Aliging Profit with Purpose - Global Goals Yearbook 2019

2014. According to the Power Forward
3.0 report by WWF, Ceres, Calvert Investments,
and CDP, more than 60 percent
of Fortune 100 companies and nearly
half of Fortune 500 companies have
already set climate-related targets. The
new threshold for ambitious climate
action is “science-based targets.” Emissions
reduction targets are considered
“science-based” if they align with what
the latest climate science says is necessary
to meet the goals of the Paris
Agreement – to limit global warming to
well-below 2°C above preindustrial levels
and pursue efforts to limit warming to
1.5°C. According to the Science-Based
Target Initiative, 554 companies have
committed to setting such targets, and
210 companies have had their targets
approved by the initiative. Importantly,
these science-based targets must cover
emissions from a company’s direct operations,
their electricity use, and their
supply chain.
A few years ago, only a handful of companies
had set 100 percent renewableenergy
goals. Today, 181 companies have
signed on to the RE100 campaign, with
at least 23 Fortune 500 firms, including
Walmart, General Motors, Bank of
America, Google, Apple, and Facebook.
By boosting energy-efficiency measures
and shifting to low-carbon energy
sources, the private sector can realize
cost savings up to $190 billion in 2020.
Procter & Gamble, for example, has set
science-based greenhouse gas targets,
committed to 100 percent renewable
electricity by 2030, and in the process
has saved more than $500 million (since
2010) by improving energy efficiency
across their global operations.
3. Integrating nature into business
Climate is not the only environmental
issue that business needs to address. In
just the last 40 years, wildlife populations
tracked by WWF’s Living Planet Report
have experienced an average decline of
60 percent. The news for freshwater species
is particularly dire: Since 1970, they
have declined on average by 83 percent.
Nearly half of the world’s forests are at
high risk of degradation or deforestation
by 2030.
Moreover, nearly 90 percent of the
world’s marine fisheries have already
been pushed to – or beyond – their
limits. This rapid loss of biodiversity
threatens the $125 trillion per year in
services that nature provides – from
clean air to clean water, food, fuel, medicine,
and more. The year 2020 promises
to be catalytic with regard to protecting
biodiversity, as there is a strong civil society
movement to galvanize public- and
private-sector support for a new deal for
nature and people that protects wildlife
and their habitats.
The business community has been slower
to act on challenges such as deforestation
and the conversion of natural ecosystems.
Although these issues should
be top of mind for many industries,
too often business leaders see them as
embedded in supply chains, and thus
a problem that someone else needs to
deal with. However, the consequences
of not addressing them – including
stakeholder backlash and economic
losses – are quite serious.
Many of the actions companies could
take to mitigate these risks are ones
they should be taking anyway to reduce
their scope 3 (supply chain) emissions
and avoid supply chain disruptions from
land-based environmental issues such as
deforestation. According to CDP Supply
54 Global Goals Yearbook 2019