SWEEP

Guides

How to run a climate

programme
More and more companies are starting to manage,
report and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
That's because it makes good business sense.

These days, companies big and small are measuring, managing and
reporting their carbon footprint. Even big fossil fuel companies are
doing it. And it’s not just because they're concerned about their
contribution to climate change.

For a start, reducing your emissions can help you spot any
ine ficiencies in your processes and reduce your operating costs. And
everyone, from investors to customers and employees, now expects a
company to be transparent about its impact on climate change.

Doing this right does take e fort and dedication, but it’s a necessity,
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both for your business and for our future. Here are the five steps to
creating a credible, meaningful climate programme.
STEP 1: Organise
If you want to set o f in the right direction on any journey, first you
need a map.

Draw up a map of how your company is organised. Then allocate

which type of emissions each part of your business produces, and
assign tasks and roles to individuals within each group – who
approves everything, who does the reporting, and so on.

The more organised your set-up, the easier it is to see at a glance

where your emissions are coming from and how you’re doing with
those reduction targets (more of which later).

Get everyone on board

Next, because climate change is a collective challenge, invite sta f to

get to work on finding and reducing your emissions across the
company. Make sure everyone from the C-Suite to the mail room is
involved. Let everyone know what you’re doing and why, and inspire
and incentivise them to do their bit.

You could even "gamify" your climate programme by introducing some

friendly competition. A fully stocked (organic, locally sourced) beer
fridge for the team who reduces the most emissions, for example,
might be just the incentive people need.

Go beyond your business boundaries

Your carbon footprint doesn’t end at your factory gate or reception
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desk. Every activity that keeps your business running contributes,
and that includes those by third parties such as suppliers and
customers (see Scope 3, below). Delivering your o fice equipment,
for example, or producing the raw materials you buy – this all counts
as your carbon footprint.

Opening a dialogue with them might help them find ways to reduce
their own carbon footprint – and collaborate with you on lessening
your impact on the climate.

Benchmark: Apple’s supplier programme

Apple, one of the biggest companies in the world, reduced its carbon
emissions by 35% in the three years to 2019 and it did this largely by
going above and beyond when engaging with its suppliers. In 2015, it
launched its supplier Clean Energy Program and, by 2019, 44 suppliers in
16 countries had commi ted to 100% renewable energy to produce the
goods that Apple uses.

Dos and don’ts

Do chart your organisation first then map your emissions to that

Don’t just leave it all to the sustainability team. Get everyone on
board

Do start a dialogue with external partners and suppliers

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STEP 2: Measure
The next step is to measure your emissions. But to do that, first you
need to work out where they come from. Emissions come under one
of three scopes:

Scope 1 Direct emissions that come from sources you own or control.
Say your company has a fleet of cars or your manufacturing plant is
powered by a furnace. The fuel combustion emissions will come
under this scope.

Scope 2 Indirect emissions that come from any electricity, steam,

heating and cooling that your company purchases.

Scope 3 Everything not included in scope 1 or 2. These are either

upstream or downstream: upstream emissions come from producing
or transporting the goods or materials that your company purchases.
Downstream emissions come from your customers using or disposing
of your products.

Why measure Scope 3?

No company can a ford to address scopes 1 and 2 alone. Why? Because

scope 3 is likely to be where most of your emissions come from.
Samsung, for example, knows that 61% of its emissions are scope 3. For
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) it’s 93%. That’s a lot of potential
right there for reducing emissions – and at the same time improving
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e ficiency and lowering costs.

How to measure your emissions

Now you understand where your emissions come from you can start
to measure them. Time to meet the carbon equation:

Activity data x emission factor = tCO e

Activity data is a measure of your business’s daily activity –

kilowa t-hours of electricity you’ve used or how much fuel you’ve
consumed, for example. You gather this data from your energy
bills, purchase orders and so on.
Emission factor is a measure of how much greenhouse gas
(GHG) each business activity produces. There’s an emission
factor for just about everything – from making a pair of jeans to
driving to work.
tCO e stands for tonnes of CO equivalent. That’s the amount of
GHG your business activity emits. It’s ‘CO equivalent’ [link to
climate change 101] because it can be used to measure CO or
any other GHG.

