KA2 Insights: The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26)

We are just a few days away from the start of The UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) which will bring together world leaders, heads of state, and climate experts.   

Tens of thousands of campaigners and businesses will also be there to hold events, network, and even hold protests.   

At the end of the conference, some form of declaration is expected with every country required to sign up and provide specific details of how they plan to cut their emissions by 2030.  

At KA2 we take climate change extremely seriously. It goes beyond regulatory compliance or gaining a competitive advantage – how we manage our economic, social, and environmental impacts and our relationships with stakeholders are KA2 key business drivers. To us, sustainability, or carbon neutrality means meeting our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It means doing business without negatively impacting the environment, community, or society. It is the continuing commitment to act responsibly by integrating social and environmental concerns into business operations.   

That’s why we are demonstrating our commitment to operating sustainably by not only making significant transformations within our organisation by also by partnering with responsible companies like ServiceNow and N2S.  

ServiceNow has committed to becoming Carbon Net-Zero by 2030, a full two decades early! As part of ServiceNow’s ongoing commitment to sustaining our planet, they have also pledged to donate $1 million over the next two years to non-profit organisations focused on addressing climate change and the acceleration of decarbonisation globally.  

2021 has been an exciting and educational year for KA2 working with Andrew Gomarsall and Jean-Marc Jefferson at N2S. They have given us a pivotal insight into e-waste recycling.  They are market leaders in sustainable IT disposal using a unique approach to recycling resulting in 0% of e-assets going to landfills through resale/reuse and innovating environmentally friendly processes for extracting rare and precious metals from redundant technology.  Bio leaching is a truly fascinating process, even for the non-scientific amongst us! And as part of our sustainability commitments and goals, KA2 is proudly partnering with N2S to use our combined expertise to develop a unique service for the secure, sustainable, and auditable management of the corporate e-asset lifecycle. We are using the power of the ServiceNow platform and its workflows to reduce complexity, waste, and cost, and provide transparent and supportable ESG metrics.   

These collaborations, combined with our own personal sustainability efforts have seen us recently awarded a gold medal for our Sustainability achievements by EcoVadis, the world’s largest and most trusted provider of business ESG ratings! Our score put us in the top 2% of companies rated by EcoVadis in our sector and puts us overall in the 96th percentile! And our sustainability journey doesn’t end here! KA2 will never stop working to be better and consistently improve our sustainability goals and management system.   

COP26 is our best chance to turn the tide on climate change.  

We must ALL take massive steps to stop consuming for want and focus on need and not just ours, but those of the planet.  Unless we end the excuses, we will be another species facing extinction.   

The Earth is what we all have in common and the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it. We need to work together to keep the oceans blue, the planet green, and the animals safe! No one is going to do it for us and there is no plan B. Mother nature is crying out for help and it’s about time we all acted.  

Let’s hope that for the first time in history, COP26 puts all nations on the same side and unite us in a common cause. We  are all facing the same enemy and we can only defeat it by collective action.  

“Securing a brighter future for our children and future generations requires countries to take urgent action at home and abroad to turn the tide on climate change. It is with ambition, courage, and collaboration as we approach the crucial COP26 summit in the UK that we can seize this moment together, so we can recover cleaner, rebuild greener and restore our planet.” PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM BORIS JOHNSON.