5 ACTION IDEAS TO IMPLEMENT SUSTAINABLE GOVERNANCE

What is sustainable governance?

It means taking social and environmental impact into account in every company decision.

🎯 The goal? Ensure the company's long-term viability while maximizing its positive contribution to society and the environment.

How can you take action to implement sustainable governance in your company?

1. Integrate CSR into leadership bodies: CSR should be a standard item on the agenda for management committee meetings.
2. Set up a steering committee dedicated to monitoring the CSR strategy
3. Conduct a CSR/Carbon Footprint assessment: this allows you to take stock of actions already in place within the company and organize your strategy by identifying areas for improvement
4. Involve employees by sharing the company's CSR strategy with them
5. Train employees on climate change through a dedicated CSR workshop day

CSR must be at the heart of the company's development strategy: placing CSR at the core of your business model allows you to consider social and environmental issues at every stage of the product/service lifecycle and more easily identify weaknesses and areas for improvement.

Implementing sustainable governance is essential to ensure the long-term success of your company's commitment.

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THE EL NIÑO PHENOMENON

The planet could warm up even faster due to a natural phenomenon: El Niño 😱

What is the El Niño phenomenon?

It is a natural disruption of the oceanic and climate system that occurs in the Pacific Ocean.

Naturally and normally, the temperature of the Pacific Ocean varies: near Indonesia (to the West), the water can exceed 30°C, while near Peru (to the East), the water is cooler, hovering around 23 or 24°C.

This temperature difference in the ocean triggers trade winds: winds blowing from the East. → They cause warm water to accumulate in the west and cold water to upwell in the east. This creates a self-sustaining system.

El Niño is a weather pattern that occurs every 3 to 7 years and disrupts this system.

El Niño starts in the western Pacific and slows down the trade winds (winds blowing from the east). This causes the upwelling of cold water in the East to stop.

👉🏻 However, the disappearance of this cold water, through a ripple effect, is responsible for warming the atmosphere and, consequently, global temperatures.

For the past 3 years, the Pacific Ocean has been in a La Niña phase. The opposite of El Niño, La Niña strengthens the trade winds and increases the upwelling of cold water toward the east.

When does El Niño occur?

Two factors must be present:

• Warm water must be accumulated at the surface (300m below sea level) in the Western Pacific.
• Westerly winds must blow.

Will El Niño appear in 2023?

It’s a 50/50 chance.

The heat accumulated at the surface is already there. We will have to wait until March-April to see if the westerly winds are strong enough to trigger El Niño.

The last El Niño event was in 2016.

What are the consequences?

• In the event of an intense El Niño, it is highly likely that the rise in global temperature will exceed +1.5°C.
• Northern Australia, Brazil, Central Africa, India, the Philippines, and Indonesia may experience more severe droughts as a result of El Niño.
• Ecosystems will be disrupted: cold, nutrient-rich waters become scarcer, which can lead to the death of plankton, subsequently causing the disappearance of smaller fish and the migration of larger ones.
• Conversely, California, East Africa, and South America may experience very heavy rainfall.

Social consequences:

Through a domino effect, populations living in the areas affected by the environmental consequences of El Niño face dramatic outcomes: famine, drought and water stress, the spread of infectious diseases, as well as flooding, population displacement, and more.

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