DO YOU FEEL THE HEAT?
Most of you based in Europe, in particular Northern Europe, won’t remember having had such an incredibly hot and dry summer for so many weeks – even months – on end.
Sweden recorded the highest temperatures for July since records began. Similar scenarios were found all over Europe, with the average recorded temperatures consistently higher than usual.
This resulted in unprecedented wildfires in Sweden, Germany and some of the other countries bordering the Baltic Sea, in addition to the annual wildfires in California, Australia and Greece, which we all seem to have gotten used to.
Dry farmland did not produce enough food for many cattle farmers, who as a consequence had to engage in mass slaughter of their herds in the absence of sufficient nutrition, with slaughter-houses overflowing. And this is just one of many consequences of the heat, not to mention the insect plagues or general crop loss.
On the up-side tourism of course benefits from endless summer days, as this is what our industry thrives on. The sun encourages people to move, travel and spend more money on holidays.
However, it also increases the impact our sector has on the environment, which in turn increases Co2 emissions from travel. As most of us are aware, we need to see a reduction in these emissions by 2020, which is when the first reporting on the agreed Paris Climate Goals are due.
2018 has not only been a record year for high temperatures, but has also already been forecasted to see an increase in Co2 emissions, following several years with little or no growth. So the heat is definitely on!!!
On 8 November 2017, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal setting new CO2 emission standards for passenger cars, which aims at a 30% reduction of emissions from both cars and vans by 2030.
This will no doubt soon be followed up by new emission standards being implemented for aviation and buildings, both of which will affect tourism and the way we operate.
It is therefore our priority to help your businesses prepare for the heat being turned up for your operations too. Not only can we do this through monitoring your Co2 emissions with Con-Serve and reducing those, but also by implementing various measures for adaptation to climate change.
Some examples of adaptation measures include: using scarce water resources more efficiently; adapting building codes to future climate conditions and planning for extreme weather events; developing drought-tolerant planting schemes and choosing tree species less vulnerable to storms or fires; and training all of your staff on the above too.
With the heat turned on, and in view of the up-coming World Values Day on 18th October, we have re-defined our core values at Considerate, as these are key to us being able to deliver our services to you. You will be able to read more in our up-coming blog, to be published on the day.
However, I wanted to share a few of the most important values here with you as without these we will not be able to deliver our ‘core’ mission – to help you integrate responsible business practices, which address all the afore-mentioned issues. And ultimately make sure we turn the heat down again!
OUR TOP 3 CONSIDERATE VALUES:
COLLABORATIVE – DEDICATED – INNOVATIVE
NOTE: SDG toolkit coming up soon – this will help you implement, monitor and report on your company’s progress with integrating the Sustainable Development Goals in to your business operations.
