MGMT 320 - Quiz 3

Natural Capital

the world’s stock of natural assets including its geology, soil, air, water, and all living thingd

Renewable resources and non-renewable sources

What are the two natural assets type?

renewable resources

trees, water, and fish, naturally replenish

non-renewable resources

oil and coal, which once used are gone forever

sustainable development

development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

a set of 17 goals designed to be “blue-print to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”

economy, society, and biosphere

what are the three categories that Sustainable Development Goals are divided into?

Anthropocene

the period in which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment

Planetary boundaries

The idea that the planet (earth’s physical systems) create a set of boundaries for what the Stockholm Resilience Center’s researchers called a “safe operating space for humanity”

Ecological footprint

the amount of land and water a human population needs to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its wastes, given prevailing technology

(ex: data shows that the Earth contains 4.2 acres of biologically productive area (farmland, forest, fresh water, etc) for each living human being)

Great Acceleration

the rapid intensification of human impacts on the environment from 1750 to 2010

1. Population Growth

2. Urbanization

3. Energy Use

4. Growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

What are the 4 socio-economic trends that have had a great impact on the health of the environment?

Urbanization

the percentage of people who live in a city or town as compared to rural areas within a given country

1. climate change

2. depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer

3. the degradation of land and water resources

4. the degradation of marine ecosystems

5. decline of biosphere diversity

What are the 5 Earth system trends?

Climate Change

changes in the Earth’s climate caused by increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other pollutants produced by human activity

Global Warming

the average surface temperature of the Earth to rise over time

Convention on Climate Change

The most important international treaty on global warming

It’s where the United Nations holds an annual confesernce of the parties (COP) where representatives of virtually all the world’s nations meet to hammer out agreements to cut fossil fuel emissions that cause global warming

Paris Agreement

aims to limit the rise in the average global temperature to well below 2 degrees Celcius above preindustrial levels

Ozone

a blueish gas, composed of three bonded oxygen atoms, that floats in a thin layer in the stratosphere between 9-28 miles above the planet

Marine ecosystem

oceans, the salt marshes, lagoons, and tidal zones that border them, as well as the diverse communities of life that they support

Biodiversity

the number and variety of species and the range of their genetic makeup

Life-cycle analysis (LCA)

collecting information on the lifelong environmental impact of a product, all the way from extraction of raw materials to design, manufacturing, distribution, use, and ultimate disposal

Industrial ecology

designing factories and distribution systems as if they were self-contained ecosystems

(ex: businesses can use wastes from one process as raw material for others)

extended producer product responsibility

product stewardship, the idea that companies have a continuing responsibility for the environmental impact of their product or services, even after they are sold

circular economy

a production system that is regenerative by design, that is, restores rather than wastes its inputs

Carbon neutrality

when an organization or individual produces net zero emissions of greenhouse gases

carbon offsets

investments in projects that removes carbon dioxide (or other climate-warming pollutants) from the atmosphere

technology cooperation

long-term partnerships between companies in developed and developing countries to transfer technology

Command and Control Regulation

government commands business firms to comply with certain standards and often directly control their choice of technology

Environmental-quality standard

one type of command and control regulation

given a geographical area may have no more than a certain amount or proportion of a pollutant in the air

Environmental-quality standard and emission standard

what are two types of command and control regulation?

emission standard

ex: the law might specify that manufacturers could release into the air no more than 1% of the ash (a pollutant) they generated

market-based mechanisms

the idea that the market is a better control than extensive standards that specify precisely what companies must do (command and control)

cap-and-trade

Allows businesses to buy and sell the right to pollute

Clean economy

sectors of the economy that produces goods and services with an environmental benefit

1. cost savings

2. brand differentiation

3. technological innovation

4. reduction of regulatory, liability, and climate change risk

5. strategic planning

What are the 5 ways effective sustainability management confers a competitive advantage?

[YT] The Wasteland

Denver, Colorado → Tacoma, Washington → Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong → Guiyu, China where there is a massive amount of waste (computer monitors), an abundance of LEAD

ISSUE: This is against both Hong Kong and US Law

• The report investigates how millions of tons of American electronic trash—computers, monitors, and televisions—are being illegally shipped to developing nations instead of being safely recycled in the U.S. While many "recycling" companies claim to be environmentally friendly, they often sell the waste to brokers who ship it overseas to maximize profit.

