Still unsure about how the Paris Agreement affects businesses? This article breaks down the main ways the private sector is influenced by this international sustainability agreement. About the Paris Agreement It is an agreement within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that establishes measures for the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions through mitigation, adaptation and resilience. It establishes as main objectives: Limit Global warming to 2ºC and the closest to 1.5ºC, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Increase the capacity of countries to adapt to the effects of climate change and build resilient societies, that is, that can resist these effects. Promote the transition towards low carbon economies and towards sustainable development. Together with the 2030 Agenda, it projects an integrated vision towards a sustainable world, focused on the well-being of people, the preservation of the planet and peace. Its entry into force implies a profound structural transformation in our society. However, climate action does not depend only on governments but is the duty of citizens, financial institutions and the private sector. How much can the business sector contribute to the Paris Agreement? According to the We Mean Business Coalition report, the commitment of companies around the world would amount to 60% of the GHG reduction of the total established in the Paris Agreement. This represents a reduction by 2030 of 3.7 billion metric tons of C02 per year. CO2 emissions offsetting To achieve the goal of reducing emissions, a GHG emission rights trading scheme is established by which polluting companies have the obligation to offset the emissions derived from their activity by purchasing carbon credits from developers of projects to reduce carbon emissions. Rules about the trading of credits to offset GHG emissions such as recycling plants, renewable energy projects, forestry projects, energy efficiency, etc, were partially clarified at COP26 in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Currently, there are mandatory regulatory measures for companies to progressively establish environmental policies related to climate change. Regulatory framework In Spain, on December 7, 2018, the Ecological Public Procurement Plan of the General State Administration, its autonomous bodies and the managing entities of Social Security (2018-2025) was approved. This plan establishes that all companies contracted to carry out public works must have approved quality systems that can contribute to achieving better environmental sustainability. Governments committed themselves through the Paris Agreement to reduce their emissions to zero by 2050, and this implies that measures such as the previous one will be implemented in the different sectors to push private sector companies to adopt environmental policies related to climate change, the use of resources and sustainable production and consumption. In September 2021, the UK also added environmental criteria to its public tender selection process for contracts of more than 5 million pounds, among which the delivery of a carbon reduction plan. Sustainable Development Goals Along with the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are another set of rules meant to help the world become more sustainable and equitable. This too needs to be integrated into businesses. At ClimateTrade, we support companies in the implementation of their sustainability and decarbonization strategies. Get in touch with our team to discover our solutions.

Sustainable tourism destinations are receiving European funds to improve environmental performance as a competitive advantage. The public entities managing Next Generation EU funds for the tourism sector are giving priority to projects focused on improving sustainability and environmental impact management, particularly in Spain. Focus on sustainable and digital tourism The sustainable tourist destination program 2021-2023 is a mechanism set up between the Government of Spain and the European Commission to support tourist destinations in their transformation towards environmental, socio-economic and territorial sustainability, and to help them develop resilience strategies against new sector challenges, such as climate change, excess tourism demand or health and safety crises. The program is expected to improve the competitiveness of tourism destinations, thanks to climate change prevention and mitigation actions and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, among other things. Sustainability, digitization and mobility ClimateTrade regularly participates in international events on sustainability, such as the Leadership Summit on Mobility Sustainability and Digitization that took place in Seville in November 2021. There, the key aspects of sustainable tourism management were discussed between leading operators. The main themes discussed at these events revolve around the policies, best practices and management tools for executives and operational, financial and marketing managers. The generally accepted roadmap starts with the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions, then their reduction as much as possible, and finally the offset of emissions that cannot be abated. Offsetting emissions also contributes directly to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), since mitigation projects support local communities as part of the positive impact of their actions. Another key aspect of sustainability in tourism is mobility and transportation: destinations should focus on the most polluting forms of travel, such as planes, combustion vehicles, buses and ferries. There is some good news in this area, as vehicles with a lower environmental impact come to market – electric cars, for instance. Finally, the trend towards digital management of tourist destinations and their environmental sustainability brings clear benefits for all those involved in the tourist experience: Visualisation and awareness of environmental data and impacts thanks to transparent digital portals Increased access to