Environmental Consulting Companies

“Our messaging is not working” Enrique Ortiz, a veteran conservationist and founding member of the Andes Amazon Fund, has spent decades translating the complexities of ecosystems into action. But in his recent commentary for Mongabay, he issues a striking critique—not of science itself, but of how it’s conveyed. “Facts are not the most important part,” Ortiz writes. “The current narrative needs a re-thinking.” That rethinking, he argues, begins not with more data, but with deeper insight into how people process information, make decisions, and respond emotionally to the world around them. Ortiz’s concern is not that people are unaware of climate change. In fact, the majority of the global population acknowledges it. But many remain unmoved, caught in a web of abstract language, ideological filters, and emotional distance. Scientific accuracy, while essential, often falters in the face of cognitive and cultural barriers. Ortiz points to the findings of cognitive scientists and neuroscientists: facts rarely shift belief systems. Instead, people gravitate toward stories, experiences, and social cues. “When facing uncertainty,” he notes, “humans make decisions that are satisfactory, rather than optimal.” This disconnect, Ortiz argues, is especially clear in environmental communication. Words like “rewilding,” “green,” or “ecological” may have once inspired clarity, but have since become muddled through overuse or conflicting interpretations. Worse, they sometimes trigger skepticism or backlash. In this fog of abstraction, the human connection is lost. What’s needed, Ortiz suggests, is a new narrative strategy—one that harnesses the emotional power of stories and speaks to how people actually think and feel. He draws from his own experience as an educator: while his lectures on plant-animal interactions faded from memory, it was the stories that lingered. This phenomenon, known as “narrative transportation,” isn’t mere sentimentality. It’s a neurological reality that helps ideas stick—and decisions shift. Rather than continuing to warn of catastrophe, Ortiz believes we should share stories of adaptation and resilience. From Andean farmers modifying how they grow quinoa and potatoes, to everyday consumers making environmentally conscious choices, these narratives offer agency and hope. They bridge divides and foster shared values. “Our messaging is not working,” Ortiz writes bluntly. “We need a revolution in narratives—and in how we tell them.” That revolution may begin not in the lab or the newsroom, but in the quiet space where empathy meets understanding—and where change can finally take root. 📰 His piece: https://lnkd.in/gmrWBcc5 📸 Hoatzin. My photo.

Organization Carbon Footprint Cheat Sheet 🌍 This great diagram by Thinkstep ANZ is a practical tool to understand and manage organizational emissions. It shows how emissions are classified and measured across business activities, helping companies make informed climate decisions. A carbon footprint measures the greenhouse gases emitted directly and indirectly by an organization. Two main standards guide this process: the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO 14064-1. Both ensure consistency and credibility in measurement and reporting. Emissions fall into three scopes. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, such as company vehicles or on-site fuel use. Scope 2 includes indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, or cooling. Scope 3 refers to indirect emissions across the value chain. Scope 3 often represents the largest share of total emissions. It includes categories such as purchased goods and services, logistics, business travel, waste, product use, and end of life. Measuring it requires collaboration with suppliers and customers. Carbon accounting includes several greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. All are expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent to ensure comparability. Understanding an organization's footprint provides strategic insight. It helps identify risks, reduce costs, and uncover opportunities in operations, supply chains, and markets. From a business standpoint, a robust footprint builds resilience and investor confidence. It supports regulatory alignment and strengthens relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees who value credible climate action. It also creates opportunities for growth. Companies can innovate with low carbon products and services, improve market positioning, and attract sustainability focused clients and partners. A clear footprint assessment enables target setting, better governance, and transparent disclosure. These actions enhance decision making and ensure accountability. The process begins by defining boundaries, mapping data sources, quantifying emissions, identifying hotspots, and embedding reduction actions into strategy and reporting. An accurate footprint functions as a management tool. It guides investment, informs planning, and connects climate performance to long term business success. How is your organization transforming Scope 3 insights into supplier engagement, product design, and measurable value creation? #esg #sustainability #emissions

