Nestlé Waters North America Pushes Regional Collaborative Action as Vital to Global Climate Change Success
Activating the Paris Agreement: Create Locally, Replicate Globally
STAMFORD, Conn., September 20, 2016 /3BL Media/ – While the recent International Paris Climate Agreement was groundbreaking in the effort to combat climate change, regional implementation and sharing of experience and results will be the key to success, according to Nelson Switzer, chief sustainability officer of Nestlé Waters North America.
Switzer noted that fellow-participants in 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris last December showed “amazing” energy and excitement. “We’ve made good progress with local initiatives that reduce and manage greenhouse gas reductions and create shared environmental, social and economic value. Now we need to accelerate, create new initiatives, replicate them and share them on the global stage,” said Switzer in his recently published “Activating the Paris Agreement – Create Locally, Replicate Globally” (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/activating-paris-agreement-create-locally-replicate-globally-switzer?trk=hp-feed-article-title-publish )
“We’ve stalled a bit, certainly in North America, on finding environmental, social and specified emission targets and accelerating action. But we’ve also seen important, informative successes. Municipalities, provinces and states have taken decisive action and transitioned. Local successes have made global headlines and stimulate global thinking and momentum,” said Switzer.
He cited several examples where regions have already stepped up the game. Municipalities in coastal Florida are raising their roads in response to rising sea levels and changing the way they plan, work and live. And Ontario just released a climate action plan and an accord with California and Québec to create the single largest carbon trading pool.
“It’s time to elevate, scale and share what we learn from local development successes like these, and once again call on Scottish social activist and town planner Patrick Geddes’ profound wisdom. He introduced the concept of the region, believing that a city that cannot look and act beyond its legal boundary lines is doomed, and planning that stops at those lines will literally fall short. Our charge is to share and replicate environmental, social and economic (read: sustainability) initiatives first in our cities, then across our regions until these overlapping circles cover our nations and, someday, our world.
“The answer to climate change lies in collaboration, action, replication and acceleration. Think global, act local” is a model we can make work. We need to believe we can create local solutions that inspire replication and global change,” said Switzer.
About Nestlé Waters North America
Nestlé Waters North America provides people with an unrivaled portfolio of bottled waters for healthy hydration. Brands such as Nestlé Pure Life®, Poland Spring®, Perrier® and San Pellegrino® have driven Nestlé Waters North America to be the third largest non-alcoholic beverage company by volume in the U.S. Based in Stamford, Connecticut with 8,500 employees, Nestlé Waters is reducing its environmental footprint across operations. The company is also committed to creating shared value and being a good neighbor in the 140 communities where it operates in the U.S. and Canada.