When it comes to measuring your emissions, there are several

accounting standards around, such as the GHG Protocol, that you
should follow to make sure your calculations are accurate.

And it’s a good idea to gather and enter your data on a daily or weekly
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basis and generate reports regularly (rather than leaving it all till your
year-end report). Before you know it, it will be part of your everyday
business routine.

Dos and don’ts:

Don’t wait to do it once a year
Do include all your scope 3 emissions
Do follow an accounting standard

What is net zero?

Planetary net zero is when the amount of emissions being released into
the atmosphere is equal to that being removed. Emissions are removed
naturally by carbon sinks such as the ocean, trees and soil, or by artificial
methods, such as direct air capture.

Net zero for companies is very di ferent. It’s when you set a date for when
your emissions will match the amount of carbon you reduce or remove.
But be careful about claiming to have achieved net zero for your
company, given that your scope 3 emissions come from your suppliers,
customers and entire value chain.
STEP 3. Reduce
At this stage you should have a clear picture of your carbon footprint,
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how big it is and where it’s coming from. Now it’s time to take action.
There are two things that you can do:

Reduce: Lower the emissions that your business activity

produces
Contribute: Support climate projects that are reducing or
removing GHG emissions

The key to a successful climate programme is to do both of these.

Every company needs to first focus on actively reducing its
emissions, and then have a carbon purchasing strategy in place. This
double approach is crucial if the planet is to reach net zero by 2050.

Why reduce when you can contribute?

It might be tempting just to carry on emi ting as usual and

compensate for it by purchasing negative carbon elsewhere. But the
truth is that we'll never reach planetary net zero this way. Here are just
two of the reasons why:

We don't have time: We need to half global greenhouse gas

emissions by 50% by 2030. A tree, while it is great at absorbing
carbon, will only do so slowly and gradually over its lifetime.
We don't have unlimited storage capacity: Most emerging
technologies, such as direct air capture, need carbon sinks to
store the captured carbon (in rock, for example). But the total
storage capacity of the planet is only a fraction of the total
emissions we produce.

So it's important that we all focus on reducing our own emissions first.
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And then, to buy us time, we need to make contributions to climate
projects, too.

Set your target

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that

the world needs to reach net-zero by 2050 in order to limit global
warming to 1. C and reduce the impacts of climate change. So that’s
the goal to align with.

The Science-Based Target initiative (SBTi) is a framework that helps

you do just that. Its guidelines help you set clear, credible targets that
are based on the latest science.

First, set a big, headline target for the whole company to aim for. Then
you can set separate targets for di ferent teams and parts of your
business.

Benchmark: ENGIE

Just one example of a SBTi target is the one set by ENGIE. The service,
business energy and regeneration company has commi ted to reducing
its power-generation GHG emissions from scope 1 and scope 3 by 52%
per kWh between 2017 and 2030. It has also commi ted to reducing
absolute scope 3 emissions from use of sold products 34% by 2030 from
a 2017 base year.
Act on your pledges
Now you’ve set your targets, all you have to do is reach them! The
focus of your reduction initiatives will depend on your business and
where your emission "hotspots" are. But here are some of the
pathways you can take:

Supply chain As we’ve seen, there’s plenty of reduction potential in

your supply chain. The key is to communicate and engage with your
suppliers to pinpoint where emissions come from, and collaborate on
reducing them.

Renewable energy Commit to using only clean energy. The holy grail
of sustainability is to generate this energy yourself rather than buying
it. That means becoming an equity investor in energy projects, buying
long-term power purchase agreements – or building the wind farms
and solar plants yourself.

Energy e ficiency Monitor your energy usage across your facilities

and do what you need to do help you reduce it. Replace old heating
systems and repair leaks. Switch to low-carbon transport for shipping.
And design any new buildings to be energy e ficient.

Product design If your business involves making physical products,

you can cut emissions by sourcing recycled or renewable materials,
by reducing waste, and by designing them to use less material in the
first place. And the longer they last, the lower their carbon footprint.

