World Wildlife Fund Sustainability Works

Many of the innovations we now take for granted daily consist of single-use plastics, meaning products that can be conveniently disposed of the minute they no longer hold value to the consumer. However, the popularity and ease of the ‘take-make-waste’ economy is not without dire consequences for our planet. In the US alone, it is estimated that the annual volume of plastic waste produced is over 42 million metric tons—only 8.7% of which is recycled. At the current rate, these numbers are set to triple by 2040, since our current waste management system and recycling infrastructure cannot properly manage the volume of virgin plastic produced.

With plastic use ever growing, we need to fix the broken system that has gotten us to this point and prioritize new business models that provide the same functionality and accessibility as single-use plastics without polluting the air, water and soil that both people and wildlife depend on.

As all eyes turn to Paris this week to watch the world’s top conditioned athletes strive to break world records in the pool, on the track and on the mat, climate change may not be top of mind, but it should be.

Just last year, our planet went for gold, and sadly pulled off an incredible feat: the hottest year on record. And earlier this week, another record fell: Earth’s hottest day ever. Here at World Wildlife Fund headquarters in Washington, DC, 15 of the last 25 days have seen temperatures soaring above 90 degrees and maxing out at 104 (and that’s before accounting for the heat index). And it’s not just the extreme heat – raging wildfires, catastrophic early in the season hurricanes, and floods are devastating the lives, economies and ecosystems, as countless national and world temperature and extreme weather records continue to be shattered.

But how did we get here? Back in Paris in 2015, world leaders came together and agreed to set and meet global climate targets, and while some progress has been made, the climate crisis is unfortunately moving faster than we are. As we sprint full speed ahead toward planetary tipping points it may seem inevitable that the world will continue to break too many climate records. But together, we can change the game.

Everyone has a role to play in identifying and implementing solutions, from governments, philanthropists and businesses through to local communities and Indigenous Peoples. If we’re going to stop runaway climate change, conservation efforts must be grounded in places and communities, supporting local leadership and rights. Corporate sustainability efforts must go beyond the status quo, delivering meaningful impact. And both must ensure real transparency and accountability. Here are just a few of the urgent actions needed:

• Scaling up renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy access in a way that phases out fossil fuels while minimizing harm to nature and communities.

• Encouraging subnational entities–including cities, states, companies, and institutions–to promote, adopt and meet science based net zero targets and reinvent the ways we create, consume, transport and dispose of material in our economy.

• Meeting climate finance commitments that spur innovation and action in developing countries that respond to and build resilience to growing climate impacts.

Let’s seize this moment. World records should be reserved for athletes; it’s time to stop playing games with the future of our planet.

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In season three of Brooklyn Nine Nine, the fictional police precinct at the center of this comedy series receives a new commanding officer, Captain Seth Dozerman. Glaring at his new team, Dozerman snarls, “My motto is simple: efficiency, efficiency, efficiency”—to which Sergeant Jake Peralta replies: “You could probably just say that once.”

This silly interaction evokes an important reality about how we manage water: while efficiency is important, excessive emphasis on it can be, well, not all that efficient.

Given all that you’ve heard about the world running out of fresh water, water-use efficiency must seem like the obvious answer to ensuring enough water for all. After all, growing food and manufacturing products must use some water…thus, doing so efficiently must be the key.

But faith that efficiency leads to sustainable water management is a myth that needs to be examined and revised into a much broader understanding of water – particularly when and where it’s used, alongside where it comes from and where it goes.

Let’s examine the myths swirling around efficiency.

Conservation efforts often face complex challenges that a single organization can't tackle alone. When a group of several major hotel chains wanted to drive measurable reduction of food waste in the hospitality sector in the U.S., for example, several companies created a pre-competitive pilot, called Hotel Kitchen, focused on food waste prevention, donation, and diversion from landfills. These types of groups, highlighted in a new WWF report, bring together diverse players in supply or value chains, from companies to NGOs and producers to researchers, to work on shared goals, which often include environmental impacts or, more directly, conservation objectives.

WWF's experience in launching and participating in such platforms suggests that no one-size-fits-all model dictates success of a precompetitive or multistakeholder group. But successful ones share some key characteristics. And there are lessons to be learned as well from initiatives that have run into roadblocks. Here are some characteristics that make them successful, illustrate pitfalls to avoid, and demonstrate how to maximize their impact.

When people think about decarbonizing the chemical sector, they often imagine a daunting task. It’s true that this industry has long been considered “hard to abate,” and the complexity of the processes involved has historically proven a significant challenge. Helping to pave the way toward a solution to these obstacles, the Renewable Thermal Collaborative’s (RTC) new Chemical Sector Assessment has laid out a clear and achievable roadmap for decarbonizing the chemical sector. While implementing these solutions may not be simple, the solutions themselves are fairly straightforward. Chemical companies, downstream corporate consumers, and policymakers must act together today to transition the chemical sector onto a net-zero pathway.

As WWF’s head of Plastic Pollution & Business, as well as a material science engineer with a decade of experience in the packaging industry, I often engage with companies about the scope and scale of the plastic pollution crisis – and specifically, what they should be doing about it. While it’s a simple question, it hasn’t always been as simple to answer.

Since its mainstream introduction in the 1940s, plastic has played an important role in shaping our society – helping our food stay fresh, our medical equipment sanitary, and our economy boom with convenient and affordable packaging for consumer products.