information that generates trust, such as flight, car and bus carbon footprint calculation methodology  Ability to identify which operators in the ecosystem have a neutral or positive impact, or are reducing their negative impact, for instance by voluntarily offsetting the carbon footprint of other operators or travelers Access to methodology and tools for carbon calculation and impact assessment for the entities managing tourist destinations The sustainable tourism trend is strong: on top of these efforts by public entities to make destinations more sustainable, business travel agencies have also started their journey towards better environmental practices, particularly in their B2B services. For example, the spanish travel agency association GEBTA recently signed an agreement with ClimateTrade to facilitate CO2 offsetting for the business trips organized by its members. Environmental impact monitoring and transparency Since sustainability is now a force for tourism, it is important to highlight how impact is measured and communicated to tourists, operators and those who manage tourist destinations. Solutions that allow easy visualization, such as digital transparency portals or dashboards, are playing an important role in this, displaying real-time and historical information. It will also be crucial to manage tourists’ user experience and perception of the destination’s sustainability, since this is becoming a key aspect of competitiveness in the comparison between different potential holiday spots. ClimateTrade’s digital solutions for sustainable tourism In the near future, tourist destinations will be compared, amongst other criteria, based on the carbon footprint generated by tourists and operators during stays, similarly to what is happening in other sectors and services. Concretely, CO2 emissions and environmental footprint will directly influence purchasing habits. We have already talked about the need for products and services to become carbon-neutral, but making this a reality is not easy – that’s also true about tourism. It is necessary to calculate carbon footprint automatically, and to have a reliable platform to give clients complete visibility over where and how carbon credits are generated. ClimateTrade supports companies in meeting their sustainability and carbon offsetting commitments, strengthening their corporate social responsibility strategy. Our innovative digital solutions, including the ClimateTrade API, have been implemented in various companies from the tourism sector, such as Iberia or Melia Hotels. Check out our case studies: Iberia Melia Hoteles  At the end of 2021, we launched the ClimateTrade Widget, which presents similar functionalities, but with an even easier integration process, making it perfect for SMEs and organizations that lack IT resources. The ClimateTrade API and Widget give clients information about the carbon footprint of their purchases and allow them to invest in sustainable projects to offset it. ClimateTrade recognized by the UN World Tourism Organization  Tourism can help to accelerate decarbonization goals with the help of companies like ClimateTrade, which in 2021 won the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) SDG startup competition for SDG 13 (Climate Action). Natalia Bayona, UNWTO Director of Innovation, Education and Investments, commented on the competition: “Startups allow society to benefit from new advances in less time, and connecting their projects with potential partners and public and private sector investors helps to ensure their implementation. This flow of knowledge and investment is a novel paradigm to introduce cutting-edge technologies in tourism, for countries as well as corporations.” The UNWTO offers an online showcase for the best emerging companies within the global tourism innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, based on its mission to promote sustainable, accessible and inclusive tourism, as well as innovation and digital transformation as a management priority. ……………… Interested? Register on our marketplace and talk to one of our experts.  Article written by Francisco Martín, Head of Engineering and International Key Accounts Manager at ClimateTrade.

Under pressure from investors, large companies and corporations are raising their expectations for certified carbon-neutral transportation. This trend is particularly visible in the case of urban mobility, business travel and last-mile deliveries. Investor and government requirements around decarbonization are becoming more stringent, while at the same time, compliance and transparency regulations around companies’ environmental impact are increasing in number and scope. The pressure to comply with environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria is real, particularly for large companies backed by institutional investors. Beyond supporting investors in identifying and mitigating environmental, social and governance risks, ESG performance is correlated with value creation for shareholders. It is becoming increasingly clear that companies with a strong ESG performance tend to be more efficient, less wasteful, more productive and enjoy more commitment from employees, which makes them more attractive to both capital and talent. Employees’ urban mobility Large companies have identified a low-hanging fruit to begin identifying and mitigating ESG risks: their employees’ and directors’ urban and metropolitan commute, particularly by taxi. Luckily for the HR and sustainability managers of these corporations, some taxi operators have begun integrating advanced digital services of high added value for their corporate clients. The operators and their mobile apps are starting to report on the carbon footprint of their rides. One example of this sustainable urban mobility trend is Cabify, an app operating in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. Since 2020, this ride-sharing operator has been sending yearly certificates guaranteeing CO2 emission offsetting to its corporate and institutional clients registered on its Cabify for Business (C4B). Thanks to