‘Close’ is – famously – only good in horseshoes. However, I’ve done enough valuation to know that hitting close to the mark on the right target – to paraphrase the late mathematician John Tukey – is better than a bullseye on the wrong one. There is value in approximate answers, as long as they're answering the right questions.

In a world where many live in scarcity, one commodity – blame – is always in available in abundance. We expect climate-change blame to be in overdrive before 2020 is done, with activists, governments, and deniers alike howling for relief.

We’ve developed a tool to help companies select science-based targets and plan for their achievement. It also demonstrates the value of starting quickly. Every year of delay comes with significant cost. You'll have to go faster and may run into the organizational equivalent of getting pulled over for speeding.

Our roads and cities rise as our sand levels fall with 50 billion tons of sand harvested annually – not from deserts but from vulnerable riverbeds and beaches – all so we can make the most ubiquitous mixed material in the world: concrete.

A simple, compact, and low-maintenance living agent that can do the work of a small forest - harvest CO2, fix nitrogen, pull many other toxins from the air and, crucially, give off oxygen - could transform the air quality in cities right where the worst pollution is found. As it happens, moss is does all of that and more.

Prior to the 2020 WEF meeting, a letter from the chairman to his members read, in part, “We look forward to the Annual Meeting being a breakthrough moment for business action on climate change.” Many seem to have taken that seriously. Here are some of the commitments that struck us most forcibly.