Environmental Consulting Companies

Most of the academic literature on climate litigation focuses on what claimants argue. Far less attention has been paid to how corporate defendants respond, and even less to how courts engage with those responses. Our new guide addresses both gaps. "Corporate defences in climate litigation: a comparative analysis of arguments and court responses" is the second in the Grantham Climate Litigation Guides series. The guide builds on my recent article in Transnational Environmental Law, which mapped corporate defence arguments across climate cases. This guide expands that analysis, covering a wider range of defence strategies and, crucially, examining how courts have responded to them. Drawing on 10 case studies from eight jurisdictions, we identified six recurring defence strategies. Three findings stand out for practitioners: → The "drop in the ocean" defence is losing ground. Courts in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands have rejected the argument that a company's share of global emissions is too small to establish liability. In Lliuya v. RWE, the Hamm court confirmed that being "one of many" emitters does not preclude a claim in principle. → Some defences don't defeat claims but reshape remedies. In Milieudefensie v. Shell, arguments about scientific uncertainty didn't eliminate Shell's duty of care, but they did prevent the court from imposing a specific emissions reduction target. The market substitution argument played a similar role in narrowing the scope of the order. → The battleground is shifting toward science. As cases clear threshold questions of duty and justiciability, defendants are focusing more on technical challenges to attribution science and causation. That has direct implications for how evidence is prepared, presented and contested. The guide is designed as a practical resource for lawyers, judges, scholars and scientists engaging with corporate climate litigation. Co-authored with Jameela Joy Reyes (Joy), Nicholas Petkov and Julien O. Beaulieu. Read the full guide here: https://lnkd.in/eSFPfucJ

If a company stripped its core assets and called it growth, we’d call it malpractice. But when we do the same with forests, water, and soil, we call it GDP. That’s not just bad accounting; it’s a dangerous illusion. And yet, some voices are once again calling for governments to scale back environmental rules, arguing that protecting nature is a drag on growth. That’s not just a failure of imagination, it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of value, risk, and the systems we depend on. You don’t build long-term prosperity by sawing at the branch you stand on. The real threat to business is not too much regulation, it’s too little nature. We are not short of evidence. Nature loss is already disrupting supply chains, eroding margins, and fuelling instability. Degraded soils, vanishing pollinators, collapsing water systems, these are not distant or abstract concerns. They are material risks with mounting consequences, now priced into everything from food inflation to insurance premiums. In this context, competitiveness does not come from lowering standards. It comes from leaders who invest in resilience by embedding climate and nature into core strategy, not treating them as compliance exercises. That’s why the new Business for Nature Pulse report matters. It cuts through the noise. It shows how forward-looking companies are assessing nature-related risks, committing to credible action, and transforming their operations - not to boost ESG ratings, but to build resilience, reduce volatility, and future-proof their businesses. These companies aren’t waiting for governments to catch up. They’re reducing risk, attracting capital, and building trust with consumers, employees, and investors alike. This is not charity. It’s strategy. Frameworks like Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) aren’t red tape. They’re the architecture of a new operating system. A roadmap for restoring the foundations of value creation in a world that can no longer afford ecological decline. Halting and reversing the loss of nature is central to Net Positive leadership. It means giving more than we take, and profiting from restoring the systems we depend on, not exhausting them. That’s not a moral flourish. It’s a business imperative. So yes, we need governments to hold the line. But we also need more businesses to step forward, lead by example, and remind the world that you can’t run a thriving business on a dying planet. #NowForNature #NetPositive

Climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation are one interconnected crisis – and integrated action delivers the fastest, most durable results.   New national climate and adaptation plans reflect this. They include biodiversity, ecosystems and nature-based solutions. Drought resilience; agrifood reform; mangrove restoration; clean energy transitions and community-led conservation feature prominently.   And many now explicitly integrate all three Rio Conventions: UN Climate Change, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and UN Biodiversity   This really matters – because integrated action delivers integrated benefits: cleaner air, restored soils, food security, better health, new jobs, more resilience and prosperity.   Throughout this #COP30, the message has been clear: the Paris Agreement is working – but we must make it work faster, fairer, and at far greater scale.   Ecosystem restoration will be one of our greatest accelerators, because healthy ecosystems are climate superpowers: storing carbon, buffering shocks, protecting biodiversity, reinforcing food security, and strengthening community resilience.

