This platform makes sure that companies stick to their commitments to the environment
The Impact of EU Greenhouse Gas Emissions on U.S. Businesses and Investors: A View from Jordanova’s digital platform Plan A
A year after COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference which took place in November 2021, the number of FTSE 100 companies vowing to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 grew by 37 percent to 82 percent. Among the pledgers were some of the world’s biggest companies: Amazon, Apple, Ford, IBM, JP Morgan, Mars, and many others. But climate action is not just on the minds of industry giants: it’s a growing concern for every business as scrutiny grows.
But she quickly learned that even companies that wanted to tackle climate change, and specifically their own greenhouse gas emissions, weren’t always going about it the right way.
Jordanova also sells other things. Plan A has a digital platform that doesn’t promise “net zero” or ” carbon neutral” labels, but it does offer automation and prediction. On the dashboard, users can then track their emissions and identify areas—whether in manufacturing, the workplace, or business travel—where they could reduce more, faster, and help mitigate the worst effects of climate change. However, tackling these hotspots is not so easy, especially when a company’s products are characterized by a long and globalized value chain—relying on materials and resources from all over the world.
The new EU rule will try to tame the Wild West of ESG in three ways. They need to meet mandatory EU standards, then introduce better quality and consistency to their reporting. In theory, it should lead to greater scrutiny, because companies have to be audited (audit firms’ track records show vigilance will be needed in this area too). Companies must report on how their business affects the environment, society, and governance even if they don’t discuss how ESG factors impact their business. This dual perspective should make it easier for investors, regulators, and consumers to reward—or punish—companies based on their ESG performance.
Risk for investors and companies is created because of the lack of transparency, explainability and accountability in the Eg market. The SEC launched an investigation into Goldman and the investment unit of BNY Mellon bank for alleged ESG missells in the early 90’s. The fund unit ofDeutsche Bank AG was the subject of an investigation.
Such questions have been around for years, but they acquired new urgency after Russia invaded Ukraine. The rating agencies were asked if they should continue shunning weapons manufacturers since they make products that kill people, or increase the ratings of companies to reflect their role in defending democracies. This led some critics to argue that such ethical considerations should not be addressed by the unelected people who work at rating agencies; instead, they should fall to elected representatives. Yet this suggests that only elected representatives should weigh in on business ethics, a view with which many company leaders, employees, investors, and consumers profoundly disagree. The debate will become even more intense as companies and ratings agencies think about the long term implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and other risks such as the possibility of China moving against Taiwan.
How Do Emissions Avoidance Offsets Be Formed? The Case of a Recycled Silicon Wafer and a Tantalum Opaque
Businesses have been putting investment into traditional emissions-avoidance offsets because they want to make up for their own emissions. Clean cookstove projects and investment in renewable energy are included in emissions-avoidance offsets.
Your investors say it was a good start. But what about the mines that produced the tantalum or palladium in your transistors? Or the silicon wafers that arrived via a lengthy supply chain? When your product is shipped to customers, how do you train an artificial intelligence model like GPT-4 or 5) in a data center, or install it in a laptop? Eventually it will be discarded as trash or recycled. If a company Chases down every ton of carbon and the emissions are many times higher than first thought, it’s a good thing.
