial support for developing countries, enhancing pre-existing national climate commitments and, operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund to support vulnerable communities on small islands and in least developed countries were discussed. Outcomes from COP29 may not grab headlines but they are steps on the path, where slow or minimal progress is better than no progress at all.
In other words, even incremental legislation to help with climate change is cause to smile.
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Which brings us to Shell, the British oil and gas behemoth. The company recently won a case in the Dutch courts that overturned a ruling whereby Shell bore a responsibility for climate change, and had to reduce its carbon emissions. Shell does have an enforceable duty of care to mitigate climate risks and reduce its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Scope 3 emission reductions, however, cannot be mandated by the court. The outcome in this case provides some clarity of the legal responsibilities of major corporations to climate change, and its mitigation. It’s certainly not an ideal and enforceable result but it is a step in the right direction.
In the Keypoint Intelligence world of workplace print, there are also ambitions and outcomes. Earlier this year, we challenged industry OEMs to submit entries for our Market Insights study on workplace sustainability, which leads to an accompanying Pacesetter Award. Participants submitted responses to a range of questions about their sustainability goals, targets, achievements, and future vision. The judges were overwhelmed by the depth and breadth of the submissions. Ricoh was determined to be the winner in the United States, while Epson prevailed in Western Europe.
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
With office print, the major players are all setting sustainability goals and some are even achieving them.
When reflecting on the results of our survey, it’s clear that most of the easy work is done. Speaking with all the participants, the more difficult work is still some distance away from delivery…and in certain cases, this work isn’t even on the R&D drawing board.
As sustainability becomes a competitive differentiator, that should be a cause for concern.
Keypoint Intelligence Market Insights on workplace sustainability can be viewed by subscribers (US, WEU). If you’d like to purchase either or ask a question about the study, contact us by clicking here.
Browse through our Industry Reports Page (latest reports only). Log in to the InfoCenter to view research on sustainability through our Workplace CompleteView Advisory Service. If you’re not a subscriber, contact us for more info by clicking here.
