Support for nature-based climate pledges builds slowly

This is corporate sustainability news, not a home energy story, but here's what happened.

A group of companies, including drugmaker Novo Nordisk, recently announced new environmental pledges tied to nature rather than just carbon emissions. These commitments cover things like biodiversity, freshwater quality, and ocean health. Novo Nordisk's pledge, announced September 15, says it will source materials like wheat, corn, soy, cattle, sugar beets, and wood only from places where natural habitat wasn't destroyed to produce them.

The pledges follow guidelines from a group called the Science Based Targets Network, which has now validated some level of nature strategy for close to three dozen companies worldwide, mostly in Europe. New entrants include a UK supermarket chain committing to changes in seafood sourcing and mangrove restoration in Honduras, two Japanese companies (a beer maker and a construction firm), and a small U.S. seafood retailer, the first American company to join. A retail clothing company also used the framework to turn vague biodiversity goals into specific commitments around land use and materials like cotton and wool.

None of this involves government programs, rebates, or anything homeowners can apply for. It reflects a slow-building trend of companies setting formal targets for protecting land, water, and oceans in their supply chains, separate from the home energy efficiency and heat pump incentives covered elsewhere on this site.