Would You Risk the Planet’s Fate on a ‘Coin Toss’?
Published on 3 August 2018
The climate coin toss: Has your business set carbon reduction targets that only have a 50% chance of preventing a catastrophe?
The Science-Based Targets Initiative is helping companies to set carbon targets to achieve the Paris Agreement’s ‘2ºC’ goal, but their approach gives just a 50% chance of success. Can we risk the fate of the planet on a coin toss?
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are rising and pushing up average global temperatures. In 2015, the global mean temperature reached 1ºC above pre-industrial levels for the first time.[1] If the Earth warms by 2ºC or more, the results for the planet and society will be catastrophic.
At the Paris Agreement, 195 countries committed to the overall goal of not exceeding 2ºC.
The Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) is helping the corporate world to set decarbonisation targets in line with the Paris Agreement. However, their approach gives just a 50% chance of success. Would you risk the planet’s fate on a ‘coin toss’? We believe that business can go further, and set targets that give at least an 80% chance of avoiding a 2ºC rise.
We recommend corporates do seek SBTI approval for their carbon-cutting plans but set targets which are significantly more ambitious than SBTI’s current minimum.
Find out more aboutVerco’s work in science-based target setting here (https://www.vercoglobal.com/sbt). [1] https://climateanalytics.org/briefings/global-warming-reaches-1c-above-preindustrial-warmest-in-more-than-11000-years.html
Related insights
Articles
Participate in the 2017 GRESB Health & Well-being Module
In 2015, our Green Health Partnership research team worked with GRESB and its stakeholders to develop the first GRESB Health & Well-being Module. Last year, 174 real estate entities – 23% of all entities participating in the GRESB Real Estate Assessment – demonstrated market leadership by participating in the inaugural health-focused module. This year, participants […]
I can give you the statistics: Healthcare in America is more than 17% of the GDP. 20 diseases account for fully half of America’s health care spend, with diabetes, heart disease and hypertension being three of the top five causes. In the midst of the debate going on in the US about how to pay […]
Rob O’Halloran How the property industry is fighting the stigma of mental illness & promoting positive mental health As part of the GRESB Health and Wellbeing Week, Howard Morgan explains an important new initiative in the UK property industry. Would you tell your boss if you’ve got a sporting injury? You probably would……but would you […]