Product mix Some products are simply bad for the environment. In
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that case, look at switching up your product mix – from cars to a car-
sharing service, for example, or from meat burgers to vegan burgers.

Dos and don’ts

Don’t focus on only reduction or only contribution – do both

Do set targets based on the latest science
Do use cleaner energy – and less of it
STEP 4: Contribute
The last piece of the puzzle is contribution – the second key to
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reaching global net zero. That means making payments to projects
that remove or reduce carbon emissions.

The IPCC has stated clearly that carbon removal and reduction
projects are essential to limiting global warming to 1.5°C. And, as a
company, no ma ter how hard you reduce, you won’t cut your
emissions to zero – at least not within the timescale we need.

Start your contribution strategy by removing all your remaining scope

1 and 2 emissions. And then champion climate solutions, both
removal and reduction, that will help us all get to net zero.

What’s in a word? O fsets vs contribution

The business community is moving away from the word “o fse ting” and
leaning towards “contribution”. The terminology is important, because
di ferent language shapes di ferent approaches.

O fse ting, while well intended, can raise the wrong expectations. It
implies that you can pay another company to remove their emissions, or
suck carbon out of the air with a high-tech device, instead of curbing your
own. And then claim you are ‘net zero’ or ‘carbon neutral’ (see above).

But when you contribute, you’re investing in solutions that tackle climate
change, and contributing to global e forts to reach planetary net zero. But
you’re not using it as a replacement for reduction.
How to spot a good carbon project

A good carbon project is one that reduces, avoids or removes

carbon. And that genuinely has an impact on tackling climate change.

Assess each one on its quality criteria. What is the baseline situation?
What method does it use to quantify the carbon benefits? And how
will the project be monitored?

A good carbon project also contributes to sustainable development.

The poorest people in the world, a ter all, are the least responsible for
climate change and yet are the first to face the consequences. Ask
whether the project aligns with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals?

And, of course, decide on whether it’s a right fit for your company. Its
location might ma ter to you, for example, or it might be a project that
aligns really well with your brand values.

Dos and don’ts

Do assess each project according to what ma ters to you

Do look for projects where your contribution has impact
Don’t think of contributing as a replacement for reducing
STEP 5: Communicate
A good climate programme is a transparent one. You need to report
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your emissions according to accounting standards, and you need to
show everyone, from investors to employees, how far you’ve
progressed.

The most common accounting standards for emissions are aligned

with ISO 14064-1, such as GHG Protocol, PAS and Bilan Carbone.
Do this regularly and o ten, and you’ll always be on top of your climate
programme.

Shout it from the roo tops

So you’ve hunted down your emissions, set your targets, and acted
on your promises. Now it’s time to let everyone know about it. Publish
your report and share it with stakeholders. Spread the word on social
media and tell your employees to keep them engaged.

But before you do, be mindful of what you’re saying. Nowadays,

consumers and investors are good at spo ting greenwashing. And
legislation is ramping up by the day, so make sure you’ve put in the
work before you make any claims.

What’s crucial is to be open and transparent and share what

knowledge we have with others in the business community. The road
to net zero is, a ter all, a trip we’re all taking together, and it’s a long,
continuous learning curve.

Dos and don’ts

Do be transparent, no ma ter how well you’re doing
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Do share what you’ve learned with other companies
Don’t fall into the greenwashing trap

Conclusion
The best way to start a climate programme is to just do it (and the
sooner the be ter, because before long, it will be illegal not to). We’re
at a crucial turning point, and the momentum is building to figure out
together how to deal with climate change before it’s too late.

It’s much be ter to be on the inside of the movement, where you can
benefit from networks, knowledge-sharing and good will, than on the
wrong side of history.

And, while cleaning up your carbon might feel like a huge (and
possibly expensive) task, the long-term benefits include lower costs,
a more e ficient business, happier employees and happier customers.
It is, quite simply, good for business.

Ready to start your climate programme?

 Ready to start your climate programme?

Sweep has everything you need. Our tool lets you:

Measure emissions across your value chain

Set smart reduction targets
Contribute to innovative climate projects

Find out more and get started here.

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