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CO₂ Management Fundamentals
Product warning: The measure/target/reduce/report approach to CO₂ management is necessary but insufficient. After 30 years of businesses using this approach, we now know that this alone cannot deliver transformative change. The primary problems with this approach are that it is voluntary, and that it encourages companies to focus on their own (usually insignificant) emissions, rather than aiming for the broader systemic change we need. Companies should follow the steps shown here as a matter of duty and compliance but then quickly move on to more meaningful action.
Measurement
Don’t wait to have perfect data. Your data will improve year by year. Just start reducing!
GHG Protocol The international standard for GHG accounting
A free, easy to use Corporate GHG calculator
CO₂ Reduction Strategy
A long list of actions is not a strategy. A strategy identifies the few key actions that determine your overall success.
Transition Planning TPT recommendtions for building a robust climate plan
Sustainability Strategy Course by our Advisory Council Member Mike Rosenberg
Target Setting
Avoid “Greenwishing”. Don’t announce a target unless you have a clear operational plan to achieve it.
SBTi The best known platform for reduction targets.
SME Climate Hub Tools, training and target setting guidance for smaller organizations.
Reporting
Don’t be ashamed of your CO₂ data. Put it on your website. Transparency is a sign of leadership & it benefits your entire sector.
CDP The best known platform for reporting CO₂ data.
MITECO A reporting program run by the Spanish Ministry of Ecology.
Aiming for Systemic Change
Systems Thinking
Critical Understanding
Why don’t we think critically & clearly about climate change? Because we are complicit and it’s hard to accept & understand that.
It’s 30 years too late to believe that incremental CO₂ reduction will deliver deep, urgent decarbonization.
Thinking in Systems A foundational text in systems thinking by Donella Meadows
A Field Guide for Transformation Essay by Leah Stokes clarifying how to take action on climate
Willfull blindness Margaret Heffernan explains why we avoid addressing the worst problems head on
The Complicity of Corporate Sustainability A core text for thinking critically about our own role
Towards a Better Strategy
Most organizations have narrowly framed climate plans that don’t aim at strategic issues & whose actions aren’t logically connected to their objectives.
Theory of Change Have a clear and realistic plan explaining why your actions will have the desired impact
Positive Tipping Points Leverge the impact of actions by directing them at sensitive intervention points
Activism
Whether you like it or not, you are actively participating in a fight between people who want to speed up the energy transition & people who want to slow it down.
Influence Map See which side of the fight companies are really on
Join a Team That works on the aspect of climate that you are focusing on
Risk and Preparation
Physical Risk Models
Waking up to Systemic Risk
Infrastructure for food, transport & health was not designed for multiple cascading risks of this magnitude. Which elements will we invest in improving?
How do we interpret a low probability of a high impact event? Would you get on a plane with a 1% chance of crashing?
Probable Futures The most user friendly climate model
Impacts in Europe Visual overview of projected impacts
The Snap Forward Alex Steffen on understanding the rate and magnitude of change
Financial Risk Planet Critical podcast with Sandy Trust.
Emissions and Scenarios
The primary uncertainty isn’t about science, but about human decision making: how much CO₂ will we continue to emit?
NGFS Scenarios A set of social and emissions pathways for scenario analysis
Temperature Estimates A survey of IPCC authors indicates an expected rise of at least 2.5°C
Tools
It’s not about achieving certainty. It's about making good decisions in the face of uncertainty.
The Climate Web The most comprehensive compilation of climate risk information available
The Cynefin Frmework Tool for decision mking in situations of uncertainty
Carbon Literacy
Climate Science
Climate Data
Climate Dashboard Interactive dashboard for key climate data
Objective, comprehensive climate news from established experts
Stay up to date with authoritative data about emissions, energy, policy and climate impacts
It’s real, it’s bad, it’s us, we’re sure, we can fix it
Intro to Climate Science Online Climate Science textbook from University of Oregon
Climate Fresk An easy and fun way to explore climate science
Key Issues
Understand the most urgent topics in the climate crisis
Planetary Boundaries Climate change is only one aspect of a broader eco-crisis
Justice Climate change dispropotionately affects those who have done the least to create it
Project Drawdown An organized compilation of climate solutions that prioritizes urgency above technology
ENROADS The best online tool for modelling the impact of climate solutions.
Solutions
There is no single silver-bullet solution, but there are many ongoing battles that can tip the balance.
