On Earth Day 2022, we were asked to “Invest in Our Planet,” which is a nod to the critical developments that are supporting green investment around the world. The theme also serves as a call to action for everyone to engage in protecting our planet’s future.
As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reminds us, it is time to take control of climate change. The IPCC’s most recent report called on the world’s leading economies to take charge on decarbonization.
Most recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed mandatory climate-risk disclosures for publicly traded companies starting as soon as next year. As we wrote last month, this is a significant step given that the U.S. and the SEC have been slow to implement and enforce a standardized reporting model, compared to Europe and other regions.
The reality is that greater transparency at the top brings greater accountability at every level. Even the SEC rule, which targets large, publicly traded corporations, will indirectly impact smaller enterprises. By incorporating Scope 3 emissions — all upstream and downstream emissions from a company’s value chain — the SEC implicitly brought smaller organizations into the fold. While quantifying these emissions may sound daunting, expert guidance for your sustainability journey will help. In fact, it is more important than ever, given the potential consequences of reporting inaccurate data. Auditable and transparent data for emissions calculations is no longer a “nice to have,” and we are already partnering with companies across sectors to help them calculate their carbon footprint and chart their ESG journey.
At Sphera, we truly believe we’re all in this together. On Earth Day, and every day, we acknowledge our duty as global citizens to keep our earth safe and sustainable. As the IPCC report notes, getting the right policies, infrastructure and technology in place is just the first step. It must be followed by widespread lifestyle and behavior changes that help to reduce GHG emissions by 40%-70% by 2050. Because we all have a role to play in creating a safer, more sustainable and productive world — and we must start now.
–Paul
