Steve Jordan considers some of the wider implications of the sustainability debate and lays down a challenge for companies and organisations to work together to tackle an existential threat.
Now here’s a thing. Everyone is talking about emissions and sustainability nowadays. Take a look at the stories on pages 10 and 16 to get a picture of how important OMNI and FIDI think it is. But it’s not just about whether you drive a diesel or an electric car, or whether you turn the thermostat in your office down a notch or two. It’s much more complicated than that.
There are things called Scope 3 emissions. Although they put additional obligations upon all businesses, they also may provide an opportunity that I haven’t yet heard many people discussing. So, let’s start the debate.
Emissions of Greenhouse Gasses (GHG) are listed in three categories: Scope 1 - the fuel you use in your vehicles; Scope 2 - the fuels used to provide the electricity that your business consumes; and Scope 3 – everything else.
Now everything else represents a pretty broad collection of activities, all of which can cause GHG to be released into the atmosphere. Hop on a flight to the FIDI conference, for example, or book a 40ft from New York to Hong Kong. You might not be creating the emissions in the same way that you would be by driving your kids to school in the 4 x 4, rather than letting them walk, but you are causing them to be created. So, if you create them, or cause someone else to do so, they are all part of your carbon footprint. Ouch! And here’s a statistic to give you sleepless nights: around 90% of your carbon footprint comes from these goods and services you buy.
That’s why, of course, all the commentators on the subject say that we are all in this together. A company’s individual actions can only have a limited effect. If we are to really get a grip on this problem, then we had better work together to solve it.
Let’s come back to that in a minute ...
Photo: Steve Jordan.