World Environment Day – Taking Action With AXIOM

Last Sunday was World Environment Day – one of the biggest international events for the environment that has been held annually since 1973. To celebrate, we’re taking a look at why this day is so important and why reporting and monitoring environmental performance is integral to pursuing sustainability and improving your business’ green credentials.

World Environment Day: What Is It?

Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Environment Day has grown significantly since it was established nearly four decades ago. It has become the largest global platform for environmental outreach with over 150 countries participating and engaging with the day.

From governments, businesses and civil society through to schools, celebrities, cities, communities and more – this inspirational day is all about raising awareness, celebrating environmental action and encouraging sustainable behaviours.

World Environment Day: Only One Earth

Each year has a theme and this years is “Only One Earth” – a subtle nod to the 1972 Stockholm Conference who used this as their slogan upon being the first conference to make the environment a major issue. 50 years later, the environment and climate change are still pressing concerns that will only continue to grow in importance. This has led to real pressure on both businesses and individuals to demonstrate what they are doing to minimise their environmental impact and behave in more sustainable ways.

It’s a very powerful theme which highlights the reality that this planet is our only home, and that we can’t continue to exploit its resources at the rate we are now. The #OnlyOneEarth campaign therefore advocates for transformative environmental change on a global scale, paying particular attention to climate action, nature action and pollution action. It also emphasises that whilst individual consumption choices are key, its collective action that will truly drive change and create a more sustainable future.

To help push this message, the day includes an initiative entitled Earth Action Numbers, where individuals and businesses can register and share their environmental events, campaigns and advocacy as an Earth Action Number online and through the designated hashtags #OnlyOneEarth and #WorldEnvironmentDay. This data is presented in an interactive map, allowing people from across the globe to see how others are taking action in the fight against climate change.

Action in Practice

From banning lamination in the workplace through to making the switch to renewable energy – the action that people are taking comes in all forms, and demonstrates that no effort is too small.

However, whilst this is all positive activity, these behaviours need to be sustained over a long period of time and become part of everyday life. World Environment Day recognises this and stresses that truly transformative options need to be available, affordable and attractive to people so they can make better daily decisions – and many of these options can only be created by larger entities such as governments, international organisations and financial institutions.

This also includes businesses, who have the resources, time and tools to instigate real change. There is also more pressure on businesses to act and reduce their environmental impact as by they are larger emitters of carbon and other greenhouse gasses.

However, before organisations can begin implementing more sustainable behaviours and amending operations to be more environmentally friendly, they have to be able to measure their emissions and accurately identify which areas of their operations need to be improved.

From SDG reporting and improving ESG through to implementing SECR and setting out a roadmap towards achieving Net Zero and beyond – these are all goals and actions that are dependent on a business’s ability to measure their sustainability and having access to accurate, current data that can enable and inform better decision making.

Taking Action With AXIOM

We have years of experience helping businesses from all industries measure and improve their sustainability credentials.

AXIOM is a powerful cloud-based platform that helps your business monitor, analyse and improve sustainability performance. Whether you are looking to calculate emissions and visualise your progress, or manage SECR and support sustainable procurement – we can equip you with the right tools and support to ensure that your business achieves its sustainability goals.