The REP Wrap: France and UK throw weight behind voluntary carbon markets
Your weekly summary of corporate sustainability news.
The French government is inviting companies to sign up to a new charter, in a bid to support the growth of high-integrity voluntary carbon credits. The ‘corporate carbon credit pledge’, launched by France’s environment ministry this week, requires signatories to adopt validated net-zero strategies that use only high-integrity carbon credits. The initiative is part of France’s efforts to help operationalise Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and create a global carbon market.
Meanwhile, the UK launched a public consultation on voluntary carbon and nature markets, proposing the adoption of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Initiative’s standards as best practice.
Virgin Media O2 has cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 56% against its 2020 baseline, it has announced. The British telecoms firm has a goal of reducing operational emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) by 90% by 2030, validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative. Earlier this month, rival firm BT said it had reduced its absolute carbon emissions by nearly a third since 2017, in a bid to become net zero by 2041.
PayPal’s director of ESG reporting has said that even if the EU axes the current requirement under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the company will continue to apply a double-materiality lens to its disclosures. In a white paper published by Reuters on Friday, Suzanne Hilker said “regardless of what happens to CSRD” through the current legislative revisions, double materiality – the practice of recognising the impact a business has on environmental and social issues, as well as the impact environmental and social issues have on the business – has become “an important tool” for the online payment giant.
S&P Global is the latest firm to ditch its net-zero industry body, according to reports in Responsible Investor. According to the publication, it withdrew from the Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance, following in the footsteps of rival Moody’s, which quit in November.
The World Benchmarking Alliance has developed guidance for companies and investors seeking to integrate the ‘just transition’ into their climate transition plans. The framework explores sectoral and regional nuances, and the role of stakeholder engagement.
Experts have mounted a campaign to convince the International Standards Organisation (ISO) to make its carbon accounting standards free. The petition has been spearheaded by Daniele Pernigotti, who has worked with ISO for more than 20 years, but said its costs were preventing it from being a go-to player for carbon foot printing and greenhouse gas emission standards.
