Scope 3 emissions, making up anywhere between 15% to 95% of most companies' carbon footprints, represent the most significant blind spot in corporate climate action. More than half of companies with a Scope 3 emissions target are failing to deliver cuts in line with expectations. This spotlights a critical action gap that threatens to undermine global net-zero ambitions. The Scope 3 challenge is complex: Businesses face significant barriers to reducing emissions. While the imperative for action grows stronger, companies need practical pathways that acknowledge real-world constraints and provide routes for companies to continue fulfilling their climate ambitions.
The Business Imperative for Action
The effects of climate change are rapidly eroding the fundamental stability on which global commerce is based. Disruption to global supply chains, increasing commodity costs, degraded infrastructure, and unpredictability in business planning are creating an uncomfortable new reality in which climate certainty is being replaced by commercial instability. Over the past decade alone, extreme weather events linked to climate change have cost the global economy around $2 trillion. Change is now a non-negotiable facet of strategic planning for companies to safeguard their future.
