Sustainability Report 2020

Under the Paris Climate Agreement, 195 countries set a target of limiting global warming to less than 2°C. To achieve this, no more than 1,170 gigatons of CO₂ can be released into the atmosphere. If we maintain emissions at current levels, the emissions budget for 2°C will be exhausted in just 24 years. This would cause rising sea levels, more frequent extreme heatwaves and cold periods and a largely inhospitable planet.

The human race produces more than two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste every year. At the same time, it is estimated that three billion people worldwide have no access to functioning waste disposal. As a result, about eight million tonnes of plastic waste end up in the oceans every year, the equivalent of one truckload every 60 seconds.

Biodiversity on Earth is in decline. The condition of ecosystems will continue to deteriorate at an increasingly rapid pace as a result of irresponsible actions and the overexploitation of nature. This means that species diversity on our planet is disappearing. About 50,000 species go extinct every year, more than five every hour. Another million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction. This is more than has ever been seen in the history of mankind.

The global population will rise to almost 10 billion people over the next few decades. This will also increase the demand for food, the production of which generates large amounts of greenhouse gases. At the same time, food waste and food losses have climbed by 44 percent since the start of the 1960s. Reducing food waste by 50 percent would result in a 20-30 percent net reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The Earth is a place of extraordinary social inequality. More than 700 million people, about 10 percent of the global population, still live in extreme poverty on less then USD 1.9 a day. This is not enough to meet basic needs such as access to clean water, food, medical care and education. At the same time, the richest 1 percent own 44 percent of the world’s wealth.