Recently however, the production of virgin single-use plastic has exploded, with more plastic products produced in the past 15 years alone than that of the entire 20th century. And while production has rapidly increased, our infrastructure and capacity to effectively deal with the resulting waste have not – leaving 75% of all plastic ever produced to become pollution, harming our environment, communities and even our bodies.

As an individual, I always aim to do my part with mindful consumption and proper disposal of the products I use – but as a sustainability professional, I also know that the only way to really achieve change at scale is for companies to design products and systems that make it easier for us to not create plastic waste in the first place.

Throughout my time at WWF, I've seen firsthand that businesses around the world are ready to step up. As awareness of this issue has risen, so too have corporate efforts to tackle plastic up and down the supply chain. The number of national and voluntary initiatives has increased by 60% in just the last five years. Yet even though many of the largest fast-moving consumer goods companies rank tackling plastic packaging waste as a top sustainability issue, they often don’t know where to begin to deliver the lasting and effective results our planet needs.

Chicago is known for deep-dish pizza, hot dogs, lake views, stunning architecture and next week it will be known for circularity – as sustainability professionals from around the world gather at GreenBiz’s Circularity24, to discuss how to accelerate the circular economy.

As always, WWF experts will participate in panels, lead discussions and host workshops dedicated to providing valuable insights on everything from plastic pollution to food waste.

If you’re participating in GreenBiz24, we invite you to join a workshop or session featuring WWF experts and of course come say “hello” during conference networking breaks. Here’s where you can find us:

It's Time to Tackle Food Waste

Wednesday, May 22 – 4pm-5pm CT

Daniel Burnham AB

WWF experts include:

• Alex Nichols-Vinueza, Director, Food Loss & Waste

This breakout session also includes speakers from: Ahold Delhaize, USA, Deloitte and ReFed

Countdown to a Global Plastics Treaty

Wednesday, May 22 – 4pm-5pm CT

Great Lakes A

WWF experts include:

• Erin Simon, Vice President and Head of Plastic Waste + Business

This breakout session also includes speakers from: Ocean Conservancy and The Descendants Project

Global Packaging Innovations and Collaboration Strategies

Thursday, May 23 – 3pm-4pm ET

Architecture Room

WWF experts include:

• Erin Simon, Vice President and Head of Plastic Waste + Business

This sponsored breakout session also includes speakers from: The Coca-Cola Company, Closed Loop Partners, and Republic Services

A Blueprint for Credible Action on Plastic Pollution

Friday, May 24 – 9am-11:30am CT

Great Lakes C

WWF experts include:

• Erin Simon, Vice President and Head of Plastic Waste + Business
• Mary Jo Snavely, Director, Plastic and Material Science
• Tessa Bellone, Program Officer, Plastic and Material Science
• Meredith Soward, Program Specialist, Global Plastic Pollicy

This workshop also includes speakers from: Colgate Palmolive and Starbucks

This is the third in a series of blog posts on carbon accounting standards. The first post provided an overarching explanation of carbon accounting and its inherent challenges. The second post examined variability in companies’ “Scope 3” emissions—that is, emissions that originate from upstream and downstream activities, which often constitute 90% or more of companies’ emissions. Here we discuss factors behind the variability of emissions across farms and regions.

The variability in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of product across the agricultural sector is striking, even when comparing identical products. Understanding this variability is crucial, particularly when assessing the complexities of supply chains. This variability manifests at multiple scales—from individual farms to regions—and significantly impacts both corporate strategy and policy formulation.

At the farm level, differences in emissions can be profound, even among neighboring farms that are both practicing conventional agriculture. For instance, two farms growing the same row crops can exhibit up to a twofold difference in emissions. Similar variability exists in aquaculture, where shrimp production emissions can vary by as much as five times. These discrepancies are often due to the efficiency of input use, influenced by factors such as soil quality, farmer skill, and local weather conditions. Such variability within a farm itself can result in certain areas being more profitable than others.

The food system accounts for one-third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. From cradle to landfill, about 70% of these emissions originate directly from farms. Downstream companies that ship, process, package, or store these products add another 15%, and ultimately consumers who cook and dispose of waste, add the remainder. To determine who is responsible for generating various emissions—and track improvement over time—we use GHG accounting standards, a set of guidelines that outline which emissions sources to include, the necessary data for these calculations, and the methodologies to be employed.

One critical concept from these standards is emissions “scopes.” A company’s Scope 1 emissions originate from its own operations, while its Scope 2 emissions originate from its purchased electricity and heat, and its Scope 3 emissions (which often account for 90% or more of its total emissions) originate from upstream and downstream activities, such as the production of purchased materials, transportation of purchased products, and the use of sold products and services. Thus, a company in the middle of the supply chain must account for—and help mitigate--the emissions of the inputs it procures (Scope 3), its own Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and the emissions other companies and consumers add to it after they sell it (Scope 3 again).

One of America’s most important and endangered rivers, the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo is home to more mammal species than Yellowstone National Park, more reptile species than the Sonoran Desert, more bird species than the Florida Everglades, and nearly 50% of all fish species found nowhere else in the world. This ecological treasure is teeming with biodiversity, but it is threatened by water scarcity – and without intervention, it may not be able to continue to support the millions of people and wildlife that rely on it.

That is why WWF is partnering with Finish to help protect and replenish the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. Through this partnership, Finish is supporting WWF’s conservation work to help replenish the river alongside local organizations. Finish is also building awareness about the importance of water conservation by encouraging consumers to adopt simple, water-friendly habits in their homes, such as skipping the rinse when loading the dishwasher.