🚨 You should be alarmed if you hire a sustainability consultant and they: 👉 Deliver a “strategy” after one workshop 👉 Offer generic solutions without understanding your business 👉 Promise quick fixes for complex sustainability challenges 👉 Charge very little (or way too much) for surface-level insights Real sustainability work takes time. • Time to understand your business model, operations, and supply chain • Time to align sustainability with financial and strategic goals • Time to engage internal teams and secure leadership buy-in • Time to ensure real implementation—not just a report that collects dust Sustainability is too important to rush. If a consultant promises an overnight solution, they’re selling you a shortcut, not a strategy. It can transform your business, your impact, and your company's future. It’s worth the financial and time investment to get it right.

$44 trillion of economic value? As natural ecosystems decline, more than half of global GDP—$44 trillion—is at risk, and with it, the stability of industries worldwide. The good news? Forward-thinking companies can turn this challenge into a competitive edge by investing in climate action and resilience. Natural disasters, driven by climate change, have increased by 80% over the past 50 years, exposing supply chains to unprecedented risk and creating a $3 trillion vulnerability in global operations. But while the cost of inaction is steep, the rewards for action are immense. Opportunities by the Numbers: • $10 Trillion in New Value: Embracing nature-positive practices could create $10 trillion in business value and 395 million jobs by 2030, benefiting every sector from tech to agriculture. • 10x Returns on Resilience Investments: Every $1 invested in climate resilience could yield up to $10 in returns, protecting businesses from climate impacts and cutting operational costs. • $98 Trillion Boost from Renewable Energy: Shifting to renewables by 2050 could add $98 trillion to the economy, create 42 million jobs, and protect companies from energy volatility. Where to Start? - Integrate Sustainability at the Core to capture investor interest, with ESG-focused assets projected to reach $50 trillion by 2025. - Invest in Green Infrastructure to cut costs, reduce risks, and build brand value. - Strengthen Supply Chains through responsible sourcing and regenerative practices to guard against climate disruptions. Companies that act now won’t just mitigate risks; they’ll unlock growth, resilience, and a competitive advantage for the future. #decarbonisation #co2 #emissions #nature #natureloss #supplychain #esg

A SaaS company in trouble cuts marketing spend and headcount. A climate venture has all of that, plus inventory sitting in containers, panels in warehouses, and payments locked behind commissioning milestones. Last week’s post covered universal cost cutting lessons: Be decisive, treat people well on the way out. The climate-specific layer matters most to anyone building or backing a hardware-heavy business. Climate ventures carry complexity that software businesses do not. They manage manufacturing, inventory, deployment, hardware warranties, project financing, and working capital that sits in the system for months before revenue arrives. Where climate intersects with agrifood, you add the volatility of farmer income tied to a successful harvest. Unit economics can be strong. Growth itself still creates cash flow pressure. A solar company buys panels, batteries, and irrigation systems before installation. A low-emissions rice platform supports farmers through a growing season and gets paid after harvest. Land restoration and agroforestry can take years before revenues fully materialise. That changes every cost decision. Each dollar saved extends runway, reduces dilution, and gives flexibility on when to raise next. Which is why I keep banging on about better debt finance for climate tech in emerging Asia. Expensive and dilutive equity is not built to finance working capital. Inventory deserves a loan against the asset, at a rate that matches the cash flow. $50k to $200k loans exist through microfinance. $50M+ facilities exist for established infrastructure. A fast-growing climate company needing $1M to $5M is where the system breaks down. It is easier for a bank to write a $100M green loan to a property developer than a $2M working capital line to a climate startup creating real emissions impact. That slows company growth and more importantly, it slows climate impact. Fewer solar systems installed, fewer farmers reached and fewer tonnes of emissions avoided. So climate founders in emerging Asia get creative. Agros started with a loan from me and a small group of LPs, which catalysed a $2M facility from EDFI. WasteX secured a $460k grant from P4G for biochar adoption. Ampd Energy and Full Circle Biotechnology took loans from existing shareholders for working capital. Rize secured a $650k facility from Rabobank for smallholder rice farmers transitioning to low-emissions. SOLshare’s loan from us catalysed a refinancing at a lower rate from a local Bangladeshi bank. It is still mostly cobbled together. The asset class deserves better. Finance is a core capability far earlier than in software. Map every order, every shipment, every install, every payment date. Build the worst case. Plan a more aggressive runway than projections suggest. Most need a fractional or full-time finance director far earlier than a SaaS business would. In climate, cash management is the strategy.