Building ESG: Decoding Scope 1 and Scope 2 Emissions: A Step-by-Step Guide _______________________________________ Understanding and quantifying your organization's carbon footprint is crucial in today's climate-conscious world. Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are two primary categories that businesses often focus on. Let's break down how to calculate them. Scope 1 Emissions: Direct Emissions Scope 1 emissions are those emitted directly from sources owned or controlled by an organization. This typically includes emissions from: * On-site fuel combustion: Burning fossil fuels like natural gas, coal, or oil in boilers, furnaces, or generators. * Company-owned vehicles: Emissions from cars, trucks, and other vehicles used for business operations. * Fugitive emissions: Accidental leaks of greenhouse gases from industrial processes. Calculating Scope 1 Emissions: 1. Identify sources: Determine all sources of direct emissions within your organization. 2. Gather data: Collect data on the type and quantity of fuels used, vehicle mileage, and any fugitive emissions. 3. Use emission factors: Multiply the quantity of each fuel or emission source by its corresponding emission factor,which represents the amount of greenhouse gas emitted per unit of fuel or activity. Scope 2 Emissions: Indirect Emissions Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat, or steam. These emissions occur when energy is generated and supplied to your organization. Calculating Scope 2 Emissions: 1. Determine energy consumption: Measure the amount of electricity, heat, or steam purchased by your organization. 2. Use emission factors: Multiply the energy consumption by the emission factor of the energy source. This factor represents the amount of greenhouse gas emitted per unit of energy. While calculating Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions is a crucial step, it's important to remember that they only represent a portion of your overall environmental impact. Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect emissions from sources outside your direct control, can also significantly contribute to your carbon footprint. Please feel free to add your views on “how can organizations effectively reduce their Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions while also considering the broader implications of their supply chain and other business activities?” (Disclaimer: Views are personal, should not be related to organisations view) In case you want to share this article please feel free ro share #buildingEsg #circulareconomy #greenbonds #climatechange #climateaction #enviornment #sustainability #esgrisk #climaterisk #ecofriendly #climaterisks #india #emissions #esgratings #esg #cop29 #greenertogether

How much is your digital presence costing the planet? If you’ve ever wondered about the environmental impact of your digital life, you’re not alone. Our online habits emails, cloud storage, streaming, and scrolling leave a carbon footprint. But here’s the good news: With a little awareness and effort, we can reduce it. Here’s how I approach measuring and reducing my digital carbon footprint: 📊 Step 1: Start with a baseline Before you make changes, measure where you are now. 🌐 Track your average daily time spent online. 📂 Record the size of your stored files (emails, cloud storage, instant messaging). 🔄 Identify any “digital waste” (like unused apps or duplicate files). 💡 Why this matters: Without understanding your starting point, you can’t measure progress. 🗓️ Step 2: Plan regular checkpoints Evaluate your progress at consistent intervals: -After 1 month, 3 months, and a year, compare your usage data. -Measure how much digital waste you’ve eliminated and how your habits have changed. For example, I’ve started deleting old emails and unsubscribing from unnecessary newsletters. After just a month, my cloud storage size dropped by 20%. 🌱 Step 3: Track your impact Each action contributes to reducing your carbon footprint. -Cutting down on online time? Less energy used by servers. -Decluttering your cloud? Reduced need for data storage infrastructure. -Compressing large files? Lower data transfer emissions. The stats are eye-opening: -A single email with a large attachment can emit up to 50g of CO₂—as much as driving a car for 1km! -Streaming videos accounts for nearly 60% of internet traffic, contributing significantly to global emissions. Making these changes isn’t just about reducing emissions—it’s about rethinking our relationship with technology. Each step feels like a small win for the planet, and it’s rewarding to see measurable results. Have you ever tracked your digital carbon footprint? What steps are you taking to reduce it? #Sustainability #DigitalCarbonFootprint #EcoFriendlyTech #SustainableLiving

The Decarbonisation Equations: Essential Math for a Sustainable Business In order to reduce the carbon footprint of business operations, understanding the math behind decarbonisation is key.  The following are six essential equations that can help us make better environmental decisions: 1️⃣ Carbon Footprint Calculation:    📊 Total CO₂ = ∑ (Activity Data × Emission Factor)    This calculates total carbon emissions based on activity data (e.g., fuel consumption) and emission factors. 2️⃣ Carbon Intensity of Electricity:    ⚡ CI = Total CO₂ emissions from electricity generation / Total electricity generated    This measures carbon emissions per unit of electricity, essential for evaluating energy sources. 3️⃣ Fuel Switching:    🔄 ΔCO₂ = (EF₁ - EF₂) × Q    Calculate emissions savings when switching to cleaner fuels using this simple formula. 4️⃣ Efficiency Improvement:    ♻️ Savings = Input × (Old Efficiency - New Efficiency)    Track reductions in resource consumption through efficiency improvements. 5️⃣ Vehicle Emissions:    🚗 Emissions = Distance × Emission Factor per km    Understand your vehicle's emissions by multiplying distance traveled by its emission factor. 6️⃣ Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Lifecycle Analysis:    🏭 GHGtotal = GHGproduction + GHGuse + GHGdisposal    A holistic view of emissions through the entire lifecycle of a product—from production to disposal. #Sustainability #ZeroCarbon #GreenEnergy #Decarbonization #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalImpact #CarbonFootprint

