200 Scientists, 700 Authors, a review of 14,000 scientific papers… ‘It is unequivocal’ – the climate crisis has been caused by human activities.
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finalized its 6th assessment report (AR6) on Climate Change 2021 on the 6th August. 1 This report along with its subsequent instalments will be a cornerstone of climate science for the years ahead. The last IPCC report AR5 was 3 instalments between 2013-2014.
To summarize this briefly does not do the report justice but here are some crude takeaways:
- No doubt at all – humans are to blame for global warming
- No matter what we do (if every government changed everything and aligned to all net-zero goals – now), we will still be warming for the next three decades i.e. think of the world as a large super tanker that needs to slow to a stop, that inertia takes time… Meaning the weather and climate effects we’re all experiencing right now, from the floods in Europe to heatwaves in Scandinavia and wildfires in North America will only get worse.
- There is a window of opportunity to avoid this worsening – IF deep cuts are made in GHG emissions that are widespread – in order to keep warming to 1.5 degree Celsius.
So, what can WE do?
Indeed, what should companies, policy makers and investors do to effectively fight climate change?
Our friend Tim Mohin, Chief Sustainability Officer at Persefoni summed it up nicely this week in his article on August 13th. 2
- Treat carbon transactions like financial transactions – YOU CAN’T MANAGE WHAT YOU CAN’T MEASURE – get your carbon accounting done and get it done correctly – account for ‘scope 3’ or indirect emissions, these make up most of the impact for many companies.
- Make net zero goals meaningful – Get an effective carbon management strategy in place and plan to adapt to the risks your business and your value chain may face due to a worsening in global warming.
- Advocate for Regulation – regulation drives steep emission cuts.
- Financial Sector leadership – the finance sector also must measure and manage the carbon impacts of their investments. Look to the PCAF standard3 as a method for measuring the carbon impacts of financial transactions.
On the latter, NETZERO Middle East has partnered with Persefoni – the 1st SaaS based platform to encode the entire PCAF standard in its reporting platform.4
References
- The IPCC Full Report is 3000+ pages and can be found here – https://lnkd.in/eq_zDBfH
The IPCC Summary for Policymakers (40 pages) is a good start – https://lnkd.in/e3szsngn - Special Edition – The IPCC Report is an Urgent Call to Action by Tim Mohin – https://lnkd.in/dBqdMK5h
- PCAF standard as a method for measuring the carbon impacts of financial transactions – https://lnkd.in/d2X9wh9J
- Persefoni – the 1st SaaS based platform to encode the entire PCAF standard in its reporting platform – https://lnkd.in/drAezUdm
