It made the news, yet it wasn’t really news to those paying close attention. The world’s leading international body on climate change, United Nations offshoot the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, recently proclaimed that human-induced warming of the climate system is unequivocal and increasingly likely to result in permanent damage. Specifically, the IPCC warned, “[C]ontinued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts … “Companies Take Note: Consumers Trust Climate Change Warnings”
A few weeks ago I moderated a lively discussion with four thought leaders working on the front lines of business’ role in mobilizing action on climate change. Steve Howard (Chief Sustainability Officer at IKEA), Niall Dunne (Chief Sustainability Officer at BT), Paul Dickinson (Executive Chairman at CDP) and Edward Cameron (Director of Partnership Development and Research at BSR) each shared their views on the challenges and opportunities for business to play a more active role in engaging the public in … “Climate Change Mobilization – The Role for Business to Engage Consumers”
On September 26th, National Geographic’s Chief Science and Exploration Officer, Terry Garcia, and I were in Boston MA to publish the 2014 Greendex survey on the status of sustainable consumption across 18 countries, the fifth edition of this National Geographic / GlobeScan collaboration. If you are unfamiliar with it, the Greendex is a composite measure of sustainable (or not) consumer behavior consisting of 65 different types of choices and behaviors analyzed and tracked across four sub-indexes. Quite aptly, we chose … “New Metrics on Consumer Behavior Change”
Greendex 2014: Consumer Choice and the Environment – A Worldwide Tracking Survey | Highlights Report
Highlights report of the 2014 National Geographic / GlobeScan Greendex: an international research approach to measure and monitor consumer progress towards environmentally sustainable consumption.
Full report of the 2014 National Geographic / GlobeScan Greendex: an international research approach to measure and monitor consumer progress towards environmentally sustainable consumption.
How did we lose the room? This is the question facing the sustainability community as GlobeScan’s latest Radar data shows a decline in how serious the global public considers environmental issues to be. With ample scientific evidence to the contrary (see the latest IPCC report), how do we explain the decreasing public concern in environmental issues? And, on World Environment Day 2014, what does this mean for organisations trying to make headway on sustainability? GlobeScan’s recent Radar public opinion survey asked … “Enough of the Doom and Gloom: Amidst Declining Environmental Concern, Real Leadership is Needed to Re-Engage the Public”
As a Californian GlobeScanner, I have first-hand experience of our state’s concern about access to fresh water. My water district in Marin County is likely just days away from implementing mandatory water rationing, as it and other water districts throughout the state struggle to deal with a protracted and severe drought. California just experienced not only the driest year on record, but also the warmest winter on record, which has seriously affected the extent of the snowpack in the Sierra … “You Never Miss the Water Until the Well Runs Dry”
Majority think climate change is causing more frequent storms, but aren’t taking action to protect their homes and communities TORONTO, 19 March 2014 – Heavy rainstorms, snowfall and floods increasingly dominate news headlines, with extreme weather events directly affecting more than 3.5 million Canadians in 2013. According to the seventh annual RBC Canadian Water Attitude Study, three-quarters of Canadians (74 per cent) agree that climate change will cause these events to happen more frequently. Yet just 23 per cent are concerned … “What Will It Take For Canadians To Wake Up To The Threats of Extreme Weather?”
Originally published for K Magazine, GlobeScan CEO, Christophe Guibeleguiet, takes a look at how Asian consumer attitudes to business in society are changing and the need for companies to balance opportunity with responsibility. Divided into a 3-part blog series, our first post looked at trust, optimism, and extending corporate leadership in Asia, while a future post will look at the rise of ‘Aspirational’ consumers. This one focuses on health and safety issues. In the first part of this blog series, we looked … “Redefining Sustainability in Asia: Back to Basics on Health and Safety”
Two themes formed the backdrop to the World Economic Forum’s 2014 gathering in Davos, Switzerland that ended this week: the return of the global economy to a semblance of stability and the continuing shift of power from West to East. This mixture of economic flux and stability feeds through into our research, with peoples’ views in the institutions that affect their lives, the environment and how they think of certain countries all affected. One of the messages to emerge from … “Davos 2014: Can Rising Public Trust Help Leaders Reshape a Changing World?”