Full Title: SBTi Research - Scope 3 Discussion Paper: Aligning Corporate Value Chains to Global Climate Goals
Author(s): Alberto Carrillo Pineda, Hugo Ernest-Jones, Emma Watson, Scarlett Benson, Ellen Brouwer-van Haastert, Giulia Camparsi, Emily Castro, Alice Farrelly, Piera Patrizio, and Eoin White
Publisher(s): Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
Publication Date: July 1, 2024
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
In 2015, the Paris Agreement was signed by 196 parties, codifying the world’s collective aim to limit global warming to well-below 2°C and agreeing to pursue more ambitious efforts to keep warming to 1.5°C. In 2018, the IPCC released a special report outlining the drastic differences between 1.5°C and 2°C of warming. The report confirmed that the primary aim must be to limit warming to 1.5°C with little to no overshoot.
There is still have time to limit warming to 1.5°C. But the window of opportunity is closing quickly. Dangerously high ocean temperatures, record-breaking wildfires, deadly rains and flooding are harbingers of a collective future should people fail to adequately mobilize a global response to the climate crisis. The stability of the planet hangs in the balance, and the best chance to mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis is rapid decarbonization across all sectors, reaching net-zero no later than 2050.
Achieving net-zero emissions globally means a profound transformation into an economic system that delivers the needs of society without accumulating greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) into the atmosphere. For corporate value chains, this means that every phase – from raw material extraction to production, distribution, product use and disposal – must operate without increasing atmospheric GHGs.
Scope 3 emissions include indirect emissions within a company’s value chain. The SBTi believes that scope 3 target setting can serve as a powerful mechanism to integrate our global climate goals into the core of the economy – specifically, into what companies procure and how they generate revenue. Setting science-based emissions reduction targets across corporate value chains not only supports combating the climate crisis, but also ensures that business models evolve to continue delivering value in a carbon-constrained world. Furthermore, scope 3 target setting can catalyze a seismic shift towards net-zero by extending the responsibility for climate impacts beyond direct operations and fostering comprehensive decarbonization throughout the entire value chain.