“Don’t just sit on your shelf”: developing a carbon-management strategy

The four pillars

• Pillar 1 focuses on an organisation’s activities to reduce its own carbon emissions. These are reductions with regards to Scope 1 (a company’s direct GHG emissions) and 2 (a company’s indirect GHG emissions).
• Pillar 2 focuses on an organisation’s indirect activities to reduce its value chain carbon emissions (these are Scope 3 emissions). Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) usually have relatively limited impact on their suppliers but can have an impact through their selection of suppliers, the design of products and by reducing the use of goods and services with high GHG emission impacts.
• Pillar 3 integrates carbon management into business strategy. It addresses the alignment of the organisation’s vision, strategy, value proposition, products and services with the 1.5°C climate goal. This could include prioritising products and services that enable reduction and removal of customers’ and wider society’s carbon emissions, enabling a resource-efficient lifestyle and consumption patterns.
• Pillar 4 describes how to contribute beyond your own organisational activities, through cooperation and networks and involves influencing climate action in society. This includes sharing good practice or supporting behavioural change in a variety of groups: customers, employees, suppliers, industry, government bodies, research institutes and not-for-profit organisations. It also involves facilitating low-carbon practices and funding projects outside your company’s value chain.