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Kirsty Jenkinson

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Greater Expectations: 3 Actions for Companies to Take on Climate Policy
by Kirsty Jenkinson and Eliot Metzger - November 14, 2013
As the risks that climate change poses to business becoming ever clearer, corporate executives are increasingly recognizing that policy action is essential. The Guide to Responsible Corporate Engagement in Climate Policy—from the U.N. Global Compact, U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, U.N. Environment Programme, World Resources Institute, CDP, WWF, Ceres, and The Climate Group—for the first time establishes a shared, practical definition of responsible corporate engagement. The new guide details three essential steps businesses can take to effectively engage in climate policy.
The New Language of Sustainability: Risk and Resilience
by Kirsty Jenkinson and Andrew Steer - March 06, 2013
On February 20, WRI President Andrew Steer participated in event with GreenBiz CEO Joel Makower at the annual GreenBiz summit in New York City. This post builds off that discussion.

Sustainability has become a major business buzzword in recent years. For many, though, it’s still viewed as a philanthropic initiative, disconnected from a company’s core goals, or even a burden that competes with other strategic priorities. That must change.

Fortunately, more leaders are recognizing sustainability risks. At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, leaders in business, government, academia, and civil society named climate change and water supply as two of the top five global risks facing companies today—and with good reason.

Extreme weather and climate impacts are becoming increasingly common and carrying a significant economic toll. According to the insurance group Munich Re, the number of weather-related loss events over the past three decades has quintupled in North America, quadrupled in Asia, and increased in Africa, Europe, and South America. In the United States alone, 11 events crossed the $1 billion mark in losses in 2012. Hurricane Sandy cost U.S. taxpayers more than $60 billion, striking at the heart of a heavily populated business and financial zone. And, drought in the United States is expected to cost 1 percent of the annual GDP, making it one of the most expensive natural disasters in the country’s history.

Likewise, water risks are increasingly on companies’ radars. More than 1.2 billion people are already facing water scarcity. By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will likely experience water stress. According to a 2012 report by the Carbon Disclosure Project, the associated costs of water events for some companies reached $200 million, up 38 percent from the previous year.

So, how can companies link these risks to corporate strategy? How can they push the management of sustainability issues into the center of businesses’ strategic decision-making?
Wanted: A Steve Jobs for Sustainability
by Manish Bapna and Kirsty Jenkinson - July 06, 2012
This post originally appeared on Forbes.com.

Where is the Steve Jobs of sustainability? The business leader with the big, disruptive ideas—and the force of will—to achieve for sustainable production and consumption what Apple’s visionary chief did for global technology and information?

This question springs strongly to mind after attending the Rio+20 conference.

Unlike the original Earth Summit 20 years earlier, business leaders were everywhere at Rio 2012. And with governments failing to make headway at the UN-led forum, there was much talk of businesses taking a greater lead in fixing the world’s environmental and development challenges.
Rio+20: More Progress from Business Needed
by Manish Bapna and Kirsty Jenkinson - July 02, 2012
This piece originally appeared in The Guardian.

Big business seemed to be everywhere at Rio+20, arguably more visible than the 100 or so heads of state and government, who arrived for the final few days.

Hundreds of business initiatives were announced through groups including Business Action for Sustainable Development and the UN Global Compact's Corporate Sustainability Forum. And the corporate leaders who flocked to Brazil made all the right noises. "We have to bring this world back to sanity and put the greater good ahead of self-interest," Unilever CEO Paul Polman told the Guardian.

But how much substance lies below the surface of these declarations?
Returning to Rio to build a more sustainable future
by Manish Bapna and Kirsty Jenkinson - May 02, 2012
This piece originally appeared in the Guardian Sustainable Business.

In 1992, heads of state converged on Rio for the Earth Summit, a bright moment that seemed to herald a new era for sustainable development. Bold speeches were given, important treaties signed. Saving the planet was cast as a moral imperative. Multilateral institutions would lead the way.

Twenty years later, the world looks much different. The unipolar system of U.S. domination that followed the end of the cold war is now multipolar. The locus of global growth and consumption has largely shifted to developing countries, especially in Asia. And for all the good intentions voiced in Rio, the health of our climate, water resources and ecosystems has been deteriorating at alarming rates.
Big Business on the Sustainability Offensive
by Samantha Putt del Pino and Kirsty Jenkinson - March 08, 2012
This piece originally appeared in Ethical Corporation.

There is a growing trend for big companies to use sustainable concepts as core business drivers

For decades, many companies have typically responded to sustainability challenges by pursuing incremental operational improvements. But we are beginning to see an interesting new trend – businesses using sustainability as a tactic for long-term offense, rather than just short-term defence.

Despite the uncertain economic outlook, leading international companies across diverse sectors are investing heavily in sustainable products and services. Others are making cross-industry partnerships to develop next generation products such as the elusive mass market electric car.

Some are even enhancing their business models through mergers and acquisitions that seek to address, and capitalise on, sustainability trends.
The Coca-Cola Company Donates Extensive Water Risk Database to Aqueduct
by Kirsty Jenkinson - September 19, 2011
This piece, co-authored by WRI's Kirsty Jenkinson and Coca-Cola's Joe Rozza, originally appeared on The Guardian Sustainable Business Blog.

Water, or the lack of it, is never far from the headlines. While Hurricane Irene dumped torrential rain on a huge area of the eastern US seaboard and caused record flooding, prolonged droughts have afflicted the plains of Texas, the Horn of Africa and the Yangtze River.

These water-related disasters are not only devastating for people and nature. They pose major risks to businesses and economies worldwide.
Global Investor Forum Showcases Rising Sustainable Businesses
by Kirsty Jenkinson - April 22, 2011
Ready to scale up, six environmental entrepreneurs from around the world make their case to investors in New York City.

The inaugural New Ventures Global Investor Forum, held last week in New York City, showed how environmental entrepreneurship can provide clean economic growth and investment opportunities in emerging markets. Six environmentally-focused entrepreneurs presented their business models to an audience of over 160 leading investors and businesspeople. The forum, themed “Green Opportunities in Tomorrow’s Markets,” showcased a wide range of companies, from Ouro Verde, a sustainable Brazil nut harvester working with Amazonian communities, to Sinen En-Tech, a Chinese industrial steam recycling company helping its industrial customers reduce energy and water use.
Q&A: Kirsty Jenkinson on New Ventures and Environmental Entrepreneurship
by Kirsty Jenkinson - November 15, 2010
Kirsty Jenkinson talks about how New Ventures, WRI’s center for environmental entrepreneurship, helps environmentally-focused small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets compete in a global economy.

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