• Guiyu, China: has become a "wasteland" where workers use primitive and dangerous methods to recover valuable metals.

• Health Hazards: The report notes that Guiyu has some of the highest levels of dioxin ever recorded. Residents face extreme health risks, including lead poisoning and respiratory issues.

• The “Green” Deception

  • Executive Recycling: The segment tracks a Denver-based company called Executive Recycling. Despite its public promises of "environmentally friendly" disposal, investigators tracked their shipping containers directly to Hong Kong and mainland China.

[YT] SEC Disclosures

SEC Chair Gary Gensler explains that the Commission has finalized rules requiring public companies to provide consistent, comparable, and reliable disclosures regarding material climate-related risks that could impact their financial performance. While remaining merit-neutral on how companies manage these risks, the SEC aims to ensure that investors receive truthful and standardized information about greenhouse gas emissions and business strategies to make informed investment decisions

[NPR] Guyana

Guyana, a historically "green" nation with vast carbon-sequestering rainforests, is aggressively developing offshore oil fields discovered by ExxonMobil that hold an estimated 10 billion barrels of crude.

Despite facing existential threats from sea levels rising faster than the global average, the government argues it must pivot to fossil fuel wealth to fund critical climate adaptation and infrastructure that rich nations have failed to subsidize.

While GDP per capita is projected to skyrocket, the country faces significant risks from the "resource curse" and a contract that critics claim favors the oil giant over the Guyanese people.

[CP] How an M&M Sparked the Search for the Next Perfect Peanut

In the early 2000s, Mars faced a crisis of "rancid nut" complaints, leading to a partnership with the University of Georgia to develop the Georgia-09B, a high-oleic peanut that is healthier, stays crunchy, and resists spoilage.

Today, Mars has expanded this research through the Wild Peanut Lab, because of issues due to the fast-changing climate that threatens the world’s peanut supply, by investing millions to cross-breed commercial peanuts with resilient "wild" ancestors to combat climate change, pests, and diseases like nematodes.

Mars treats this genetic research as "open-source," sharing findings globally to help small farmers in places like Senegal and Nicaragua improve their yields.

[CP] Climate Change Will Cost Us Even More Than We Think

The authors argue that economists significantly underestimate the financial toll of climate change because their models rely on "stationarity" (the flawed assumption that past experience is a reliable guide for an unprecedented future)

This leads to the omission of "missing risks," such as the catastrophic tipping points in the climate system and the complex cascading effects where one disaster, like crop failure, triggers another, such as social and political instability.

Three difficulties

• carbon dioxide is at its highest concentration

• scientists do not feel they can adequately quantify (value of biodiversity, cost of ocean acidification)

• Cascading effects - the harms of climate change are hard to fathom because they don’t occur in isolation but will reinforce one another in damaging ways

Ultimately, the article warns that current economic assessments fail to communicate the true magnitude and urgency of the risks, potentially leading to a feedback loop of fundamental destruction that humanity is unprepared to manage.

[CP] Trade Disruptions and Agricultural Risks

Trade:

• Trump placing new tariffs on imports and renegotiating trade deals will be an issue from climate change

• Extreme weather from global warming are certain to increasingly affect US trade and economy (import and export prices and businesses with overseas operations and supply chains)

Agricultural Risks

• Rising temperatures, drought, wild fires, etc are expected to increasingly disrupt agricultural productivity in the US

• The variable going forward, is the amount of carbon dioxide humans produce

[CP] EPA Plans to Shut Down the Energy Star Program

EPA is eliminating the Energy Star (a popular energy efficient certification)

For the past 33 years, Energy Star has been known for it's recognizable blue label, nearly 90% of American consumers recognize this label

It has helped households and businesses save more than $500 billion in energy costs

Paula (president of the Alliance to Save Energy) says that “Eliminating the Energy Star program is counterintuitive to this administration’s pledge to reduce household costs”

[CP] EPA Is Said to Plan Deep Cuts to Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program

EPA has ordered the elimination of a 15-year federal program that requires thousands of power plants, oil refineries, cement factories and other large industrial facilities to publicly report their greenhouse gas emissions

Plan to eliminate reporting requirements for ALL BUT ONE of the 41 categories

[CP] SEC moves to kill climate disclosure rule

The SEC is rolling back a rule that would require thousands of publicly traded companies to provide investors with detailed information about the impact of their businesses on climate and the environment