Interestingly I did some work with INEOS Grangemouth in supporting the #FuelChange initiative to engage teams of young apprentices in addressing the Journey to Net Zero including all aspects of GHG reduction, up to and including CCUS. The project kickstarted conversations inside a whole range of companies throughout the region and beyond, enabling and empowering young people to connect with experienced mentors to help channel creative ideas that could help reduce emissions and make progress towards NetZero. The INEOS work also supported the local government and wider business community in an initiative called #ForthValleyForNetZero
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In terms of challenges ⌠something that Tara Shine (Change by Degrees co-founder) has observed is that to solve the climate crisis youâve got to take the fear out of it, whilst remaining honest about the severity of the crisis. And part of that is about bringing people into the conversation so they can feel they have some agency, some power, some role to play. Participation is really key and itâs a human right.
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On Challenges, the initial WBA preliminary assessments on key oil and gas, energy and automotive companies suggested five key areas where progress is needed. rather self evident but good to have them emergg from analysis of current company performance:
- The vast majority of high-emitting companies are failing to demonstrate efforts towards a just transition
- People most at risk are being left out of decisions that affect their future
- Companies must commit to reskilling workers or risk a stranded workforce
- Businesses are still not using their influence to protect people, manage social impacts and advocate for a just transition
- A just transition needs to be underpinned by companiesâ respect for human rights
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What should we all be advocating for ideally here??
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OK onto Qu 3 everyoneâŚWhat role can technology, including social technology, play to ensure that impacted communities have a greater say in the decisions being made?
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Digital technologies to collect information on communities and workers concerns are promising. Mobile phone tools pioneered by organisations like Acumen, 60Decibels and Humanity United have enabled workers voices to be heard but care needed as women still digitally excluded 165 million fewer women than men own a mobile phone and over 300 million fewer women than men access the internet on a mobile.
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A3. There potential power in social media is enormous, and I donât think that anyone has been able to miss the massive campaigning and mobilization by teenagers and youth around the globe, to protest, demand action and find solutions together and how successful they have been in getting the attention for their issue through this medium. This would have been impossible without the internet and social platforms and it is a great example of how this technology can be used for good, and also how children and youth are finding ways of using technology in new ways.
There is a lot that the especially the ICT sector can do to support children and work together with them in finding solutions, one really important part of this is providing (safe) access and skills for children to be able to be part of this online community and make themselves heard.
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Answer 3. Technology can help in emancipation of workers and communities. But the central challenge for workers and communities on the one hand, and for companies and investors on the other, is the unsustainable inequality of power between the two. While this exists, technology will bring a marginal benefit at best, and will sharpen inequality at worst.
Companies and investors need to adopt rigorous due diligence in their investment decisions and purchasing practices. This means consulting directly with workers and communities and their representatives trade unions, and community leaders and civil society. The workers and communities live with these risks, and work alongside those facing the greatest risks. They are often the experts that companies need to speak to.
In contrast, our latest report on human rights defenders, which analyses our data from 2021, highlights how industries associated with climate breakdown and the fast transition are central to worsening intimidation and attacks. âHuman rights defenders and business in 2021: Protecting the rights of people driving a just transitionâ, available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French. It contains an interactive map and a visualisation where you can explore our data and all our attacks against HRDs in 2021.
The good news is that any company adopting rigorous human rights and environmental due diligence will also be ahead of the curve in preparing for the new regulatory environment, such as the EUâs draft Corporate Sustainability and Due Diligence Directive
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To this point @ECW, I think we need to reframe the climate crisis so people can be brought into the conversation. Especially in developed countries, so much of the conversation is about saving the trees, protecting the turtles, wild fires and other topics that are focused only on the environmental impact. But really, this is about HUMAN impact. Human health really should become more central to the broader conversation
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Great examples of how a more holistic approach can tackle multiple challenges - many thanks
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A3: At Bayer in consumer health, weâve conducted deep ethnographies among underserved communities to better understand what their needs and preferences are. When it comes to digital, there preferences are simple solutions. There are a few things that rise to the top:
- In some of our Latin American markets at Bayer, the government approved use of leveraging QR codes to help educate on a range of health topics. Consumers are getting much more comfortable with QR codes thanks to restaurants and stores incorporating them into the way they had to do business during the pandemic.
