Bridging the Carbon Strategy Gap

300+ multinational companies representing more than $6 trillion of procurement in US dollars have requested their thousands of suppliers disclose to CDP, the international standard for GHG emissions reporting. Nearly 8,000 companies have set or have committed to set the bold GHG reduction goals that are science-based targets. The development of science-based targets, the rise of the ESG investor, and the abundance of climate disasters all drive us toward business carbon footprint reduction and business climate action. 

In service of those goals, carbon accounting is the action that allows you to know what climate impact is in the first place. It is fundamental to enable subsequent actions and reduce an organization’s carbon footprint.

In our course, we focus on businesses as such a large portion of emissions locally and globally either come from within businesses or are driven by business decisions. The GHG Protocol was developed to be the standard by which business carbon emissions are measured and reported. I’ve applied the GHG Protocol with 70+ companies over the last 20 years to assist them in evaluating their operations as well as their value chains, as the set of activities in the greater world that are required to bring their product or service into being. The Protocol provides the voluntary means by which the private sector can step up to help ensure business operations continue into the indefinite future in the face of the climate crisis. 

Beyond the protocol guidance lie the practical lessons-learned and the challenges in conducting that work, whether issues of data availability, data management, or target selection. Those issues can only be addressed through real-world experience, whether direct experience or insight from the experience of others. I believe in providing what real-world insights I might have to augment the course experience. The real power in our work as practitioners comes in those “a-ha” moments, when you, or those you are advising, clearly see where the hotspots lie in their GHG footprint and gain some insight into how to address them.

Carbon accounting and reduction provides a great deal of content to cover and in its enactment, normally spans over years of work. In our shorter time together in the course, we focus on 1) the drivers behind business climate action, 2) the fundamentals of carbon accounting, 3) carbon reduction goals and targets and 4) reduction action plan development.

Come bridge your knowledge gap on business carbon strategy! If you are seeking to be a change agent within business, are not familiar with scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 accounting, and/or are not up to speed on science-based targets, this class is for you.