SDGs #13, #14 and #15 - Climate Action to preserve Life below Water and Life on Land

SDGs #13, #14 and #15 - climate action to preserve life below water and life on land

An urban and a business issue

All Sustainable Development Goals are entangled and interconnected even if it does not seem that way at first glance.

This month’s trio, SDG#13, #14#, and #15 go hand in hand and encompass the manifold challenge that climate change poses to humanity. SDG#14 Life below Water and #15 Life on Land represent the perfect synergy that marine and terrestrial ecosystems operate in and the delicate balance that must be maintained to keep the Earth habitable. SDG#13, Climate Action is then all about stopping the human activity that disrupts this balance.

This June is all about learning to live with, and protect, nature through taking climate action and preserving life below water, and on land.

Oceans cover 70% of the planet and play a vital part in providing drinking water, food, and energy as well as regulating CO2 levels in the atmosphere through acting as natural carbon sinks. Over-extraction of marine resources and polluting our waters have damaged our oceans and seas to a dangerous degree, threatening aquatic ecosystems and consequently, all other global organisms dependent on them including over 3 billion people’s livelihoods. Nature plays an equally critical role in humankind’s survival. It nurtures us through supplying food and oxygen, while forests also act as natural carbon sinks fighting climate change for us. Once again, over-exploiting terrestrial resources threatens the integrity of the ever so fragile equilibrium that sustains Earth’s overall ecosystem. From agricultural exploitation, soil degradation and draughts to deforestation, desertification, and biodiversity loss, human activity is placing a huge strain on nature. The rapid deterioration of these resources puts our economies, livelihoods, and health at risk.

Sustainable growth is defined by benefiting from today’s resources without disadvantaging future generations and is not equitable with placing economic profit before the interest of people and planet.

Climate Action is everyone’s business. So what can businesses, and especially small businesses do to tackle such a complex and seemingly systemic issue?

With humans’ inherent need to belong, there is great comfort in knowing that we all belong to the overall ecosystem of our planet. This makes it all of our responsibility to preserve flora and fauna whether on land, or underwater. Climate action should then be at the heart of everything we do, and as such, smaller companies – which make up 90% of all businesses - have an important part to play. Inclusive growth needs to be conceptualised as not only including people of all walks of lives and backgrounds, but also the planet. Business growth must be planned with its environmental impact in mind..

As always, start by looking at your operations. Is your business run in the best interest of not only your people, but the planet?

An ethical value and supply chain ensures the fair treatment of all workers involved in creating your product or delivering your service, while it should also ensure that the production of your merchandise is not environmentally harmful. Consider the ways you ship your raw materials, the resources needed to assemble your goods or tools used in your service, and your routes of distribution. Think local and small-scale providers: not only will you help your local economy thrive, but through knowing your supplier you can easily ensure sustainable practice. Ask for site visits and certificates to find likeminded people to make your supply chain as environmentally friendly as possible. Think NetZero and circular: switch to green energy and assess the end-of-life impact of your output to save waste from ending up in nature. Climate action should look like making more from less and using less space to minimise impact on land and sea.

The UN argues – rightfully so – that what all businesses can do is let everyone know about the SDGs and best practice. Firstly, your employees at all levels should be involved in brainstorming as everyone is the master of their own field and they will have valuable contributions on how to make their own department better to serve the best interest of our planet. Then, let everyone else know. Your customers, as well as other businesses. Establish partnerships with others to share and improve best practice – the ESGmark® community has this very much at its heart.

Get your hands dirty. Either metaphorically, physically, or both. Participate in ocean or park clean-ups to help local biodiversity thrive.

But do not only treat symptoms, actively seek solutions: As businesses, and especially as a united front we have considerable influence over the world we would like to work in. Lobby to make ethical value chains an easy-to-achieve-reality through regulation and due diligence.

Whether small or international, the complex web of economic activity that all businesses are a part of is dependent on and at the same time impacts aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. A worldwide solution might seem daunting at first but integrating nature into business strategies is the vital first step. A growing number of global businesses are promising to crack down overfishing and ocean pollution, as well as deforestation and land degradation. These promises present exciting new opportunities for innovation and creativity which are indispensable for business climate action and a more sustainable future.

Our blog exploring the UN’s changing focus on the Sustainable Development Goals is published monthly - making the SDGs relevant and applicable to every day business life. Recent pieces look at the concept of peace since December 2021, the amazing, fragile world around us, and gender equality as a global necessity. For an overview of all 17 goals, click here.