ESG Executive Advisory
We lead executive, C-level, and Board engagements across the spectrum of ESG risk and strategy, suitable for organizations of all sizes.
Whether you need to provide ESG education and foundational awareness or assess your carbon footprint, we can provide tailored solutions. Whether you are the CEO or business owner, or whether you manage a portfolio of investments, we can help you.
Sustainability Journey
For those more advanced in their sustainability journey, we provide a range of services including:
Providing guidance on calculating your Scope 3 emissions estimates in the most accurate, complete and efficient manner.
Planning for Net Zero or Science Based Targets, including the key assumptions and pathways to be considered.
Undertaking both qualitative and quantitative TCFD reviews.
Undertaking both qualitative and quantitative scenario analysis reviews.
Calculating Your Carbon Footprint
If you haven’t already done so, it is important that you start to understand your baseline carbon footprint, or how much GHG emissions your organization is emitting into the atmosphere. Measuring your carbon footprint will help you establish your baseline emissions and provide a benchmark for comparison with peers and others. This is a relatively straightforward exercise we can provide assistance, if required.
The relentless rise of carbon dioxide has resulted in:
2020 seeing the highest level of GHG concentration for 800,000 years (more than 425 ppm (parts per million)).
2021 being the hottest year on record.
The 21 warmest years on record have been in the past 23 years, with the top five in the past five years, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Our collective global carbon footprint has resulted in current estimates showing that we are way off target. This sentiment was echoed by Antonio Gutteres, UN Secretary General in February 2021, when he acknowledged that while good progress has been made over the past year, it is not enough.
“The world remains way off target in staying within the 1.5-degree limit of the Paris Agreement,” Mr. Guterres told ambassadors.
“This is why we need more ambition, more ambition on mitigation, ambition on adaptation and ambition on finance.” Describing 2021 as “a crucial year in the fight against climate change”, said the Secretary-General.
He said the global coalition to make net zero emissions a reality, needs to grow to cover more than 90 per cent of all carbon entering the atmosphere, underscoring a UN priority.
Scope 3 Emissions Estimates
There are good reasons why so many organizations have not yet calculated their Scope 3 emissions. Among them are:
The Scope 3 calculation can be quite onerous as there are 15 different categories within the definition of Scope 3
Data is not always readily available internally
To calculate Scope 3 emissions, you often need to rely on various third parties (suppliers, customers, investors, customers and various others) to provide source data.
Historically, several of the prevailing frameworks and guidelines have not required organizations to calculate their Scope 3 emissions.
Scope 3 emissions estimates don’t need to be that hard. There is much data, science, data science, pragmatism, and commercial reality that can be used to assist you in these calculations. These are based on established standards, methodologies, and practices that have been developed over several years.
Source: WRI/WBCSD Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard (PDF)
Contact us now for help in how to most efficiently and quickly calculate your scope 3 emissions
Science Based Targets (SBTs)
SBTs are emission-reduction targets adopted by companies to reduce GHG emissions. They are considered “science-based” if they are aligned with the level of decarbonization required to keep the global temperature increase well below 2°C compared to pre-industrial temperature levels, as described by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For a company to sign up to a science-based target, it needs to establish its own carbon footprint incorporating Scope 1, 2, and Scope 3 emissions.
If a company has significant value chain (Scope 3) emissions – more than 40% of total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions - then it is required to set a Scope 3 target which should be ambitious, measurable, and clearly demonstrate how the company is addressing the main sources of value chain emissions.
The Science Based Targets initiative mobilizes companies to set science-based targets and boost their competitive advantage in the transition to the low-carbon economy. SBTi is a collaborative effort amongst CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and one of the We Mean Business Coalition commitments.§
The business case for developing an SBT
There are numerous benefits for an organization to develop a SBT, including:
- Build credibility and reputation
- Build business resilience and increase competitiveness
- Demonstrating leadership
- Drive innovation
- Employee Engagement
- Financial Performance
- Timely Action
Our climate-related assessment tools are modelled entirely on the TCFD framework and based on the TCFD Technical Manual. Our climate change disclosure workshops and training materials are also based on this same framework
Contact Us
If you have any questions on calculating your carbon footprint, on estimating your Scope 3 emissions, on developing Science-Based Targets or on TCFD for your organization, please contact us.
