How business leadership can advance Goal 13 on Climate Action
Climate change is caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases associated with electricity and heat production, industry, buildings, transport, and land use. Climate change impacts the planet through higher temperatures, an increase of extreme weather events, changing precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, and ocean acidification. It disrupts ecosystems and human livelihoods, particularly of vulnerable groups such as women, children, and the elderly as resources, food, and water become more scarce.
Do your actions satisfy the Leadership Qualities?
Guiding Questions to apply to the Leadership Qualities to your business
Intentionality
Ambition
Consistency
Collaboration
Accountability
- Is your company committed to supporting the achievement of Goal 13? Have you developed a holistic strategy that reflects this commitment, covering end-to-end operation and the wider community?
- Are you committed to learn from your actions and do you have processes in place to improve them accordingly?
- Is your strategy supported by the highest levels of management, including the Board of Directors?
Key Considerations
Intentionality and top-level leadership are key to realize the fundamental shifts in business required for successful climate action. Indeed, to date, leading companies on climate action have all built on the commitment of highly engaged CEOs.
- Do your actions achieve long-term outcomes that greatly exceed those resulting from current industry practice?
- Are your actions aligned with what is needed to achieve Goal 13?
Key Considerations
Action on climate is leading if it aligns with science-based targets. For mitigation, this involves action on emissions associated with all stages of production and service life cycles. For resilience building, this requires planning and action reaching far beyond own operations.
- Is support for Goal 13 embedded across all organizational functions?
- Are staff and board incentives aligned with achieving Goal 13?
Key Considerations
Intentions must be matched by all organizational functions for climate action to be credible and successful. For mitigation action this crucially includes government relations and lobbying departments, also if that carries short term cost increases due to climate policy
- Do you proactively look for opportunities to partner with Governments, UN agencies, suppliers, civil society organizations, industry peers and other stakeholders to inform how to advance Goal 13?
Key Considerations
Climate action involves long, complex trajectories, especially as climate is largely an intergenerational issue that risks being forgotten by citizen action and political agendas. Long-term collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders is therefore critical.
- Do you publicly express your commitment to advance Goal 13?
- Do you identify, monitor, and report on impacts, including potentially adverse impacts?
- Do you mitigate risks associated with your action?
- Do you remediate negative impacts associated with this action?
- Do you engage stakeholders in a meaningful way?
Key Considerations
Monitoring and publicly reporting on climate action is key to gauging progress at a global level. Where action reaches areas with vulnerable populations and ecosystems, social and environmental safeguards must be in place, and risks of negative impacts carefully managed.
Business Actions
BUSINESS ACTION 1
Ensure climate resilience
BUSINESS ACTION 2
Reduce operational emissions
BUSINESS ACTION 3
Develop products with negligible emissions
BUSINESS ACTION 4
Promote climate conscious behavior
BUSINESS ACTION 1
Ensure climate resilience of company and supply chain operations, and the communities surrounding them
Companies control the operation and maintenance of their capital assets, and decide on investments in upgrades, which has ramifications for their resilience to the impacts of climate change such as increased climate variability and environmental hazards. At a minimum, companies can ensure that their own assets are resilient to climate impacts. Leadership requires such action to be replicable and inspire others to bring about a step change in climate resilience, for example by developing and deploying innovative solutions for resilience. Companies can also lead by building resilience across multiple tiers of the supply chain and the communities surrounding these. Climate change is already affecting the most vulnerable countries and populations, which implies that leading action to increase resilience of and around supply chain operations in least developed countries and the Small Island Developing States is particularly vital. Action might include setting supplier standards; and providing capacity building, technical, and financial support to relevant stakeholders, including through engagement with Governments and local partners to support context specific resilience and/or adaptation plans.
Example Practices
- An agricultural equipment company works with an NGO to use modified trucks for screening videos and host workshops, coupled with hands-on instruction at demonstration plots, to train maize and dairy farmers in Kenya on improved agricultural practices that lead to greater climate resilience
- A furniture company commits €1 billion to climate action, of which €400 million is aimed at supporting families and communities in nations vulnerable to impacts of climate change such as floods, droughts and desertification
Consider the leadership qualities and interconnectedness of your action, including…
- Ambition: planning and investing for long-term resilience of own operations is good business practice, but would not in itself be leading unless it can be replicated by, and inspires, other actors.
