- Date: 19 May 2022
- Author: Erin Simon, Head of Plastic Waste and Business
Even in times of great political divide and international conflict, moments of global resolution are possible. Just a few months ago on March 2 at the UN General Assembly (UNEA 5.2), 175 world leaders courageously found common ground on a plan to tackle one of the planet's most pressing issues: plastic waste.
In the historic moment marked by the knock of a gavel and a roar of applause, UN member states unanimously voted in favor of establishing a legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution – and one that will be developed under an accelerated timeline to be finalized as soon as 2024.
This first major step to put a treaty in motion took more than seven years. Because while there are many ongoing large-scale efforts to mitigate plastic waste, the reality is that no international issue can be effectively addressed without a global framework to support it.
- Date: 12 May 2022
WWF’s multi-stakeholder forum, Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance (BFA), works to help advance the responsible development of plant-based, or “biobased” plastics.
In this new interview series, we’ll hear how members of the BFA are practically applying responsibly sourced biobased plastic as a strategy for circularity.
Berry Global’s Rob Flores, Vice President Sustainability, shares how his company is leveraging biobased content in its unique role as a packaging solutions provider.
- Date: 12 May 2022
In our Behind the Scenes series we speak to WWF staff to learn more about their work and what makes them tick. For today’s post, we checked in with Evan Walker, a Manager on WWF's Private Sector Engagement team.
- Date: 11 May 2022
- Author: Tara Doyle, World Wildlife Fund
Andrea Durbin, former Director of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.
In this blog series, I’m speaking with sustainability officials in local governments around the country to learn about how they’re tackling socio-environmental issues within the public sector. This week, I interview Andrea Durbin, former Director of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS).
For more than a decade, Durbin led the Oregon Environmental Council, a statewide nonprofit working on sustainability issues and engaging a range of stakeholders from businesses to community leaders and elected officials. She focused on strategic development, program management, government relationships, and policy development. “I take a collaborative approach to leadership,” Durbin says, “which has proved helpful for leading and convening work with other bureaus and other external stakeholders.”
- Date: 05 May 2022
In our Behind the Scenes series we speak to WWF staff to learn more about their work and what makes them tick. For today’s post, we caught up with Katherine Devine, Director of Business Case Development for WWF's Markets Institute.
- Date: 04 May 2022
- Author: Tara Doyle, World Wildlife Fund
Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space for the City of Boston.
In this blog series, I’m speaking with sustainability officials in local governments around the country to learn about how they’re tackling socio-environmental issues within the public sector. This week, I interview Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space for the City of Boston. Rev. Mariama is the founding pastor of New Roots AME Church, a multi-racial congregation that strives to address climate change, immigration issues, and economic injustice through community-building and shared faith.
Reflecting on her transition into the public sector, Rev. White-Hammond says, “I believe in government as an opportunity for us to pool our resources together and think collaboratively and comprehensively about what we need as a whole.” She initially questioned whether she would be a good fit for government work, with the political hurdles and restriction of speech that it often entails. However, she realized that Boston was at a pivotal moment in its response to the dual crises of climate change and inequity. “People say I’m involved in a lot of different things, but I see them as connected,” Rev. White-Hammond explains. “I frame my work as ecological justice. Ecology looks at the relationship between things in nature, and we need to consider relationships when we make decisions.”
- Date: 03 May 2022
Spring is in the air and as the days grow longer and warmer, there is a natural desire to spend more time outside. If you are looking for a fun outdoor activity that can give you some time in the fresh air, while also helping the planet, we encourage you to plant a pollinator garden with native wildflowers. WWF will be doing the same, through our continued work with Air Wick® to reseed 1 billion square feet of native wildflower and grassland habitat in the Northern Great Plains. In celebration of National Wildflower Week, we’ve outlined some easy tips on planting your own pollinator garden.
- Date: 03 May 2022
- Author: Katherine Devine, Director of Business Case Development, WWF
Animal nutrition is one of the leading contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the food sector, mainly due to deforestation and land conversion, whereby habitats are turned into farmland or rangeland. Nutreco, a leading manufacturer of both aquaculture and livestock feed, is taking innovative action to reduce its environmental impact by 2025. Its RoadMap 2025 outlines the company’s ambitious set of goals that address health and welfare, climate and circularity, and good citizenship.
WWF recently developed a business brief to examine Nutreco's plan and see what lessons could be applicable to the entire feed industry. The goal-setting process for RoadMap 2025 involved engaging stakeholders, including the staff who carry out essential business functions and external partners like suppliers and customers. These stakeholders provided input that fed into the RoadMap’s three pillars, each of which contains key priorities and an action plan for accomplishing them.
- Date: 27 April 2022
- Author: Tara Doyle, World Wildlife Fund
Alex Yee, the Coastal and Water Program Manager for Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency.
In this blog series, I’m speaking with sustainability officials in local governments around the country to learn about how they’re tackling socio-environmental issues within the public sector. This week, I interview Alex Yee, the Coastal and Water Program Manager for Honolulu’s Office of Climate Change, Sustainability, and Resiliency. Yee grew up in Hawai’i and received his Master of Planning from the University of Southern California before returning to his home state. He aims to use his background in urban planning to ensure that future generations have the same opportunity to enjoy Hawai’i’s beautiful beaches as he has.
Honolulu’s climate adaptation strategy, called Climate Ready O’ahu, focuses on five main impacts of climate change: sea level rise and coastal erosion, increasing temperatures, decreasing precipitation, extreme precipitation events (also known as “rain bombs”), and hurricanes. The adaptation plan identifies actions that can be taken at different scales, from the city-wide level to specific neighborhoods, and down to the individual level.
- Date: 25 April 2022
- Author: Julia Kurnik, Director of Innovation Startups, WWF Markets Institute
Asian carp are decimating native fish populations throughout the Mississippi River Basin and the Great Lakes in the US – and my dog, Peaches, couldn’t be happier about it.
Peaches when she's not saving the world from invasive species.
Three species of carp were inadvertently introduced to the Mississippi River in the 1970s. With no natural predator, they have proliferated, eating plankton and mussels as well as fish eggs while outcompeting other species for food and space. They even lower the water quality, further damaging the ecosystem.
Carp are also expensive: North America has spent more than $26B annually fighting a number of invasive species since 2010 with little success to show for it. The carp not only cost money, but they also reduce income in the region’s economy. Sport fishing generates billions in annual revenue along the Mississippi River and Great Lakes – an economic generator now threatened by carp, especially since Silver Carp leap out of the river and endanger boaters.
But this is where Peaches gets excited. WWF’s Markets Institute aims to identify innovative, market-based solutions to address major environmental issues across food and agriculture. While people in the US have little interest in eating Carp, a bony fish, there could be a robust pet food market for this invasive species. Demand from pet food companies would incentivize harvesting, reducing the population to manageable levels and avoiding the worst environmental damage while generating employment and reducing pressure on wild caught fish.