Keeping Up With COP26: Climate Pledges Need Auditable Data To Be Effective

As world leaders come together for COP26, many companies have pledged carbon neutrality by a target date. But most do not factor in - or fully keep track of - the emissions coming from their supply chains, which can be a significant amount of their greenhouse gas emissions.

What are climate pledges, and why do companies make them?

Over the last two decades as research around global warming and climate change have produced increasingly dire warnings, companies around the world have begun making public pledges aimed at cutting their energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by a certain date, or promising to become carbon neutral. The larger the company, the greater the corporate goal to take climate change into consideration as part of their general business practices.

The missing piece: verifiable data.

While these climate pledges are admirable, there is something major missing from these lofty corporate goals: auditable data around emissions from supply chains or waste from the products created as a result. For some companies, as much as 95% of their overall contributions to greenhouse gases may be emanating from their complex global supply chains. Without systems in place to track GHG emissions from raw material to finished product, it is virtually impossible for companies to meet these public climate pledges, or, more importantly, for the world to successfully reduce GHG emissions from some of its largest polluters.

Where do we go from here?

Supply chains and climate change have been major topics in the news this year, so it is unsurprising that the two are interrelated. To accurately and effectively reduce their carbon emissions, companies first need to invest in the technology to track their supply chains down to the raw materials.

Sourcemap’s state-of-the-art GHG product uses auditable, verifiable data to provide companies with a clearer picture of how much greenhouse gases they are actually emitting - giving them the tools they need to meet their corporate carbon goals.

Corporate pledges aren’t the only reason why GHG emissions are top of mind. Laws are changing across Europe to require certain companies to track and disclose their environmental risk. Read Sourcemap’s white paper about Germany’s recent Supply Chain Due Diligence Act.

To learn more about how Sourcemap can support your organization’s GHG reduction goals, reach out to one of our experts.