Sustainability news

Our COP26 observer Gillian Mawdsley, Associate Lecturer in the Faculty of Business and Law, challenges you to develop the actions which you can take to address climate change.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are discussed in several ways at COP, the first and predominant of three framings is outlined here.

Internationally agreed standards are required for both environmental and sustainability disclosures. Transitions must be just. 

The serious playfulness with ideas about imagination as a critical ingredient of how we create the sustainable future we all want to see is as important as any discussion around the small print of nature-based solutions, carbon financing or new legal protocols.

Nature-based solutions is a really broad term, encompassing ideas like payments for ecosystem services, using nature in climate mitigation and adaptation, along with broader ideas like learning from nature in design and industry.

A standout stall for me showcased 'Playing for the Planet' – an organisation facilitated by the UN Environment Programme and comprised of some of the biggest video game companies in the world with the aim of integrating climate-based issues into their video games.

Most countries represented at the COP26 have a pavilion where they showcase initiatives, projects, and host events.

Highly vulnerable countries argue that commitments to emissions cuts are nowhere near fast or deep enough.

Found the 'bonsai landscape' – an exhibition of nature-based solutions put together by NatureScot, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on behalf of environment bodies in Scotland.

A history of UNFCCC will help to understand where we are now and why.