Tag: Sustainable

UNEP Positive Impact Manifesto

Creator

The United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiatve (UNEP FI) is a partnership between UNEP and the global financial sector.

The Positive Impact Manifesto was initially released in October 2015 and updated in October 2016.

Purpose

In the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit, the Positive Impact Manifesto was created to promote sustainable finance.

Over 200 financial institutions, including banks, insurers and fund managers, work with UNEP to understand today’s environmental challenges, why they matter to finance, and how to actively participate in addressing them.

UNEP FI Positive Impact Manifsto - Roadmap to Financing the SDGs (Social Development Goals)

Manifesto

As the global population approaches nine billion people, today’s world is one of increasing needs, decreasing natural resources, and rapid technological change.

In September 2015, the UN General Assembly formally established 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be addressed by 2030, which effectively provide a common framework for public and private stakeholders to set their agendas and define their policies and strategies over the next 15 years.

$5-7 trillion a year until 2030 are needed to realise the SDGs worldwide, including investments into infrastructure, clean energy, water and sanitation and agriculture.

The greater part of the necessary financing and investment will need to stem from private finance.

Hindered by often unattractive risk and return profiles, to-date the amount of private finance mobilised for these purposes remains in marked contrast to the scale of the needs.

Yet for the SDGs to be met and to address the challenges they embody in due time, they must attract the trillions of USD of mainstream finance.

In short, the unmet needs must become the source of a profitable market.

Positive impact: a new approach to business and finance to achieve the SDGs

By seeking a holistic understanding of the environmental, social and economic needs around us, new business models can be developed that will deliver the impacts sought by the SDGs.

To address multiple and interrelated needs, these new business models will need to be cross-sectoral and sufficiently disruptive to dramatically reduce the cost of achieving the SDGs.

Such a holistic, impact-based approach is however not currently at the heart of the market, and is precisely the paradigm shift that is required.

To achieve the shift to an impact-based business and financing paradigm and ultimately the emergence of a vibrant SDG-serving market, a major challenge needs to be addressed, namely: the absence of a common language for the finance and private sector to understand and organize itself in relation to the 17 SDGs and their respective targets.

Positive Impact business and finance should be understood as that which serves to deliver a positive impact on one or more of the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social), once any potential negative impacts to any of the pillars have been duly identified and mitigated.

Positive Impact Finance

Positive Impact Finance is that which serves to finance positive impact business.

It is that which serves to deliver a positive contribution to one or more of the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social), once any potential negative impacts to any of the pillars have been duly identified and mitigated.

By virtue of this holistic appraisal of sustainability issues, Positive Impact Finance constitutes a direct response to the challenge of financing the SDGs.

Beyond a common definition, a common framework for the financing of the SDGs – the Principles for Positive Impact Finance – should be established to help the finance community to identify and assess positive impact activities, entities and projects – i.e. those able to make a positive contribution to the SDGs.

They also help a broader set of public and private stakeholders define and assess those financial instruments that serve such positive impact business.

Thus equipped, businesses, financial institutions and their counterparts in the public sector and broader civil society should start to form a positive impact community — the Positive Impact Initiative.

The Initiative should act as a hub for stakeholders to proactively and collaboratively work towards the development and implementation of new business models and financing approaches that will help address the SDG funding gap and realize the SDGs themselves.

Source

https://www.unepfi.org/publications/banking-publications/positive-impact-manifesto/

Comment

The power of a great manifesto is to present and highlight a need. It doesn’t always have to have the answer. It can simply be a call to action.

The Positive Impact Manifesto is a good example of this with these specific elements:

  1. The Goal: Fulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goals
  2. The General Problem: We need money
  3. The Specific Problem: The usual way we finance projects does not and will not work.
  4. The General Solution: We need a new way to think about and define finance for these projects.
  5. The Specific Solution: We need to think holistically.
  6. The Strategy: We need to create new business models.

The six steps provide a useful framework for mapping many complex issues that you might like to use in your organisational or social manifesto.

While you might not express your manifesto with all these steps, they can be used as a process to work from the goal and the problems through to solutions and strategy.

More

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Acumen Poverty Manifesto – adopting a similar approach by using innovative business models to deliver projects that resolve poverty

Arthur D Little Innovation Manifesto

Nutiva Real Food Manifesto

Creator

Nutiva is a US based good supplier founded by John Roulac in 1999.

Purpose

Food is no longer just a personal issue about what you put in your mouth. It is now a choice that can have a profound impact on the planet.

Nutiva Real Food Manifesto

Manifesto

The Visual

Real food manifesto for all eaters, growers, producers and marketers

  1. Eat real food not unhealthy processed food
  2. Power to the people through collective will, purchasing power and social media
  3. GMOs begone – label our food because we have a right to know
  4. Hail to the locavore – say yes to local and organic
  5. Less corn and soy – Half of US diets come from corn and soy. There are 10,000 other crops – try a few.
  6. End industrial food subsidies to give organic farms a chance
  7. Carbon farmers unite to heal our climate
  8. Less toxins and cheap industrial foods. More organics!
  9. Stop corruption by Wall Street and Big Ag in regulations and courts
  10. Together, let’s revolutionize the way the world eats

The Mini-festo

In a world where the industrialized food system has led us down a tangled path, where food choices have been reduced to the lesser-of-evils, and where distrust reigns, we are the champions of the greater good.

