Measuring a company's greenhouse gases (GHGs) should be the first step for a company to take climate action; as the famous quote goes, "what gets measured gets managed."
GHG protocol writes that the first step should be identifying the GHG emission sources. Almost all companies have some activities that generate emissions in either scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3. The activities could be, for example, natural gas, water use, electricity use, business travel, company vehicle fuel use, air conditioning, etc.
By calculating GHGs, the company will find out how much they release, enabling them to compare numbers from year to year. Companies should at least measure and report scope 1 and scope 2. Based on where the company has most of its emissions, they can now see where efforts should be prioritized and directed.
The world’s leaders have signed up to reach the Paris Agreement by 2030, a long-term goal to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, ideally to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To achieve this goal, we must work together, and voluntary action from the private sector is essential. Even if it’s not mandatory for all to lower their GHG emission, more and more stakeholders demand it and expect progress.
Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), which is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI), and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), guides companies with science-based targets setting, helping companies to tackle global warming while securing benefits for the companies in the transition to a net-zero economy.
SBTi has outlined five company benefits for working to lower the company’s carbon emissions, outlined in the figure below.
