Recently concerns have been raised that corporates are ‘greenhushing’, when organisations deliberately choose to hide their green or ESG credentials from public view. Is this an indication that civil society or investors have gone too far in their demands for sustainability metrics, leaving management teams cautious about declaring their progress on green or sustainability issues, or the next step in the evolvement of increasingly sophisticated greenwashing?

Next month, formal negotiations will start on a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution. Although there appears to be little disagreement about the pervasiveness of plastic pollution, how to resolve this will prove problematic. Who should take responsibility for the present situation and how should this influence future responsibilities?

Proponents of digital fashion suggest that it offers one potential answer to how to move the fashion industry to a more sustainable footing. This blog considers what digital fashion means and why we do not expect it to reduce the need for the industry to make significant structural changes if it is to move to a sustainable footing.

Food supply chains are coming under heavy stress due to the conflict in Ukraine building on an already high inflation environment. This has pushed food security to the top of national agendas, alongside energy. This blog explores whether this will result in a food supply chain decoupling and a shift towards shorter supply chains and ‘friendly’ jurisdictions (‘friend-shoring’).

Just as sustainability standard setters are consolidating into the more powerful International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), an influential participant, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), has recommended improved disclosures for plastics risks and opportunities.

Food and politics remain closely connected. Non-democratic countries are more likely to impose food export restrictions while the leading nature dependent exporters are resisting trade controls.

Celebrating World Biodiversity Day on 22 May,, we imagine how time and money spent on the creation of the much-hyped metaverse – persistent virtual worlds that combine aspects of the digital and physical worlds – could be used to build the ‘natureverse’, a perfect mirroring of the physical world (nature) by persistent digital worlds (financial markets).

What could happen if next generation materials replace animal-sourced materials. Can the cow actually be disrupted by these next generation leathers? What are the unintended consequences if this happens faster than expected? And what are the systemic implications?

The invasion of Ukraine has pushed sovereign states to reflect on the types of governments with which they trade. Recently, many democratic governments have been assessing their sources of non-renewable natural capital trade – notably oil & gas as well as metals & ores. In this blog, Planet Tracker focuses on the trade of key renewable agricultural exports such as cereals, meat, dairy and seafood and maps their sources by political systems.

Companies that do not have full visibility over their supply chains cannot fully control or mitigate the environmental and reputational risks they face. However, buying soy that has been certified as deforestation-free by an independent certifier is a simple step for companies to take.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are the world’s top plastic polluting brands and therefore their recycling targets deserve scrutiny. We believe that investors should have little confidence in these goals and financial institutions should share the blame for this.

Supporters of deep-sea mining promise to provide the materials needed for a decarbonised future by extracting key metals from the seabed. However, the environmental effects of deep-sea mining have shown catastrophic and irreversible implications for biodiversity.

Plastic producers and major asset managers are not signing up to the UN Plastic Pollution Treaty

Zombie data, data that are false, unverifiable or lack credibility, have become all too en vogue. From fake news to corporate greenwashing, zombie data have been used to mislead or for monetary gain. This is particularly apparent in the fashion industry which many claim has a serious misinformation problem. This blog examines how zombie data concerning the environmental impacts of the textiles supply chain present a financial risk to capital markets investors.

Supply chain disruptions were front page news in 2021, highlighting an urgent need for companies to be able to track products along their supply chains. Management teams sometimes resist implementing traceability systems arguing they are too costly. But are such systems the cost of doing business or a nice to have?

These predictions for 2022 from the Planet Tracker Team are specifically relevant to the global financial markets.

A revival of calls for a global plastic treaty is encouraging. There is a general recognition that there is a global plastic pollution problem, however, despite previous attempts to tackle this, little progress has been made. This time it looks more positive. Negotiating positions are coalescing and a timetable to move forward is solidifying. Planet Tracker examines the state of play.

To feed 10 billion people in 2050 will require a lot of protein and from a land-use perspective, plants provide the most efficient way to produce this. But this means that as well as shifting our diets we will need to increase crop yields and this will require nitrogen.

What messages should financial institutions be taking away from last week’s United Nation Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Kunming?