Businesses are adopting science-based emissions reduction targets. These efforts Such efforts drive innovation, enhance competitiveness, and manage risk. This is also an effective approach to meeting the objectives laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement. Hundreds of companies are aligning themselves with the Science-Based Targets (SBT) initiative which is a framework to help companies remain competitive while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
BSR is a global nonprofit business network and consultancy dedicated to sustainability and they encourage the use of tools like the Science-Based Targets initiative. They are behind a new initiative called the Climate-Resilient Value Chains Leaders Platform. The call for corporations to step up their climate efforts was launched during the Global Climate Action Summit in September 2018.
“These companies are coming together out of a shared understanding that the private sector requires a common, science-based approach to value-chain resilience that will maximize the benefits to communities and business,” BSR Climate Director David Wei said in a statement. “Fortifying supply chains is one of the best ways that companies can act to mitigate climate change-related impacts.”
As of 2017, the CDP reports that almost 1,400 multinational companies were factoring an internal carbon price into their business plans. This represents an eight-fold increase from 2014. A more recent CDP report indicates that supplier engagement is improving the bottom line and slashing carbon emissions.
As of April 2018, more than 700 businesses were embracing the low-carbon transition through the We Mean Business coalition’s Take Action campaign. Of those 700+ companies, more than 100 have approved science-based targets (SBT). This includes the first steel company. Mahindra Sanyo Special Steel is committed to reducing Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions per tonne of steel produced by 35 percent by 2030, from a 2016 base year. As of 2019, there are more than 390 companies that are committed to setting an approved SBT.
Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of the Mahindra group has pledged to implement science-based targets to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. “I commit that the Mahindra Group will implement the Paris Agreement in its entirety. A powerful way of ensuring corporate climate action, aligned with the ambition of the Paris Agreement, is by setting science-based targets,” Mahindra said.
He also challenged businesses around the world to join the growing number of companies committed to setting greenhouse gas reduction targets in line with climate science. He reissued this challenge at the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos 2018. At the WBCSD’s Liaison Delegate Meeting in Montreux, Switzerland Mahindra said he hopes to see 500 companies commit to SBT.
Mahindra’s wish has been fulfilled. Since the launch of the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), more than 500 companies from across the world have publicly committed to set approved goals