- Accountability: action to boost resilience in areas with vulnerable populations must be fully accountable, with attention for managing risks of negative impacts and providing opportunities for redress.
- Collaboration: as resilience is a systemic property, action always requires extensive collaboration, including on institution building and adaptation planning.
- Interconnectedness: action on climate resilience provides opportunities for advancing no poverty (Goal 1), zero hunger (Goal 2), and good health and well-being (Goal 3). It can also create jobs (Goal 8) and reduce inequalities if it focuses on vulnerable populations (Goal 10).
BUSINESS ACTION 2
Substantially reduce emissions associated with own and supply chain operations, in alignment with climate science
The urgency of climate action, driven by the necessity to achieve net zero emissions by the middle of the century, calls for significant mitigation efforts by all businesses. Leading companies inspire such efforts at scale. They recognize and disclose emissions from all sources throughout the life cycle of products and services, including direct emissions of own operations (Scope 1), indirect emissions from power and heat consumption (Scope 2), and emissions associated with the supply chain (Scope 3). Leading companies set time-bound, absolute reduction targets in line with the latest available scientific evidence. They act on these targets by committing to urgent and decisive action across end-to-end operations. This may include developing replicable low-carbon technologies and business models, identifying and resolving deforestation problems in the supply chain, and powering own and supply chain operations from renewable sources.
Example Practices
- A food manufacturer commits to reduce absolute GHG emissions across its full value chain by 41-72 percent (compared to 2010) to achieve sustainable levels in line with scientific consensus by 2050. More than two-thirds of GHG emissions fall outside its own operations, primarily in agriculture, and it takes action to reduce those through sustainable sourcing initiatives
- A food and beverages conglomerate commits to eliminate the use of fossil fuel energy and greenhouse gas emissions from its operations by 2040. It only sources beef, palm oil, pulp and paper, and soy from producers and suppliers that comply with its deforestation prevention policy and develops metrics to measure GHG emissions across its entire supply chain
Consider the leadership qualities and interconnectedness of your action, including…
- Consistency: leaders ensure that all business activities, including lobbying activities, are consistent with the emission reductions needed to deliver the Paris Agreement goal of restricting temperature increases to well below 2 degrees celsius.
- Collaboration: responsible engagement and collaboration with governments is particularly pertinent in the context of emissions reductions, as success relies on effective carbon prices and other climate policy.
- Accountability: ambitious action on climate will always take into account human rights and other social protections.
- Interconnectedness: climate change mitigation is fundamental to all other Goals as a stable climate underpins all livelihoods and ecosystems.
BUSINESS ACTION 3
Shift to a portfolio of goods and services that have, and promote, negligible emissions from use
Companies have, within their Scope 3 emissions, a critical role to play in reducing emissions from use and consumption by supplying low-carbon products and services. All companies should aim for products and services that have the least possible emissions from use. Leading action would imply development and deployment of novel technologies, business models, and solutions that radically reduce or promote the reduction of emissions from use. These should be designed in a way that can fully replace carbon intensive alternatives in existing portfolios. They could be technologies impacting the emissions intensity of activities in major energy end use sectors including manufacturing, transport, buildings and appliances, and land use; or innovative solutions such as financial service offerings that are tailored to spur low-carbon
Example Practices
- An investment bank leads an initiative under which it provides green finance, including green project bonds, green asset-backed securities, and philanthropic funds as catalytic first-loss capital to promote investment in energy access. As part of the initiative the bank partners with the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and other commercial and development finance institutions to raise $100 million to help provide clean cooking solutions to millions of households in the developing world
- an automobile manufacturer develops high-performance, affordable electric vehicles; makes its technology publicly available to enable an industry-wide switch to EV; and partners with a rooftop solar company to provide solutions for allowing EVs run on electricity from renewables
- an insurance company creates products to incentivize customers to make environmentally responsible choices, provides energy efficient replacements to customers, works with specialists to restore more of their customers’ items, and engages with the companies it invests in on climate change to deliver renewable energy products and other activities to mitigate greenhouse gases
Consider the leadership qualities and interconnectedness of your action, including…
- Ambition: inspiring and enabling others to take climate action at scale requires making innovative solutions that radically reduce emissions intensity, are accessible and replicable.
