CSR, Carbon Footprint Assessment, and Supplier Commitment to Achieving a Low-Carbon Pathway
โ โCSR, as our American friends say, is a PPP: to protect the planet, the people, and the profit.โ Companies have long understood profit. Theyโre beginning to understand โthe peopleโ in terms of health, hygiene, and process safetyโand theyโre getting nervous.
So, what exactly is โplanet, planetโ? Itโs the climate. The Global Climate Initiative is an organization that specializes, both nationally and internationally, in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by businesses, local governments, and individuals. What we need to understand is that success will come only through a collective effort. We canโt ask humanity to reduce CO2 emissions by 5%, 10%, 30%, or 50% without everyone doing their part. So, we created this platform a little over ten years ago. Today, this platform allows anyoneโwhether as an individual, an SME, or a large corporationโto calculate their carbon footprint and, most importantly, to reduce it. Carbon accounting is a fairly simple process. It involves multiplying emission factors by quantities to arrive at a result.
So, to reduce your carbon footprint, you have the choice of either reducing the quantityโtraveling fewer kilometers, using fewer materialsโor choosing a lower emission factor. Green energy versus carbon-based energy. Recycled wood versus natural wood; recycled cotton carpet rather than synthetic carpet; and so on. So there you have it: the cornerstones of a low-carbon strategy are very simpleโquantity and quality. Then thereโs accounting. Why do we use the term โcarbon footprint,โ which we now call the โgeo-footprintโ? Because itโs exactly like accounting. Within the company, weโll calculate its carbon footprintโits composite carbon footprintโand assess the efforts made (or not made) to reduce it. So weโll track travel, weโll track purchases, and weโll take into account just about everything that happens. Weโll arrive at a result. This result will be standardized against 23 very relevant regulatory criteria. And itโs not just paperwork.
This will immediately show you possible ways to reduce emissions. First, youโll tackle the biggest ones. The famous 80/20 rule. It even applies to carbon footprint assessments. Thanks to the Global Climate Initiativeโs digital tools, youโll have access to online guidance to identify reduction opportunities. Thanks to the network of GSI-certified experts around the world and in France, youโll receive personalized, hands-on advice on a human scale to guide you through the reduction process. But letโs be clear: you wonโt be able to do anything unless you yourself become the champion of carbon footprint assessment within your ecosystem. Because when you examine your carbon footprint, youโll realize that 40 to 90 percent of it depends on your suppliers. Of course, when you buy a roll of carpet, a bag of cement, or a service, you pay for the service or product, but youโre also taking on its carbon footprint. So, if you want to lower your carbon footprint, youโll need to ask all your suppliers to lower theirs. And whatโs the first step toward reducing it? Itโs just like losing weight.
The first step when you want to lose weight is to buy a scale. So weโll tell our suppliers: โCalculate your carbon footprint, identifyโjust like I didโthe areas where you can reduce it, and come back to me with a reduction plan, an action plan, and an emissions factor.โ Itโs a bit technicalโcalculated per unit of workโbut it will allow me, in turn, to lower my own carbon footprint. So overall, we never calculate our carbon footprint just because weโre required to. We do it because we believe in it. We never calculate our carbon footprint alone. We involve everyoneโinternally, our employees, partners, and agentsโeveryone. Externally, we involve our partners and suppliers, and we prioritize transparency. Iโd like to point out that for 99% of companies, this is a voluntary effort. When you do something voluntarily, you donโt cut corners. So we conduct a genuine Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 carbon footprint assessment. We take an active interest in it, we share the results, we measure our performance, and we make progress.โ
To learn more, discover the role of carbon footprint assessments in a companyโs CSR strategy, and find a carbon footprint assessment expert