Tireless seekers of pure and delicious foods that will nourish our bodies and our planet, we have devoted ourselves to a dream, a vision, a mission. We will revolutionize the way the world eats! And in so doing we will bring nourishment and balance, health and well being, sustainability and community to people and planet.

We know change is hard but we want to make it easy. We went out looking for the kind of foods that packed a powerful amount of nutrition into every bite, so that you could make small changes to big effect.

We found superfoods – nutrient-dense powerhouses that can also be grown and processed in a sustainable way. These are foods that are truly good for you and for the planet. They’re foods like hemp and coconut, chia and red palm. They’re organic, full of vital nutrition, easy to use and delicious additions to your diet.

We say food doesn’t have to be a choice between the lesser of evils. We say let food lead us to a better world. We say super people deserve superfoods. We say, come join us in our mission.

Together, we can change the world.

Source

Real Food Manifesto

Comment

This is a great example of sharing your message and your manifesto in multiple ways.

First, a brief, easy-to-read visual based on ten bullet points – a rule based manifesto.

Second, a short 230 statement that promotes a similar message with a different set of words – a worldview manifesto.

Which one do you prefer?

The great benefit of a brief visual is that it can be readily shared and easily consumed. The downside is that it can over simply your issue.

The great benefit of a short statement is that you can be more precise in what you’re standing for and provide more depth. The downside is that fewer people will engage with a mass of words.

Ideally, you would want to have both to present different angles and viewpoints for your issue.

More

Academic Slow Food Manifesto

Andrew Castronovo – Superfood Manifesto

UN Sustainable Development Goals

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Creator

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly set 17 global goals to build a sustainable future for all people. The aim was to achieve these by 2030.

Purpose

The UN has defined sustainable development as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (Wikipedia).

Over a period of several decades, the UN has defined 169 targets for the 17 goals. Each target has 1-3 progress measures

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Manifesto

  1. No Poverty – End poverty in all its forms.
  2. Zero Hunger – End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
  3. Good Health and Well-being – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
  4. Quality Education – Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
  5. Gender Equality – Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
  6. Clean Water and Sanitation – Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
  7. Affordable and Clean Energy – Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
  8. Decent Work and Economic Growth – Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
  9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure – Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
  10. Reducing Inequality – Reduce income inequality within and among countries.
  11. Sustainable Cities and Communities – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
  12. Responsible Consumption and Production – Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
  13. Climate Action – Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy.
  14. Life Below Water – Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
  15. Life On Land – Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
  16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions – Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels,
  17. Partnerships for the Goals – Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

Source

The official UN site: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

A neat summary on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals

Comment

At its simplest level, a manifesto is a goal (a public declaration of your intent). In this case, the UN has provided a list of goals.

If the goal of your life or business is to forward the health of the planet for all, these 17 goals provide a connection point or context to anchor your actions.

More

Green Party of Ontario: Five Point Manifesto

Trevor Boddy: Hybrid City

Vancouver Greenest City in the World 2020

Asia Pulp and Paper Group: Paper Contract With China

Asia Pulp and Paper Group

Creator: Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP), one of the world’s largest pulp and paper producers.

Purpose: Building upon the first Paper Contract in 2008, this upgraded version provides further details on APP-China’s commitment to sustainable practices and future objectives, and calls on all industry players to collaborate to pursue growth in a more sustainable manner.

Manifesto

• To continuously seek and improve sustainable forestry and conservation protection practices in the areas where we operate.

• To contribute to the fight against global warming by implementing measures to conserve energy, reduce emissions, and improve our production capabilities whilst engaging employees to support the company’s environmental initiatives.

• To continue APP-China’s commitment to community empowerment by promoting economic growth, creating job opportunities, investing in infrastructure in rural areas, and building schools where we operate.

• To promote the sharing platform with related stakeholders, including the government, industry associations, academia, NGO, media and other pulp & paper enterprises.

 

Source

Found via Article on Newsmaker.com.au

Original Source – See the link on Sustainable Growth

Chinese Version of the Website

 

Simple Shoes Manifesto

Creator: Simple Shoes – shoe geeks making a new shoe-topia!

Purpose: 100% sustainable shoes for a Happy Planet

Simple Shoes Manifesto

With all the over-built, over-hyped products out there, it’s pretty hard to ?nd sustainable shoes that you can live with. So we started Simple, your stereotypical, anti-stereotype brand offering good shoes and a big dose of reality.

About a gazillion pairs later… give or take a few… we’ve managed to learn a few things. Well, actually a lot of things. And none more important than this: HOW we make our shoes is just as important as WHY we make them. That means finding more sustainable ways of doing business so we can make a gazillion more.

Which pretty much is where we are today… at the crossroads of here and now, aware of our responsibility to the planet while trying to pay the bills. The nice little shoe company getting in touch with its inner hippie.

Simple Shoes Manifesto

Source

About Us: http://www.simpleshoes.com/info/index.aspx?g=info

Manifesto: http://www.simpleshoes.com/info/manifesto.aspx?g=info

Video Story: http://www.simpleshoes.com/info/storySimple.aspx