Corporations Measuring Emissions from Products and Supply Chains
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 20,2010) - Sixty corporations today begin measuring the
greenhouse gas emissions of their products and supply chains by
road testing a new global framework that is part of the
Protocol Initiative.
Developed by the target=”_blank”>World Resources Institute (WRI) and the
target=”_blank”>World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD), the two new GHG Protocol standards - the
target=”_blank”>Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting
Standard and the
target=”_blank”>Scope 3 (Corporate Value Chain) Accounting and
Reporting Standard - provide methods to account for emissions
associated with individual products across their life-cycles and of
corporations across their value chains.
“Increasingly, companies are looking beyond their
own boundaries and developing strategies to reduce GHG emissions in
their supply chains and in the products they make and sell,”
Bjorn Stigson, president of WBCSD.
Jonathan Lash, president of WRI, said, “We are encouraged by the
overwhelming response from the private sector seeking to road test
the new standards. There were more than 120 applications across a
broad array of sectors and regions worldwide. The road testing will
provide critical input in ensuring that the standards generate
credible and meaningful data for business and government decision
makers, while considering the practical challenges that businesses
and programs will face during implementation.”
“By taking a comprehensive approach to GHG measurement and
management, businesses and policymakers can focus attention on the
greatest opportunities to reduce emissions within the full value
chain, leading to more sustainable decisions about the products
companies buy, sell, and produce,” said Bjorn Stigson, president of
WBCSD
target=”_blank”
title=”An example of GHG emissions across a product’s life cycle”>
While many companies have been measuring the emissions
from their own operations and electricity use, the Scope 3 Standard
will, for the first time, allow companies to look comprehensively
at the impact of their corporate value chains, including outsourced
activities, supplier manufacturing, and the use of the products
they sell.
Road testers of the Product Standard will measure the climate
change impact of products ranging from magazines, food and jeans to
computers, wind turbines and steel.
Ashley Crepiat, environmental footprint and economics manager
for road-testing company Airbus, said, “Managing the transition
towards a low-carbon economy is now a true concern for
corporations. Airbus understands that beyond reducing its direct
GHG emissions from its operations, evaluating emissions throughout
the whole value chain is also a major challenge. By road testing
GHG Protocol’s Scope 3 Accounting and Reporting Standard, we
believe this will help establish harmonized international
guidelines enabling a common and robust framework for Scope 3
accounting.”
Michael Kobori, Levi Strauss & Co.’s vice president of
Social and Environmental Sustainability, said: “Levi Strauss &
Co. is thrilled to be road-testing the GHG Protocol Product Life
Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard. If this method becomes
widely accepted, it will enable us to better calculate and share
the climate change impact of our products. Being able to credibly
measure and communicate that product impact to consumers can
unleash the power of the market to address climate change on a
global scale.”
The draft standards were developed over the last year through a
global, collaborative multi-stakeholder process, with participation
from over 1,000 volunteer representatives from industry,
government, academia and non-governmental organizations. The road
testing process will provide real-world feedback to ensure the
standards can be practically implemented by companies and
organizations from a variety of sectors, sizes, and geographic
areas around the world. The final standards are scheduled to be
published in December 2010.
Companies participating in the road testing represent 17
countries from every continent and more than 20 industry sectors.
Click
target=”_blank”>here for full list of participating
companies.
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