It is a favorite pursuit of journalists and commentators at each year-end and the start of the new calendar year to look back and look forward to identify “top stories” and significant trends of the year past.  And to look ahead at “what might be” in the new year.  We present a few of these musing for you in this first newsletter of the year 2020.

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, author Andrew Winston (best-seller “Green to Gold”) in reviewing “big themes” of 2020 in sustainability, explains that “changing climate” has always been included in yearly wrap-ups.  After 2019, it is to be a permanent “big story”.

The 2019 weather headlines were about heat in Europe; floods in the USA; fires in Australia and the USA; vicious storms in the Caribbean and in Africa…all of this becoming our norm now. (As we write this in 2020, the Australian nation is in crisis, personal, business, national, as fires consume millions of acres, destroy homes and businesses, kill wildlife, and tragically, humans are dying as fires spread.)

There are eight “fascinating developments” of 2019 presented for you in our Top Story from the HBR/Andrew Winston, starting with the global climate protest movement – and a few forecasts for 2020.

We also present three other 2019/2020 selections from Eco-Business, AdAge and Food Drive on the themes of look back/look ahead.

Our G&A Institute Sustainability Update blog has been featuring commentaries about climate change over the years; we presented a new running series focused on climate as we approached the end of 2019 —  “About The Climate Change Crisis” — here are the first posts of many to follow:

• The Climate Change Crisis – “Covering Climate Now” Can Shape The Public Dialogue – And Influence Outcomes
  
• Tune In To This Important Report – Today And In Time to Come: The Fourth Official “Climate Science Special Report” Issued by the U.S. Government’s “Global Change Research Program” – Projected the Critical Impacts of Climate Change on the American Society in the 21st Century
  
• About the Climate Crisis — The Hoax? It’s On Us!
  
• It’s “Official” Now: The United States of America Is Withdrawing From the Historic Paris Accord on Climate Change With Notice to the UN
  
• Where Are U.S. Companies on Climate Change Risk Disclosure? New Survey Results from DFIN Are Available…
  
• The Young People Move to the Streets to Protest Slow or Lack of Action on Climate Change Challenges…

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Top Stories

The Top Sustainability Stories of 2019   
Source: Harvard Business Review – The list of extreme, tragic, and very costly weather events this year — record heat in Europe, hail in June in Mexico, record floods in Nebraska, endless Australian bush fires, and epic destruction from storms in Mozambique and…

Here’s a Look-Ahead into 2020

5 Trends That Will Shape Sustainability & Business in 2020   
Source: Eco-Business – As a world in climate crisis enters a new decade, Eco-Business highlights five major trends that will shape society and business in the coming year.

Ideas About Sustainability That Stuck With Us In 2019 … And What They Might Mean For 2020   
Source: AdAge – 2019 saw a marked increase in the roles that corporate responsibility—and particularly sustainability—played in major marketers’ overall business plans. And that trend is likely to accelerate in 2020. Here are some things that…

2020 Will Be the Year Sustainability Goes from Buzzword to Necessity   
Source: Food Drive – Everybody wants sustainable products, and retailers are putting pressure on manufacturers to deliver goods that satisfy consumers’ new preference for green and clean options.