WWF
While best known for their work on species conservation, WWF has been working since 1961 to tackle the relationship between humans and nature. The organisation encourages sustainable development and helps communities to reduce their impact on the planet.
Within the climate change sector, they focus on:
Emission reductions - encouraging industrialised countries to reduce their current levels of CO2 emissions;
Business action - forming progressive partnerships with businesses and industries to identify ways to reduce their emissions and become leaders in their sector;
Developing world - finding solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while still pursuing local development goals;
Communities and nature - working with communities to protect and restore conservation areas and adapt to a changing climate.
To read more about WWF, please visit: http://www.panda.org/.
WWF and the HSBC Climate Partnership
There is a strong link between business and the environment - the health of the natural world influences the well-being of the economy and the activities of business affect the vitality of the natural world. Working with the HSBC Climate Partnership, WWF can continue to raise awareness of this link while supporting viable, environmentally-friendly business practices.
The wider partnership supports WWF in its work on climate change across the world, focusing on river restoration, community education and engagement, business and government involvement, and conservation projects. This builds on a long-standing partnership with WWF, and the learning gained through our global environmental programme, Investing in Nature, which ran from 2002-2006.
| Objectives | Achievements to date |
|---|---|
| Brazil - Working to mitigate the impacts of climate change, by reducing CO2 emissions in key sectors and mobilizing the public in support of these efforts | Over 100,000 people signed up to use an ecological footprint calculator to help them measure and reduce their impact on the planet's resources. |
| China - Reduce the impacts of climate change on local people, focusing on the central and lower Yangtze. Working with government and key industrial sectors to decrease CO2 emissions and work towards a low-carbon economy. | Successful establishment of a Protected Area network covering 15,000sqkm in the central and lower Yangtze. Chinese Government has asked WWF to extend the network to the entire Yangtze river basin, to make the river more resilient to climate change. |
| India - Sustainable water resource management in the Ganges river basin focusing on biodiversity and human livelihoods, sustainable water usage by industry and sustainable energy usage in local cities. | Successful trials of a new breakthrough sewage treatment solution - bioremediation - at a village in Kanpur. This involves the use of sewage-eating bacteria to improve water quality - and the quality of life of the local people. |
| United Kingdom - Increase the resilience of UK rivers and surrounding communities to the impact of climate change. This means assessing the current state of the river and promoting national and local environmentally-friendly policies. | Launched The Rivers on the Edge Campaign, which aims to reduce the pressures on UK's iconic chalk streams. Partnerships announced with water companies to help reduce consumption in homes through water efficiency measures. |
Related case studies
Alternative Energy, China
China now produces around 20% of the world's CO2. As part of the HSBC Climate Partnership, WWF will work with government and key industrial sectors in China to decrease CO2 emissions and work towards a low-carbon economy.
Restoring the Yangtze, China
The world's third largest river, the Yangtze provided much of central China with fresh water for centuries.
