Welcome to Shaken Not Burned

The news you need, and plant-based proteins with More Foods CEO Leonardo Marcovitz

Glossary - Six Capitals

Economies based solely on building growth through financial returns are exposed to several weaknesses, ranging from unstable supply chains, corruption and precarious employment to inequality and pollution. The Six Capitals are one of several alternative frameworks to record return across different  ‘stocks of value’. These include: natural capital, social and relationship capital; human capital; manufactured capital; intellectual capital and, of course, financial capital. Only by recognising the interconnection between these factors can we understand the impact of our actions – as an economy, as corporations and as individuals.

Busting a myth - sustainability is too expensive

Although the implementation of sustainability strategies can be more expensive than traditional opportunities in the short term, the expense is a matter of the time horizon and the fact that we don’t value externalities – or the impact of our decisions and operations. What that means is pay now, or pay later, but the cost isn’t going away. When and how we choose to act is a socio-economic and political question – but saying sustainability or climate action is too expensive is missing the point.

To put this in context, it’s been estimated that shocks to the global economy related to biodiversity loss and ecosystem damage could cost upwards of $5 trillion. And over $122 billion of economic activity – $81 billion in international trade – is at risk from the impact of extreme climate events on ports alone, according to research published in July 2023.

What we’ve been reading this week

• One thing that really struck home this week was an open letter calling for new leadership from The Elders, a group of independent global leaders ‘working together for peace and human rights’. Over 100 leading figures, led by members of The Elders and the Future of Life Institute, issued an open letter calling on world leaders to take a new approach to address ‘catastrophic’ risks to humanity. The difficulty is a problem with leadership in the long term, as politicians (and indeed many industries) seem to be focused on immediate or short term problems - ignoring the crises looming on the horizon.

  While it may be politically expedient to focus on assigning blame for weak economies and distracting from issues at home, ignoring the potential impact of AI or even the threat of misinformation around pandemics or climate change the failure to engage in solutions creation is an ongoing threat to humanity.  The letter called for ‘long-term leadership’ which it defined as the  “determination to resolve intractable problems not just manage them, the wisdom to make decisions based on scientific evidence and reason, and the humility to listen to all those affected”. That’s what we should be looking for from our politicians.

• While the EU continues to debate the speed at which sustainability reporting will be introduced as a mandatory practice, the Internal Market and Environment committees have adopted a set of rules on how companies can validate their ‘green’, sustainability or climate claims. This is incredibly important, not only in providing guidelines for how companies should implement the process, but in terms of increasing clarity about how greenwash can be avoided. This follows January 2024’s ban on greenwash adopted by MEPs, and a draft law introduced in February 2024 threatening fines of up to 4% of turnover for failure to comply.

• UK pension funds have been shown to have ‘inadequate’ climate plans, according to research from Profundo and Make My Money Matter. If there is one set of investors that should have long term plans in place it’s the pension funds – as they must actively plan to be able to finance people’s pensions in 10, 20, 30, 40 years. Yet the report, which assessed and ranked the public climate strategies of 20 of the UK’s pension funds says that not one provider shows a leadership role in climate action. This is where individual and collective action has a role – demanding action from your pension fund provider (just like from commercial banks) is a chance to make a real difference. As the Elders point out, it’s a question of how you view the time horizon of intended impact.

• The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) has sent its manifesto to the government, arguing for what it thinks the industry needs to see in the next budget. What’s fascinating about the missive is that it raises the importance of a sustainable food system. It calls for a Sustainable Food Pact, a “pre-competitive industry collaboration to restore and maintain the natural systems needed for agricultural productivity.” Although it doesn’t call for regenerative agricultural models by name, there is little chance of achieving sustainability within food and agriculture without a fundamental redesign of the system.

• On the international stage, Global Witness has reported the existential threat that the beef industry poses to the world’s forests. The Amazon is increasingly being protected, and 2023 saw the deforestation rate halve. Yet the Cerrado, an area of outstanding biodiversity, doesn’t have the same protections and has seen deforestation rates increase by an alarming 43%. While the companies accused of driving deforestation argue that they are following local laws, it's important to understand that being legal may not make it right, and there will be consequences nonetheless. The food and drinks industry is set to follow in the energy sector’s footsteps as a key focus of the transition, as highlighted by its recent inclusion in discussions at COP28 last December. Another sector ripe for disruption.