How to turn LCA results into design insights Many companies run an LCA, get the carbon footprint and stop there. The report goes into a slide deck and the product moves on unchanged. But LCA is a goldmine for product innovation. Let me show you how. Case study: “Consumer Electronics Product” Objective: Reduce carbon footprint without compromising performance. Baseline impact: • Carbon footprint: 14.1 kg CO₂e per unit • Hotspots: virgin plastic housing, large PCB, air-freight logistics Design changes based on LCA insights: Switched to 75% recycled ABS → 22% CO₂e reduction → Cost: +6-8% increase in material, partially offset at scale Reduced PCB size by 15% → 6% CO₂e reduction → Cost: unchanged (smaller PCB=less material, but minor redesign cost) Shifted from air to sea freight → 10% CO₂e reduction → Cost: Lower, but trade-off in lead time Overall result: • Carbon footprint reduced by ~38% • Cost impact: +2-3% per unit after optimization • Payback achieved within 12 months through logistics savings and volume pricing If you're sitting on LCA data and unsure what to do with it, that's where the real opportunity begins. 💡 I help teams translate sustainability data into smart design decisions. Curious what this could look like for your product? Let’s connect! #ecodesign

You can’t manage what you don’t measure — and this guide makes measurement accessible. The Carbon Footprint Assessment Manual, developed by the Climate Change Secretariat of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, is one of the most practical tools I’ve come across for organizations and individuals looking to understand and reduce their emissions. In a region where capacity-building is just as critical as carbon reduction, this guide is a reminder that rigour doesn’t have to be complicated. 🔍 What I took away: Clear breakdown of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions with sector-relevant examples Methodologies for organisational, product, and project-level footprints Practical tools for applying cradle-to-gate vs. cradle-to-grave assessments Region-specific emission factors based on real energy data A replicable model for emerging economies building their own GHG systems. 🎯 Who should take a closer look? Sustainability professionals new to GHG accounting Policymakers designing national MRV and disclosure systems Businesses preparing for climate reporting, certification, or offsets Educators and trainers delivering foundational carbon literacy This is the kind of foundational resource we need more of — especially in the Global South, where climate ambition is high but technical tools are often underdeveloped. #planetaryhealth #planetaryboundaries #sustainability #ClimateAction #carbonfootprint #NetZero #ClimateEmergency #SDG #ESG #GHG #netzero #CarbonAccounting #GHGProtocol #ClimateCapacity #MeasurementMatters #SustainableSystems #GreenTransition

Dear Friends, I'm pleased to announce the publication of a new article, “A Registered Report Megastudy on the Persuasiveness of the Most-Cited Climate Messages, in the journal Nature Climate Change."    The research—which was conducted by 25 researchers from five countries and 20 different institutions and which involved more than 13,000 US participants—tested the ten most highly-cited message strategies in the peer-reviewed climate communication literature (including scientific consensus messages which were a big focus of our work at Mason 4C about a decade ago). In the “megastudy,” we found that six or more of the ten message strategies significantly—albeit slightly—strengthened people’s belief in climate change, their concern about climate change, their support for government action to limit climate change, and their intention to take political action. Surprisingly, the persuasiveness of the messages varied little between Democrats and Republicans.   Important takeaways from this study include:   - A wide range of message strategies can lead to small but meaningful increases in Americans’ concerns about climate change and support for climate action—even after a single exposure to the message. This is true of both Democrats and Republicans. - Efforts to increase the use of these message strategies—especially by trusted communicators—are likely to build public will for policy solutions to the climate crisis. As I have said and published previously (https://lnkd.in/exqJEPVv), the most effective communication campaigns feature “simple, clear messages, repeated often, by a variety of trusted and caring voices.” This megastudy identified a half dozen or more “simple, clear messages” that can and arguably should become the basis of climate communication campaigns. The article is available here (https://lnkd.in/eW4WJ5jr), although it is behind a paywall. Alternatively, a free preprint of the article is available here (https://lnkd.in/evp_eQMT).   On behalf of the authors: Jan G. Voelkel (Cornell), Ashwini Ashokkumar (Harvard), Adina T. Abeles, Chrystal Redekopp, Robb Willer, Jane Willenbring & Neil Malhotra (Stanford), Janet Crawford (College of New Jersey), Kylie Fuller & John Jost (New York University), Renata Bongiorno (Bath Spa University), Troy Campbell (On Your Feed), Ullrich Ecker (University of Western Australia), Matthew Feinberg (University of Toronto), Sol Hart (University of Michigan), Matthew Hornsey (University of Queensland), Aaron Kay (Duke University), Anthony Leiserowitz (Yale University), Stephan Lewandowsky (University of Bristol), Erik Nisbet (Northwestern University), Nick Pidgeon (Cardiff University), Alexa Spence (University of Nottingham), Sander van der Linden (University of Cambridge), Christopher Wolsko (Oregon State University), and Edward Maibach (George Mason University).

