Planet’s Satellites Used for Firefighters: Green Festival Update

(Bloomberg) -- Top executives, policy makers, scientists and activists gathered this week for the first-ever Bloomberg Green Festival. The virtual event focused on the core issues of climate change.

Friday’s sessions centered around climate activism. Speakers included Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, a leading voice for young Americans in the fight to stop climate change, and Noel Kinder, chief sustainability officer at Nike Inc.

Enel SpA Chief Executive Officer Francesco Starace kicked off the final day of the Green Festival.

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Planet’s Satellites Being Used for California Wildfires (1:30 p.m. NY)

Daily, private satellite imagery is helping an enormous number number of professions do better work, from firefighting agencies monitoring wildfires, to supply chain managers ensuring their forest products are legal. Just last week Planet Labs co-launched the California Forest Observatory, a satellite and artificial intelligence collaboration that lets firefighters see in real time where a conflagration is headed and how much vegetation is at risk.

“What we’re trying to ultimately do is help you make smarter decisions on the ground,” said Will Marshall, CEO and co-founder of Planet Labs Inc.

Easy-to-access, relatively inexpensive satellite imagery can also check companies’ or governments’ claims about being sustainable. Satellite imagery from companies like Planet or Pachama, which Thursday became one of the first startups in Amazon.com Inc.’s Climate Pledge Fund, are already able to help verify the integrity of forest-based “carbon offset” programs. Satellites can spot illegal logging, mining, or any other structures that companies or governments may try to hide illicitly.

“If you’re a country trying to do climate regulations and goals, you need to check that,” Marshall said. ”If you are a bank issuing green bonds, you need to check those supply chains. If your company is doing ESG targets, you need to measure it. If you don’t measure it, you can’t do anything about it. Satellite data again isn’t a silver bullet to these things but it helps a lot.”

Climate Change Is a Civil-Rights Issue, Hip Hop Caucus Founder Says (10:17 a.m. NY)

Climate change is a civil-rights issue because it disproportionately affects people of color, said Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., founder of the Hip Hop Caucus.

“Climate justice is racial justice,” Yearwood said. “It’s important for us to ensure that our most vulnerable communities, no matter where they come from, are safe. And what we are seeing over and over again because of pollution, poverty, and now the pandemic and mix in the police brutality, it becomes a terrible mixture of injustice.”

Companies Should Provide Paid Time Off to Help Black Employees Vote (9:42 a.m. NY)

Companies could help make sure their employees vote, particularly Black workers, by giving them paid time off before and on election day, said David Clunie, executive director of the Black Economic Alliance.

“We’ve seen more corporate action on civic engagement than ever this year, particularly in respect to racial equity,” he said. “Many black voters work in hourly jobs that don’t allow them to work remotely and have long commutes that make it challenging to vote near their homes on election day.”

Indigenous People Are Being Forgotten During Pandemic, Activist Says (9:11 a.m. NY)

The world isn’t collaborating with indigenous people during the pandemic, according to environmental activist Hindou Ibrahim.

“The pandemic is hitting more and more the poorer people, and the indigenous people are among those who are in the remote areas,” she said. “The information we need is not reaching our communities.”

Nike’s Sustainability Officer Optimistic About Corporate Sustainability Moves (9:06 a.m. NY)

Noel Kinder, chief sustainability officer at Nike Inc., said he’s optimistic about how corporations have adopted sustainability commitments during the pandemic.

“What gives me optimism is when I look around at other companies our size, almost with daily regularity, you see more and more commitments to the adoption of renewable energy, products that are based on sustainable principles,” Kinder said.

Enel Plans to Issue Only Sustainable-Linked Bonds (8:12 a.m. NY)

Enel SpA, Italy’s biggest utility, plans to issue only sustainable-linked bonds going forward, said Chief Executive Officer Francesco Starace.

“As the world evolves more and more to a circular and sustainable economy, it makes sense that also financial instruments are tailored to that direction,” he said. “Why limit that to companies? Why can’t a government issue a sustainability-linked government bond. This is going to happen sooner or later, and probably Europe will lead in that quite soon.”

Starace added that Europe is leading the way in transitioning to a low-carbon economy, while there are questions over developments in the U.S. and China.

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