A new roadmap to help reduce value chain emissions
The Australian Climate Leaders Coalition, an initiative of The B Team Australia, was established in 2020 in support of the Paris Agreement commitments and to setting public decarbonisation targets. It comprises 47 CEOs of major companies operating in Australia, each working together to decarbonise their own businesses and undertaking joint projects to support Australia achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
The coalition has recently launched a new roadmap, outlining the practical steps needed to address ‘scope 3’ emissions. Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions that occur in a company's value chain, they make up 65-95% of most companies’ carbon impact and it is widely recognised that reducing scope 3 emissions is critical to reaching net zero.
The new roadmap is the work of Australian CEOs who have identified key opportunities and strategies to reduce emissions and create 1.5ºC aligned value chains.
“While the challenge of reducing scope 3 emissions is complex and wide ranging, it is far from insurmountable,” David Thodey, co-chair of the Climate Leaders Coalition said. “The work we have done proves this, which is why we are now sharing the lessons we have learnt and the results we have achieved–to help others and to spur action.”
The roadmap has been written by CEOs for CEOs and creates an evidence and results-based pathway that any business leader can follow as they work to reduce their own scope 3 emissions.
John Lydon, co-chair of the Climate Leader Coalition added: “What has stood out most to me is that by moving early to reduce scope 3 emissions CEOs benefit significantly from leveraging new business models, building stronger partnerships, and accessing growth markets. What is most important is simply to take that first step starting now.”
Former Lion CEO Stuart Irvine, who led the work on creating a carbon neutral beer value chain, identified collaboration built on trust as his key insight from the process.
“For us to tackle scope 3 successfully, we had to think beyond our own organisations; with the ability to build trusted, interdependent, and mutually accountable relationships with value chain partners being the single biggest factor driving success,” he said. “In reducing the carbon emissions associated with beer, we achieved a rapid 11% reduction in scope 3 emissions across the value chain; whilst the BeefCo value chain changes have the potential to achieve a 42% reduction across their value chain.
“We were able to achieve these outstanding results in both instances thanks to our partners committing to a radical degree of collaboration to test, learn and scale solutions with a level of knowledge sharing and data transparency they have never contemplated before.”
The full eight-step roadmap to reducing scope 3 emissions is available from Australian Climate Coalition to download for free. It’s been created to help other CEOs to reduce their companies’ emissions and lead to a net-zero future.
Visit Australian Climate Leaders Coalition to find out more.