- Accountability: ambitious action on climate will always take into account human rights and other social protections.
- Interconnectedness: climate change mitigation is fundamental to all other Goals as a stable climate underpins all livelihoods and ecosystems.
BUSINESS ACTION 4
Promote climate conscious behavior and build capacity for climate action
Companies have an important role in shaping public debate on climate change and building stakeholder capacity for climate action. As Governments are vitally important for climate action in their role as designers and implementers of ambitious climate policy, all companies should publicly support their actions and practice responsible public policy engagement. Leading companies actively promote climate conscious behaviour through building climate change awareness and education programmes. To this end, they can implement a climate change-specific communications, education and awareness raising strategy targeting behavioral change in the workplace, marketplace, and community. They can practice responsible engagement with Government, and build capacity and assist stakeholders in areas where they are well positioned to do so, especially where institutional capacity and will are lacking. Companies can lead in building capacity for channelling climate finance, especially capacity and will of peers through co-financing arrangements, as private finance is critical for achieving finance flows of US$100 billion per annum by 2020 as agreed under the UNFCCC.
Example Practices
- A detergent manufacturer launches an industry-wide initiative to promote washing clothes in 30 degrees Celsius water in an effort to reduce household emissions
- A major insurance company pledges financial capacity and expertise to support governmental climate action. It commits to having advised 50 sovereigns and sub-sovereigns on climate risk resilience by 2020, and to have offered them protection of $10 billion against this risk
Consider the leadership qualities and interconnectedness of your action, including…
- Collaboration: behavioral change and building capacity for climate action are long, complex trajectories, especially as climate is largely an intergenerational issue that risks being forgotten by citizens and political agendas. Long-term collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders is therefore critical.
- Accountability: meaningful engagement is key to successful awareness raising and capacity building. This includes understanding and supporting national development plans and priorities, and minimising the risk of negative impacts on human rights – especially crucial when operating in developing markets.
- Interconnectedness: building capacity for climate action is interconnected with all other Goals, particularly through institution building (Goal 16) and partnerships for the Goals (Goal 17).
How taking action on Goal 13 is interconnected with other Goals
The Global Goals are inherently interconnected. Action taken toward one Goal can support or hinder the achievement of others. Identifying and addressing these interconnections will help business to build holistic and systemic solutions that amplify progress and minimize negative impacts. To help build a greater understanding, we have illustrated some of the ways in which the Goals connect. These are not exhaustive, and we encourage business to consider how they apply in their own operations.
Maximise likelihood of positive impact on:
Climate action is a critical pillar to achieving sustainable development, and all 17 Goals require efforts to address climate change. In its absence, it is virtually impossible to achieve them. Leading action on Goal 13 has strong benefits for energy security (Goal 7), clean air and water (Goals 3 and 6), decent work (Goal 8), liveable cities (Goal 11), and improved national security (Goal 16). It also benefits sustainable food production systems through implementation of resilient agricultural practices and strengthening capacity for adaptation to climate change (Goals 2 and 12). It protect of life on land and below water (Goals 14 and 15).
Minimise risk of negative impact on:
Climate change mitigation actions such as using hydroelectric dams and bio-based energy may have significant land requirements that displace people from their homes and affect agriculturally productive areas. Impacts on food production (Goal 2), access to decent work (Goal 8) and inequalities (Goal 10) should be managed in the implementation of climate action. Bio-based energy may also cause deforestation, further hampering climate action.
Goal 13 Targets
Targets of Goal 13
- Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate related hazards and natural disasters in all countries
- Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning
- Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
References
- SDG Compass
- UN Global Compact Industry Matrix
- Global Opportunity Explorer
- Navigating the SDGs: a business guide to engaging with the UN Global Goals
- SDG Reporting - An Analysis of the Goals and Targets
- Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, Goal 13
- NAZCA Portal
- Caring for Climate
- 2016 Status Report: Business Contribution to Global Climate Action
- Adapting to climate change: Smallholder farmers feeding the world
- Evaluation of General Mills and Kelloggs GHG emission targets and plans
- NDC Partnership
- Science Based Targets
