The REP Wrap: Hilti and Element Fleet Management get SBTi sign-off
Construction specialist Hilti has had its climate targets validated by the Science-based Targets initiative (SBTi) this week. The firm plans to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 2050 and halve its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2032. It also aimed to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 30% over the same period.
Transport company Element Fleet Management has also had its climate targets validated by SBTi. It has committed to Scope 1 and 2 reductions of 63.7% by 2034, from a 2019 baseline, and 66.4% per dollar value for emissions from sold and leased products. In a statement, Element said its “commitments and targets are aspiration and may be influenced by near-term global challenges including, but not limited to, the production and availability of electric vehicles, client decisions, prevalence and availability of charging infrastructure, and government support of electrification in the regions in which we operate”. It noted it may not be able to achieve its SBTi goals, but they reflected “best efforts at this point in time”.
The European Commission has published a 75-page FAQ in a bid to clarify how the Taxonomy Regulation should be interpreted. It addresses issues around whether comparative figures are needed in debut reports, and how pollution prevention should be addressed, as well as offering more guidance on how to implement the Do No Significant Harm requirements and minimum social safeguards. It suggests that companies should use the most recent version of the OECD Guidelines on Business and Human Rights each time they report, meaning current disclosures should adhere to the June 2023 edition, but that may change for future disclosures. The document is currently out in draft form.
The EU Observatory has updated its global forest map to make it more aligned with the EU Deforestation Regulation. The latest version of the map, which is based on 2020 data, sorts the world’s forest cover using the same categories as the regulation – ‘primary’, ‘naturally regenerating’ etc.
The UK Government is consulting on the inclusion of the maritime sector under the country’s Emissions Trading Scheme from 2026. “We envisage that including maritime within the UK ETS can help overcome a key barrier to decarbonising the sector, which is that the prices of maritime fuels currently do not reflect their environmental costs,” it said in a statement, adding that increasing carbon costs could encourage a switch to greener fuels and technologies. The consultation explores issues like scope, emissions caps and further expansion.
Climate litigation hits company stock returns by 0.41%, according to a study that’s just been published in the academic journal Nature. Researchers at the London School of Economics have put together a database of filings and decisions linked to more than 100 lawsuits against listed companies in the US and Europe, between 2005 and 2021. They conclude that firms on the receiving end of such filings or unfavourable court decisions see an average reduction in the rate of their share-price growth of 0.41%. The impact was biggest among carbon majors, with returns falling 0.57% for filings and 1.5% following an unfavourable court decision. “Markets respond more to ‘novel’ climate litigation involving new legal arguments or jurisdictions,” the paper said.