Starting off the year with some good news
As we kick off a new and hopefully less tumultuous year, I wanted to share some GOOD climate news we already have coming down the pike in 2021. Hundreds of Climate Collaborative companies stepped up and engaged in policy advocacy last year—many for the first time—through LEAD on Climate, America is All in, and dozens of state-based efforts.
Today I can tell you, your efforts are making a difference.
A Bit of Hope in 2020
It’s impossible to encompass a year like 2020 in a few short paragraphs, and so I won’t try to do that. Instead, I just want to say that our combined work at the Climate Collaborative has given me immense hope in an otherwise tumultuous and difficult year. Thank you for being part of it.
2020 TRACKING PROGRESS UPDATE TRENDS AND ANALYSIS
Download the report here.
What is the Tracking Progress Update?
The Climate Collaborative’s (CC) Tracking Progress Update highlights progress that committed companies are making around their climate action commitments. We ask these questions via a short annual survey. Questions cover where in the implementation process companies are, whether they are quantifying emissions reductions, and details on their progress; this year, we also asked about the impacts of COVID-19 on climate planning. Companies are expected to provide information for each commitment they have made, and quantitative data is welcome but not required.
This update is the primary way we assess progress in the industry on an annual basis. In our third tracking progress cycle (2020), we asked all companies that made commitments before December 31, 2019, to respond, a total of 463 companies (this was a large increase from the previous year’s sample of 177 companies). Additionally, we expect but do not receive a 100% response rate, so this analysis is not exhaustive of all company commitments.
America is All In on Climate Action
Today, ahead of Saturday's five year anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, more than 1,400+ businesses, cities, states, investors, and other U.S. institutions stood together and called for an ambitious and equitable national climate response.
Spotlight: Happy Family Organics' Support Farmers with the Launch of their Regenerative Farmer Fund
In 2018, we shared details on Happy Family Organics’ regenerative agriculture farmer training pilot (see the full blog here). The program set out to provide free technical support and guidance to farmers in Happy Family Organics’ supply chain on how they could shift to practices that can help store more carbon in the soil, improve watershed health, support biodiversity while also improving overall soil health and land productivity. The project fit into the brand’s larger ambition to help reverse the climate crisis through supply chain reductions and on-farm carbon sequestration.
Two years later, they've completed a second pilot and have now launched a Regenerative Farmer Fund to provide ongoing support to farmers in their supply chain. We sat down with their Sustainability Director, Katie Clark, to learn more.