- One of the most needed technologies is probably one of the most basic by todayâs standards - access to broadband. An estimated 37% of the worldâs population â largely people living in low and middle-income countries - does not have access to the internet which would help them become more informed, educated and empowered members of their communities. Broadband initiatives are associated with improved health outcomes, increased workforce participation and improved economic stability. Digital prosperity: How broadband can deliver health and equity to all communities
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Question 3:
I think the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are really interesting on the importance of social dialogue between workers and their employers as part of the low-carbon transition, and in particular on drilling down into the detail of this and specifying that it canât just be âconsultationâ (which may or may not be meaningful), but that it has to involve a negotiated space that can hold and compensate for the power asymmetry between management and workforce. That can involve, for instance, unions, or collective bargaining agreements, and/or union representation on the board.
What role for social technology here? Well, digital tools like social media and other technologies could be used as part of this process to tackle information asymmetries and make sure that workers know what they need to about the context, drivers and options ahead.
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Exactly! I get worried when the conversation is just about the numbers on decarbonisation, or alternatively just about the environmental impacts. People are the thread that link it all together.
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A3: Participation, access to information and access to justice are human rights, which have been reaffirmed in environmental matters by Rio Principle 10, the Aarhus Convention and the Escazu Agreement, as well as the Paris Agreement. Access to information and transparency can be made possible through technological solutions.
Possible technology solutions for rights-based climate action could include:
o Provide communities with information, inclusive education and capacity-building on how to prepare for impending threats and contribute to disaster risk reduction.
o Improving the efficiency, accountability and transparency of supply chains.
o Support improved access to relevant technologies, particularly for persons, groups and peoples in vulnerable situations, and facilitate participation and access to information in relevant decision-making processes and actions.
o Developing technological solutions to support the use of traditional knowledge in adaptation and resilience building, with the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous knowledge holders.
A rights-based approach results in better and more sustainable climate action, as highlighted by Human Rights Council Resolution 47/24, and findings of the IPCC referenced above.
In addition, all persons have a right to benefit from science and its applications, in accordance with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This requires solutions for improved access to relevant technologies, particularly for persons, groups and peoples in vulnerable situations.
Being mindful of the risks, impacts and accessibility of technological solutions is also important to ensure that these solutions can be a vehicle for rights-based action and a tool for positive change.
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Iâm also interested in how employee action and interest in climate justice is ramping up action within companies - do you have internal forums for discussing these issues @daniella @richard @adela
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Government are partly to blame here by setting net zero targets for emissions without mentioning people or thinking about the distributional impacts
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This question reminds me of the insights Parag Khanna shared: Parag Khanna - Business Fights Poverty
How big data is helping determine the megatrends shaping humanityâs next decades - notably migration and predictions around how this might play out depending on varying socio-economic and policy environments.
Demonstrating how tech is as much about using the tech, big data and social insights combined.
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Thanks, Nina.
I strongly agree that communications technology and social media have facilitated strong international movements on climate and allowed their integration with many other movements. It has been inspiring to see BlackLivesMatter take up the climate issues around the world, and the discrimination prevalent in the cirting of power plants for instance. Equally Fridays for the Future have reached out from their climate focus to understand the human rights and development connections.
And our own efforts to take up 1200 allegaitons of abuse by companies in their operations and supply chains, and gain responses from the company HQs, is greatly facilitated by these technologies.
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Q2 Biggest Challenges.
Thereâs a field of Organisational Development thinking called âBoundary Spanning Leadershipâ (see www.CCL.org for more info) and I spend a lot of my time in our public-private partnerships going way beyond my boundaries (of experience, of influence, of control and sometimes even of competence!) to see how we can utilise the capacities, capabilities and strengths of others.
I actually believe that one of the greatest challenges we still face as change agents is how to spread and infect our wider networks with boundary spanning leadership skills - these include conflict anticipation and mitigation, visionary alignment skills, cultivating collaborative ways of working and reconciling different interests and motivations. We need to find a way to disseminate such training more widely and make it a more available resource - the skills by definition transcend cultural and organisational boundaries, and this is a critical gap in our armoury.
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We do! At Bayer we have an internal sustainability champions group and network. Many of team members are passionate about this and actively helping us drive positive progress.
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