One other yr, one other spherical of ups and downs, hope and despair, pleasure and disappointment, matches and begins.

Nonetheless, 2023 noticed loads of progress. Subjects reminiscent of regenerative agriculture, inexperienced upskilling, plastic waste, transition finance and carbon removing grew in stature. ESG regained its footing after years of assaults by each rightwing politicians and leftwing activists. Extra local weather applied sciences appeared prepared for prime time. “Fossil fuels” was uttered for the primary time in a world local weather settlement.

However none of it’s taking place up on the scale, scope and velocity wanted to fulfill the second.

As I’ve completed for greater than a decade, I’ve perused the 1,000 or so tales revealed on GreenBiz.com in the course of the 12 months simply ending seeking traits and themes. Right here, in no explicit order, are 5 value noting.

One other yr, one other spherical of ups and downs. Nonetheless, 2023 noticed loads of progress.

1. Decarbonization gained warmth. Abruptly, the phrase is all over the place, from the chemical trade to shopper merchandise to the round financial system, thanks largely to insurance policies and monetary incentives emanating from each the United States and European Union.

As such, industries and their sustainability enablers now speak about decarbonizing transport, particularly heavy transport reminiscent of tractor-trailers. One would anticipate that the electrical grids around the globe to be a decarb focus. However meals programs? In fact: Huge Ag is closely depending on fossil fuels, together with the power, fertilizers and different inputs of rising crops and producing meat.

After which there are the so-called hard-to-abate actions reminiscent of concrete and aluminum. Wringing out the emissions from these and different merchandise and processes will little doubt make sure that the concentrate on decarbonization continues to rise.

2. Local weather options banked on finance. The position of finance was entrance and heart at this yr’s COP28, in addition to in different coverage and banking circles. At subject: How you can finance the trillions of {dollars} wanted to transition to a sustainable financial system and guarantee such finance ensures the well-being of historically underrepresented and underserved communities.

One place the place finance is sprouting is in nature — particularly, the governance wanted to embed nature into the worldwide monetary structure. Among the many duties: Standardize how firms and monetary establishments publicly report on nature-related dangers; a new set of pointers goals to do exactly that.

One other key problem falls beneath the rubric of “financed emissions” — the greenhouse gases related to loans and investments. One meme describes the aspirational objective: “climate-safe banking.”

The European Union already has put in place a transparency framework, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, which mandates how monetary establishments disclose the local weather and sustainability dangers of their lending. A small however rising corps of firms are equally integrating sustainability dangers into capital investments.

3. Plastic waste turned materials. An extended-simmering motion appeared to achieve a rolling boil, offering frequent trigger for the once-disparate local weather, biodiversity, waste and environmental justice communities.

One catalyst are efforts towards a world plastics treaty, which might legally bind nations to finish the circulation of plastics into oceans and different ecosystems. Whether or not the treaty is finalized (and to date, the drafts depart two-liter-sized loopholes), it’s clear that coverage, not voluntary motion, is what’s wanted. In the meantime, activist pressures are mounting for firms to publicly disclose their contributions to the plastic (and microplastic) waste drawback.

With good cause: Firms don’t seem like assembly their plastic waste commitments regardless of consultants weighing in with prescriptions on tips on how to repair that. And a few purveyors of plastic waste — notably, bottled water firms — are going through authorized motion, little doubt the canary within the judicial coalmine foreshadowing the rise of plastics litigation.

4. ESG took account of itself. After being vilified and dismissed as performative politicking, firms’ accounting for his or her environmental, social and governance impacts issued appeared to sluggish, although hardly stopped. However it’s poised for a rebound.

Really, there have been three ESG tales unfolding directly. There’s ESG as a company reporting software. There’s the funding facet, by which funds deploy the ESG moniker as a advertising and marketing software. And there’s the political realm, by which conservatives have conflated each actions with out distinction, notably in a U.S. congressional listening to final summer season.

All three tales proceed to evolve. Firms are partaking in ESG reporting and technique with out essentially utilizing that three-letter acronym. CEOs are nonetheless prioritizing ESG points regardless of present financial and geopolitical headwinds. Third-party assurance companies are stepping in to make sure that ESG isn’t only a meaningless time period. Rightwing critics, for his or her half, appear to have moved on.

And regulators are giving all this additional rigor and necessities, notably in Europe, the place new EU directives are remodeling ESG reporting, however additionally in Japan.

Alas, none of that is heading off lawsuits over ESG points, together with for greenwashing, and a rise in securities litigation, the place lawsuits are filed over occasions that purportedly affect an organization’s share value. Amid all this, there appears to be sturdy demand for ESG jobs and careers, although discovering them can be a problem.

5. AI turned a sustainability important. No story about 2023 can be full with out mentioning synthetic intelligence, a time period that gave the impression to be on everybody’s lips this yr for its skill to revolutionize all the pieces from agriculture to cars.

Within the sustainability realm, AI already is getting used to deal with a broad vary of challenges. Firms are utilizing it to determine alternative substances for laundry and cleansing merchandise. The transport sector is tapping into its potential to curtail emissions and enhance effectivity. Airways are studying the way it can assist pilots scale back climate-warming contrails. AI will help discover new sources for lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel extra rapidly and with much less environmental hurt.

And AI is quickly turning into a software for serving to sustainability professionals assimilate mind-numbing datasets and determine hidden alternatives to minimize greenhouse gasoline emissions.

It’s not simple. The expansion of AI means grappling with the huge portions of power the expertise requires, assessing the tradeoffs between enterprise advantages and environmental prices. And it means maintaining present with this fast-changing, complicated expertise. The place all of it goes, no one is aware of.