The question I get asked the most from corporations and brands is, “What can we do?” Whether you manage a business or are an employee championing better practices within your organization, here are 5 tangible ways your company can benefit the ocean and reduce harmful impacts today. 1️⃣ Source Materials Responsibly Do you have data on your tier one, two, and three suppliers? Are you accounting for supply chain emissions, waste management, and energy consumption from raw materials, to order fulfillment, and end of life? These are all an important part of running a sustainable business. If you’re not, commission a lifecycle assessment to ensure your business: • Enlists the best suppliers  • Appeals to conscious consumers • Adheres to emerging regulatory requirements  • Implements more efficient and cost effective operations 2️⃣ Improve Wastewater Management Discharging untreated industrial wastewater can disrupt the delicate balance of bodies of water by introducing excess nutrients. This can cause algae blooms—a rapid increase of algae in a body of water—that can harm human health. It can also deplete oxygen and kill fish, impacting food availability and jobs along coasts. Consider innovative wastewater management techniques and tech that provide added benefits, like producing energy in the form of biogas and reducing maintenance costs. For example, Aquacycl provides wastewater treatment as a service for challenging industrial streams, using a patented system to handle wastewater with a high biological oxygen demand (BOD). Each reactor contains naturally existing microbes that produce direct electricity as they remove high concentrations of organic pollutants. 3️⃣ Provide Sustainable 401K Planning Investment advisors like GreenPortfolio help employees prioritize wealth and planetary health. HR teams can include this as a benefit and offer a higher matching percentage if employees: • Divest from fossil-fueled funds or • Invest in emerging ocean health indexes tracked by ETFs like IQ Clean O Oceans, Newday Ocean Health, and KraneShares Rockefeller Ocean Engagement. 4️⃣ Offer Corporate Volunteerism Add Sustainable Ocean Alliance and other ocean nonprofits to employee volunteer programs, allowing team members to benefit the ocean by: • Performing pro bono work • Providing skills-based volunteering  • Participating in dedicated, paid volunteer days 5️⃣ Champion Corporate Philanthropy Match employee donations to ocean nonprofits dollar for dollar all year round, not just on Giving Tuesday. Donate technology to support marine science research and higher education institutions. Sponsor ocean pavilions and side events at major climate and biodiversity conferences. Partner with accelerators and incubators to offer mentorship, resources, and financing. If you made it this far, let me know if you’d implement any of these strategies at your company. Photo: Laurent Ballesta

A new landmark assessment, commissioned by 147 countries and led by environmental experts, reveals a critical truth: biodiversity loss, #climatechange, food systems, water, and human health are deeply interconnected. This report offers a vital roadmap for policymakers, advocating for a holistic approach to these challenges. Historically, these issues have been treated in isolation, but this report demonstrates that tackling these challenges together, through integrated solutions, yields more effective and sustainable results. For example, a project in rural Senegal addressed parasitic disease and food insecurity by removing invasive aquatic plants from water sources and repurposing them as cattle feed. Similarly, planting native trees instead of commercial species can simultaneously support biodiversity, water quality, and climate resilience. By embracing #science, collaboration, and big-picture thinking, we can chart a path toward a more balanced, sustainable future. These crises don’t operate in silos—and neither should our solutions.  Learn more about this recent report via The New York Times: https://lnkd.in/e7QGNb6m 

Your sustainability strategy is outdated. Here’s the playbook SBTi will force every industry to follow next. SBTi is no longer optional — it’s becoming the backbone of transition planning across every major sector. Here’s the fastest snapshot of what matters: • Transport: Shift to ZEVs on a 1.5°C pathway + WTW reporting. • Power: No unabated fossil expansion; intensity near zero by 2040. • Steel: Hydrogen-DRI, scrap-EAF, and ≥90% reduction by 2050. • Buildings: 80% RE by 2025, 100% by 2030; operational vs embodied carbon split. • FLAG: Mandatory if ≥20% emissions; includes reductions + removals. For finance, this means clearer transition signals, sector-specific credibility checks, and sharper risk assessments. If you need a one-page sector cheat sheet, comment “SBTi” and I’ll share it.

✋ Industry is responsible for over 21 per cent of global emissions, and nearly 31 per cent when including indirect emissions from electricity use. 👉 Without fully integrating the industrial sector into national climate plans decarbonisation targets will be missed. 👉 UNIDO released the, "NDC 3.0 Guidebook for Industrial Decarbonization" 👉It is designed to provide comprehensive support for countries seeking to enhance the ambition and implementation of industrial decarbonization measures within their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). 👉Aligned with the objectives of NDC 3.0, it offers an adaptable framework that identifies key areas for NDC enhancement and outlines a step by-step approach to updating and strengthening NDCs, specifically in the industrial sector. 👉 Section 1 introduces the key concepts and definitions to set the stage. 👉 Section 2 dives into the three main enhancement areas (Process, Data, and Targets), explaining where and how improvements can be made. 👉 Section 3 translates these areas into a step-by-step framework for implementation. 👉 The Annexes offer practical tools, including a country assessment checklist and a generic workplan, to help users apply these concepts in practice. Full report attached