Since the pandemic began wreaking havoc on the global economy, sustainability and concerns over global climate change have understandably taken a back seat. I mean if humanity gets wiped out by some virus, presumably over time the planet will recover…
In the meantime, how do we align the still very real needs for addressing climate change while also dealing with this frightening new reality?
This is not any easier when you are a major enterprise that for whatever reason, is required to make certain disclosures about environmental impact and in particular, carbon emissions.
In fact, the quarantine’s positive impact on the environment has only underscored the need for major corporate interests to monitor and track carbon performance. Pablo Natali at greenbiz.com has a great article on this topic:
A few years ago, the Smart Freight Center introduced the Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) Framework, creating a common guidance for logistics companies to report in a unified manner. The GLEC Framework is a guidance that specifies how disclosures need to be made in each of the existing methodologies and platforms. Once a company discloses according to the GLEC Framework, analysts will be able to compare a disclosure made for different purposes using different methods, and trace back what it actually means. It is urgent that this expand to supply chains at large.
It is also imperative that the emissions accounting focus shifts from a notion of disclosures (a still image of current emissions) to climate alignment, a forward look into a company’s future emissions. With unified and simplified standards, companies will be able to be easily ranked based on their actual and projected contribution to meeting the Paris Agreement, thus keeping climate change at bay.
Why do this? To reap the benefits of being in sync with what stakeholders request more and ever louder. This is only wise, considering that not even a global pandemic and looming economic recession has silenced these requests. According to a recent Deloitte report, 600 global C-suite executives remain firmly committed to a low-carbon transition. They are perhaps finding opportunity in shifting from risk and need clear data to make their decisions.
Read the full article – well worth it.
AEC Forensics 