ClimateTrade’s technological support, Cabify’s urban mobility app can offer its thousands of corporate clients in eight countries the digital tools they need to implement more sustainable corporate policy, and to pursue a traceable corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy around the urban mobility of their employees. This trend has been mentioned in various international forums attended by ClimateTrade, such as the Leadership Summit on Mobility Sustainability and Digitization that took place in Seville in November 2021. Business travel Business travel agencies serving large corporations and public organizations have also started their journey towards better environmental practices in their B2B services. These agencies, which specialize in managing flights, accommodation, car rentals, transport and events, are beginning to offer high added value services to their corporate clients, starting with the voluntary offset of business trips’ carbon footprint. Proof of this growing demand, Spain’s business travel association GEBTA is integrating ClimateTrade’s digital solutions to generate CO2 offsetting certificates for the business trips its members organize. With this initiative, travel agencies are supporting their own CSR strategy, as well as their corporate and institutional clients’. Last mile delivery  Urban and long-distance logistics and delivery operators are becoming more aware of their own shortfalls around managing the ESG risks of their activities. They are starting to collect environmental data for their delivery vehicle fleets and preparing to share carbon footprint data with their end clients, particularly in the B2B sphere. Operators are also working internally with their operations and digitization managers to incorporate solutions such as APIs and widgets, allowing them to manage relevant data and create a B2B space and a shared dashboard with their clients to monitor the carbon footprint of deliveries. With ClimateTrade’s technological support, some logistics companies in Latin America (Colombia, Mexico, Chile) are starting to innovate in this area, with the goal of dramatically improving the quality of their B2B services. In 2022, these operators are expected to announce the first premium B2B services including the automated generation of carbon-neutral delivery certificates guaranteeing the offset of each delivery’s CO2 emissions. ClimateTrade’s digital solutions  In the coming years, all products will be benchmarked by CO2, and consumers will know exactly how much they pollute before buying them, which will influence their purchasing habits.  Carbon-neutral products and services are a necessity. But making it happen is easier said than done. It requires automated carbon footprint calculation and a reliable platform to give customers full visibility on where the carbon credits are generated. ClimateTrade helps companies to fulfil their most ambitious carbon offsetting commitments, empowering their sustainability strategy with our innovative digital solutions. After noticing the trend towards carbon-neutral products and services, we developed the ClimateTrade API, the first API REST that can be easily and securely integrated into the companies’ systems for them to be able to offer their own customers the possibility of acquiring carbon-neutral products and services during the purchase process.  And this month, we launched the ClimateTrade Widget, a tool with similar functionalities, but an even easier integration process, making it ideally suited for SMEs and organizations with limited IT resources. The ClimateTrade API and Widget provide customers with information about the carbon footprint of their purchases and offer them the opportunity to invest in sustainable projects while offsetting it. Explore our case studies to find out how we have implemented these solutions for international clients. ……………… Want to know more? Register on our marketplace and speak to our experts.  Article written by Francisco Martín, Head of Engineering and International Key Account Manager at ClimateTrade.

The UN Environmental Program (UNEP)’s latest two Adaptation Gap Reports have emphasized the importance of nature-based solutions (NBS) to mitigate climate change. So what are nature-based solutions, and why should adaptation efforts focus on them? UNEP Adaptation Gap Reports In the 2021 Adaptation Gap Report, UNEP warns that the extreme events experienced throughout the year prove that climate outcomes are likely to be worse than optimistic estimates, and therefore that adaptation efforts should be more ambitious than they currently are. “More than anything else, these events underscore the urgent need to decarbonize the global economy much faster than [nationally determined contributions] NDCs currently foresee. This is the only way to avoid escalating climate risks and to prevent the adaptation gap from widening further,” the authors say. This is not the first time we hear about the need to act more drastically against climate change. But what’s interesting about the UNEP report is the analysis of what type of solution deserves the most focus: nature-based solutions. According to the Global Commission on Adaptation, investment in climate adaptation delivers benefit–cost ratios of between 2:1 and 10:1, largely through avoiding future costs. UNEP identifies nature-based solutions as “a source of investment with the potential to reduce climate risks and vulnerability, while providing economic, environmental, and social inclusion co-benefits”. In fact, it is estimated that for every dollar spent on ecosystem conservation (a form of nature-based solution), almost seven more are generated in the economy over five years. What are nature-based solutions? The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines nature-based solutions as “actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits”. They can be categorized into five types: avoided deforestation, peatland impact, peatland restoration, reforestation, and cover crops. In a nutshell, nature-based solutions promote the resilience of natural ecosystems. IUCN has developed