It’s a new year, and we’re optimistic that a return to normalcy is on the horizon as more and more people are able to get the COVID-19 vaccine. There’s a long way to go, but we’re clearly moving in the right direction.
Environmental and Sustainability issues on the other hand are clearly not a thing of the past.
While COVID-19 was the story of 2020, climate change is back in the news as the United States is re-entering the Paris Agreement, which targets greenhouse gas emissions. Almost every country in the world has signed onto the agreement. It requires countries to monitor, report and reassess their ability to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which is a step in the right direction toward a sustainable future.
Organizations need to focus on Environmental Accounting solutions to manage their emissions to not just stay in compliance but also go beyond it for the benefit of society. This not only secures their operations but also brings high transparency into a company’s emissions calculation and reporting. Doing so also powers corporate Sustainability initiatives by feeding accurate, centralized and standardized emissions data into corporate reporting programs.
Implementing Environmental Accounting is key to any organization’s management program to ensure a safer, more sustainable and productive future for us and our planet. A sustainable tomorrow cannot happen overnight, but it can happen if we start planning for it now.
The European Commission has adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan, which is part of Europe’s new agenda for sustainable growth. One of the goals is to make sustainable products the norm by 2050. If you want to stay ahead of the game, now is a good time to turn your attention to the circularity of your products. This is where Life Cycle Assessment plays a key role in recording a product’s incoming and outgoing energy flows over the course of its existence to measure potential environmental effects.
Last but not least, there is a high and growing market demand for environmental disclosure. On the corporate side, by reporting to the CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), you can gain a competitive advantage. Disclosure helps you get ahead of regulatory and policy changes while identifying and tackling growing risks. Questionnaires are now available for the CDP survey, which is aligned to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) methodology. The deadline to comply is July 28.
It’s 2021. And, now is the time to do our part to promote a more sustainable world.
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