Adapted from the 2022 "State of Green Business," published earlier this year by GreenBiz Group. Download the reporthere。
在每时每刻，一系列令人困惑的商品跨越全球供应网络：运输装有消费产品的容器，装满油的油轮，轨道货车高高的谷物。每一个都是由将温室气体释放到大气中的过程创建的，但很少有这些排放记录的旅行。对于致力于净零碳的公司来说，这是一个重大的绊脚石。俗话说，您无法改变 - 或在这种情况下减少您无法衡量的内容。
Imagine what would happen if things were different — if every product, from cardboard and cotton to computers and cereal bars, came with documentation that detailed the associated emissions.
买家可以改用碳足迹较低的供应商。碳标签可能出现在消费产品上。投资者和监管机构将能够识别出异常范围3排放的公司，并向 - 并施加压力。这些发展比许多人意识到的要接近现实。在过去的几年中，已经开发了多种计划和产品，以通过供应链跟踪碳。这些正在采取速度，最近伴随着计划在一个总体框架下统一项目的计划。“突然……房间里有一个性感的东西叫做碳核算，” CDP的首席影响力官尼科莱特·巴特利特（Nicolette Bartlett）开玩笑说November’s COP26 meeting。
“房间里的一个性感事物叫碳核算”
The need for a unified system of carbon accounting is urgent, because Scope 3 is for most sectors the largest source of emissions: three-quarters of the total in pharmaceuticals, 92 percent in consumer goods and 98 percent in automotive, according to CDP. "Scopes 1 and 2 are a sliver. They might as well not be there, they are so small," says Jason Kibbey, CEO ofHigg, a company that tracks sustainability data through apparel supply chains. "When it comes to making stuff it’s all in Scope 3."
Getting a handle on the Scope 3 problem is, however, notoriously difficult. Many suppliers don’t measure their emissions, forcing buyers to rely on what are known as emission factors. A vehicle manufacturer purchasing steel, for example, might multiply the quantity it purchases by an average for the emissions generated per unit of steel production in the country of origin. This crude measure is better than nothing, but it obscures differences between suppliers and lessens their incentive to implement emissions reductions.
即使存在更详细的数字，比较也很困难。供应商的占地面积可能相对较小，但这是因为其分析排除了包括竞争对手的某些活动，例如运输吗？还有信任的问题。是什么是什么阻止供应商故意遵守规则并声称，例如，当电力来自化石燃料时，其运营是由可再生能源提供动力的？
试图解决这些问题的尝试倾向于围绕特定部门聚集。例如，HIGG是在可持续服装联盟纺出其开发的工具以跟踪价值链中的影响指标的工具时创建的。VF Corporation和其他其他工具的数据来自20,000多个工厂，这些工厂选择了HIGG网络共享能源使用数据和其他ESG指标。
基比说，希格的直接重点是扩大其工厂网络，以便该工具涵盖尽可能多的供应商。他希望使数据更加颗粒状。例如，为了淡入牛仔布，它通常用化学物质和热水洗涤。但是，通过将激光照射到材料上可以实现相同的效果，如果使用可再生能源来产生所需的电力，则会减少排放和有毒的废水。HIGG工具的未来版本可能包含牛仔供应商使用的两个过程中的哪个数据。
Supply chain tools linking up for more sectors
Other sectors are developing related initiatives. Just over a year ago, Together for Sustainability, a chemical-industry body, began developing rules for生成和共享排放数据among its 34 members, which include big names such as Dow and BASF. There are also numerous solutions emerging from service providers, such as theCarbon Action Module这是可持续性评级组织Ecov竞彩足球app怎么下载adis的一种工具，可为采购团队提供深入了解供应商的碳管理实践。此外，许多初创公司 - 例如Planet FWDandHowGood在食品中 - 提供针对特定部门的数据。
One danger is that these parallel projects remain siloed, a risk with significant consequences for companies that have suppliers spread across multiple sectors. Averting such an outcome is one reason why the World Business Council for Sustainable Development launched its探路者框架三月。
The framework’s guidelines for创建和共享碳数据构建关于产品环境足迹规则，欧洲委员会以及其他现有标准（包括温室气体协议）正在试用。WBCSD气候行动总监Anna Stanley说，明年，该计划将开始旨在帮助不同的碳会计技术共享数据的标准。
Proof points and beyond
If these multiple initiatives prove successful, a remarkable number of changes could follow. Kibbey gave the example of one Higg customer — a large fashion company he was unable to name for confidentiality reasons — that recently used his system to compare the emissions from 60 textile mills in its supplier network.
Some were clear leaders, justifying more business. The middle 40 or so needed to raise their game, prompting the company to partner with them on efficiency projects. The 10 remaining laggards lost the company’s business.
这只是一个例子。在金融方面，已致力于净零目标的投资者，包括Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, will have more of the data they need to assess progress. In other industries, notably tech, environmentally minded employees will likely use the data to demand change. Marketing departments may opt to add carbon labels to products, in turn enabling consumers to leverage buying power to push companies toward further emissions cuts.
With regulators, startups and major corporations all aligned, these gains are already emerging, with many more to follow in the near future.
As the CDP’s Bartlett told the COP26 audience: "It’s going to be an extraordinary five years."
Key players to watch
探路者框架- 世界可持续发展跨部门倡议的世界商业委员会得到了从联合利华到雪佛龙的许多主要公司参与者的支持。
Higg- 湾区初创公司正在与服装公司和供应商合作，以生成有关整个价值链排放的准确数据。
Ecovadis- 既定的可持续性评级提供商正在帮助竞彩足球app怎么下载供应链通过其气候行动模块更加透明。
SupplyShift— the Santa Cruz-based company tracks climate and other impact metrics in the supply chains of multiple industries.
Product Environmental Footprint— the European Commission is consulting on plans to expand its pilot carbon footprinting scheme for products.
