Carbon advisory in EMEA
Why failing to accurately track Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions is the biggest threat to decarbonisation. Accurate data is key
Daniel Carter Wood
I n the race to decarbonise, the world stands at a crossroads where the path chosen now – be it proactive or reactive – will determine the success or failure of combating climate change. Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, nations across the globe have embraced targeted carbon legislation in a united effort to incentivise decarbonisation road mapping across all industries ( McKinsey & Co, 2021 ). The US has introduced the 45Q tax credit ( IEA, 2023 ), which reduces the cost and risk associated with investing in clean energy technology. In addition, the EU has implemented the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) (European Commission, 2023) to encourage cleaner industrial production in non-EU countries. Governments around the world are creating an ever-evolving assortment of climate-combatting laws that many believe will be the linchpin in major decarbonisation. However, despite this sharp increase in efforts being made to reduce emissions on a macro
level, time after time companies fall short of making effective deep cuts to their carbon footprint. Ineffective emissions tracking is most likely the reason for this, with many mapping out decarbonisation strategies that see them running before they can walk. Ultimately, you cannot manage what you cannot measure, and with countless numbers of stakeholders involved throughout the industrial value chain, it can become easy to lose oversight of how much carbon is truly being emitted. Operators need to fully understand the policy landscape and their carbon baseline before defining objectives and targets for decarbonisation through benchmarking, assessing market impacts and considering policy and corporate strategy. They then need to review and map assets to enable the development of decarbonisation pathway scenarios. Wood has developed a process that considers the company’s substitution, capture, offsetting, and reduction options to
Nature-based solutions offer practical and sustainable strategies that align with the objectives of the Paris Agreement
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