eight principles to characterize nature-based solutions: they must embrace nature conservation norms and principles; they can be implemented alone or in an integrated manner with other solutions to societal challenges, such as technological and engineering solutions; they are determined by site-specific natural and cultural contexts that include traditional, local and scientific knowledge; they produce societal benefits in a fair and equitable way, in a manner that promotes transparency and broad participation; they maintain biological and cultural diversity and the ability of ecosystems to evolve over time; they are applied at a landscape scale; they recognise and address the trade-offs between the production of a few immediate economic benefits for development, and future options for the production of the full range of ecosystems services; and they are an integral part of the overall design of policies, and measures or actions, to address a specific challenge. The potential of nature-based solutions to fight climate change According to the UN Global Compact, nature-based solutions can mitigate 10-12 gigatons of CO2 per year – over one-third of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed between now and 2030 to limit global warming to below 2°C.  What makes nature-based solutions so appealing in the fight against climate change is that they tend to be cheaper than technological solutions such as solar panels or wind turbines, and at the same time each project tends to cover several sustainable development goals (SDGs). “Nature-Based Solutions underpin the Sustainable Development Goals: they support vital ecosystem services, biodiversity, and access to fresh water, improved livelihoods, healthy diets and food security from sustainable food systems,” says the UN Global Compact. This means their positive impact on the climate is deep and durable. For these reasons, nature-based solutions are fast becoming the preferred type of carbon offset for companies looking to become carbon-neutral. NBS projects on ClimateTrade Since the beginning of our journey, we have been adding mitigation projects and carbon credits based on the conservation of ecosystems to our marketplace. The ClimateTrade marketplace currently features 11 NBS projects of this type, including the hemp carbon removal project pilot in Spain, a collaboration between ClimateTrade and Made in Hemp. In addition, our decentralized platform removes the barriers that prevent reaching the potential of NBS, such as the lack of consensus on how to treat the ownership of sequestered carbon, lack of clarity on rules and certifications for such projects, and lack of confidence after years of excess supply of carbon credits but at very low prices that did not help communities to survive. On the ClimateTrade marketplace, project developers manage the sale and set the price of their carbon credits. Because they are connected directly to companies looking to offset their carbon footprint, without traditional intermediaries such as brokers, they maintain control over the whole process. At the same time, blockchain traceability ensures that carbon offsetting funds generate real benefits for nature-based projects.

The pandemic has taught us a lot about what truly matters to us humans: health, connection and solidarity. But what can Covid-19 teach us about how to fight climate change? GHG emissions At the beginning of the crisis, all corporate efforts went towards the survival of their business: contingency plans had to be put in place to handle the unexpected slowdown in activities, and sustainability took a back seat (luckily, companies’ attention is now turning once again towards achieving net zero emissions). But at the same time, the lockdowns put in place throughout 2020 led to a 6-7% year-on-year drop in fossil fuel emissions compared to 2019 – the first global drop in emissions since the 2008 global financial crisis. This reduction was led by the transport sector, which screeched to a halt amidst lockdowns and border closures.  Along with the drop in human activity and air pollution, blissful images of dolphins in Venice’s canals became a symbol of nature’s ability to thrive if we give it space. The trend was short-lived, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, but it showed us that drastic action from governments can result in rapid improvements in the fight against climate change. Human adaptability Another thing the pandemic taught us is how adaptable we are in the face of crisis. In just a few months, governments put emergency legislation in place to contain the pandemic, set up temporary hospitals and focused all efforts on finding a vaccine, which took just under a year.  Almost all office work moved online during lockdown, changing the way the world collaborates and reducing the need for travel. Events shifted towards a flexible hybrid model that remains in place today and is helping the sector curb its carbon footprint.  The crisis led us to change our habits, and this had an overall positive effect on the planet. We should take this as encouragement and maintain some of the new habits acquired during the pandemic now that we are getting used to the new normal.  Think about limiting air travel, working from home when possible, and generally consuming less. Emergency status The biggest lesson learned from the Covid-19 pandemic is that when we treat something as an emergency and focus all our efforts on dealing with it, we are able to come up with quick and efficient responses.  We need to treat climate change as the emergency that it is, foster public-private collaboration and support powerful policies and social involvement to create the resilient systems our planet and future generations need. It is time to build an economy geared towards sustainable practices. An economy that works for both people and the planet. This is our purpose at ClimateTrade: we are leading a global change, helping companies achieve carbon neutrality by providing transparent and traceable financing to certified climate mitigation projects around the world. Visit our marketplace.