New research on emissions from AI hardware. At Google, our commitment to zero emissions drives us to understand the environmental impact of all our work, including AI. New research from our Operations Data Science team analyzes the carbon footprint of AI hardware. Here are some key takeaways: 𝟭. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿: Building AI chips (GPUs, TPUs) creates significant emissions, often overlooked compared to electricity consumption. Addressing both manufacturing and electricity-related emissions is crucial. 𝟮. 𝗜𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: AI hardware consumes power even when idle, leading to unnecessary emissions. 𝟯. 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗞𝗲𝘆: There’s a significant benefit to optimizing AI algorithms and models to minimize computational needs and reduce emissions. 𝟰. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰, 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆: to track AI hardware improvements and estimate a model's carbon emissions. We've seen strong (3x) improvements in carbon-efficiency over just four years and three TPU generations using this metric! We and many others expect AI demand to continue to grow, and we’re very focused on doing what we can to achieve our Net Zero targets. Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/gc_ER_tD TPUs improved carbon efficiency of AI workloads: https://lnkd.in/gGqJa-pU

How do we make climate communication resonate with the very people it affects the most? 💡 🌎 In my latest essay for Question of Cities, I reflect on this pressing question, drawing on my experience in journalism and storytelling, as well as research and fieldwork in the climate space over the last few years. The article outlines how dominant climate narratives often remain inaccessible, overly technical, and disconnected from everyday lived realities. Some key takeaways: 🔁 1. Translation isn’t enough—localisation matters. Efforts like the UNDP Climate Dictionary are welcome, but we need to go further. People don’t say “Jalvayu Parivartan”—they talk about rain delays, changing festivals, and crop failures. Climate terms must emerge from how people experience change, not how we define it. Climate must be framed as an everyday issue. For most people in India, climate change competes with daily concerns like food, housing, and livelihoods. 📚 2. Storytelling enables agency. We need to shift from policy briefs to bottom-up storytelling, where a fisherwoman in the Sundarbans or a tribal woman in Odisha becomes the knowledge holder. 🎭 3. Embrace diverse media and people’s science. From metaphor-rich language to theatre, dance, and music—creative formats hold emotional and cultural power. Even community-defined terms like “wet drought” offer nuance and should shape climate adaptation strategies. 📰4. Mainstream media must build capacity. At a recent workshop in Maharashtra, we saw how rural reporters struggle to differentiate between climate and weather. There’s little support for them—especially women—to cover these stories. Climate needs to be integrated into all beats, not confined to disaster or weather coverage. 🎯 5. Climate communications is not just outreach—it’s strategy. Too often, communication is underfunded and under-prioritised. But to build inclusive, impact-driven programmes, we must invest in grassroots media literacy, storyteller training, and long-term behavioural change campaigns. 🌏 In the coming years, we will witness a growing wave of efforts to communicate climate change in new and compelling ways as climate becomes centre stage in policy and mainstream narratives. But the real test of these approaches won’t lie in international recognition or polished campaigns. It will lie in how meaningfully they resonate on the ground—in how a coal worker in Jharkhand or a landless labourer in Maharashtra understands, imagines, and navigates a world that is 1.5 degrees C warmer. 🔗 Read the piece here: https://lnkd.in/dGG8ZNZn A big thanks to Smruti Koppikar and Shobha Surin for trusting me with this piece. And of course, this would not be possible without Asar and all the fabulous work that I have got to be a part of in the last 3+ years! #ClimateCommunication #ClimateJustice