Erroneously, ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing is widely assumed to reward companies for helping the planet.  However, ESG ratings, which underlie ESG fund selection, are based on the impact the changing world has on companies’ profit and loss.  Asset managers have deliberately allowed the confusion ...

Sustainable practices can be implemented within supply chains to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).  Procurement and distribution processes can be reengineered by implementing sustainable approaches that consider the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability.  SDG-oriented supply cha ...

A sustainable supply chain fully integrates ethical and environmentally responsible practices into a competitive and successful model.  End-to-end supply chain transparency is essential for companies to demonstrate corporate social responsibility.  Sustainability initiatives must extend from raw materials sourcing to l ...

The SDGs are a holistic agenda intended to guide socioeconomic development policies and priorities, funding and government interventions at international, national, and local levels for their achievement.  To counter destructive non-linear system responses, tipping points, and spillover effects, the 17 Sustainable Deve ...

Despite claims to the contrary, 97% of climate experts agree that humans are causing global warming.  In science, consensus is when the vast majority of experts agree on a fundamental principle.  In climate science, more than 97% of experts agree that CO₂ traps heat and that adding it to the atmosphere warms the planet ...

Resulting from the Rights to Nature movement, Mount Taranaki on New Zealand's north island was granted rights equal to those of a human and assigned legal personhood in 2017.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, enabling the protection and recognition of each person.  Some say we need such ri ...

Deception and fraud detection is a very challenging task.  Detecting the elements of deception in a conversation takes years of study and experience.  It is a skill set primarily used in law enforcement agencies.  For the average person, the ability to detect a lie is only slightly greater than chance, with about 54% a ...

This essay is the result of numerous interviews, decades of scientific research, and abstract mathematics of climate change about the possible end of the world as we know it.  We’re told that it’s worse than we could possibly imagine and whatever we fear, we’re “barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possibl ...

The sustainable development principle drives environmentally destructive neoliberal economic growth that exploits and degrades the local ecology. Despite well-meaning intentions behind sustainable development, it facilitates exploitative economic development activities that exacerbate systemic inequalities and injustic ...

Sustainable Development Goal 9 is to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”, according to the United Nations.  For SDG 9, the UN has defined 8 targets that specify the goals and 12 indicators that represent the metrics by which the world aims to track ...

„Der Natur und Umwelt eine Stimme geben!“ – So oder ähnlich könnte man das Anliegen der 1998 unter der Schirmherrschaft der UNECE geschlossenen Aarhus-Konvention umschreiben.  Auch Österreich ist diesem internationalen Abkommen beigetreten, das es sich zum Ziel gesetzt hat, die Durchsetzung des Umweltrechts mit Hilfe d ...

To hinder environmental damage and obtain a protective order or injunction in most civil law systems, danger in delay must be asserted for the enforceability of proceedings. To initiate legal proceedings, a 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘦 case must exist, requiring the claimant to present evidence and show the likelihood of success on the ...

The divergence of ESG ratings creates uncertainty and represents a challenge for decision-makers, including investment managers and regulators. This ESG rating divergence makes it difficult to evaluate the ESG performance of companies, funds, and portfolios, which is their primary purpose. It also decreases companies’ ...

Speaking for humanity, Bezos claims that we don’t want to live in a “retrograde world” where we’d have to freeze population growth.  Elon Musk says colonization on other planets is a necessity to ensure that the human race survives.  Richard Branson is again exploiting astronomical business opportunities with commercia ...

Financial markets are the principal means for financing socioeconomic activity and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Governments and financial market regulators define the parameters and incentives within which market participants make investment and financing decisions and operate, while the provide ...