Staff at one of the world’s leading climate-certification organisations have called for the CEO and board members to resign after they announced plans to allow companies to meet their climate targets with carbon offsets.

They fear that companies will use the offsets for greenwashing, while avoiding making the necessary cuts in greenhouse gas emissions – without which the world faces climate catastrophe.

The UN-backed Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which certifies whether a company is on track to help limit global heating to under 1.5C, has validated hundreds of net zero plans from companies including J Sainsbury plc, John Lewis and Maersk. Until now, the SBTi has ruled out the use of carbon offsets, instead emphasising the importance of deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts.

But on Tuesday, the SBTi board of trustees released plans to allow carbon credits in their net zero standard by permitting companies to use them to offset emissions from their supply chains, known as scope 3 emissions.

The board said there was “ongoing healthy debate on the subject”, but that “when properly supported by policies, standards and procedures based on scientific evidence”, the use of offsets in supply chains could be “an additional tool to tackle climate change”, and so it had decided to extend their use. They said a draft of the new rules would be published by July.

The announcement was met with fury by many SBTi staff and advisers, who say they were not consulted on the decision and that the move is not based on science.

 Within just two years, the largest clean energy power plant of South Africa has emerged out of nothing on the vast wilderness in Northern Cape. It is the 100MW Redstone concentrated solar thermal power plant constructed by POWERCHINA in South Africa, a country thousands of miles away from China.

Relieving Power Shortage

South Africa’s economic development has been constrained by insufficient energy supply. In fact, South Africa is one of the countries most suitable for developing concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) projects in the world. Leveraging this advantage, SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co., Ltd. under POWERCHINA constructed the Redstone CSP project in South Africa, the largest renewable energy investment project in the country. It is estimated that the project will generate about 480GWh of electricity for the country’s grid each year after it is put into operation, meeting the power demand of 200,000 local households at peak time and substantially boosting trade, investment and economic development of South Africa. On October 20, 2022, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the construction site of the Redstone 100MW CSP project. He spoke highly of the project’s engineering quality, and expected the power project to begin operation as scheduled and further enhance friendship and mutual trust between China and South Africa.

Stimulating Local Development 

Before joining the project, John was an electric technician in a small local company, and made a living on odd jobs. Since he began to work for the Redstone project, John has participated in vocational trainings on circuit analysis, circuit theory, electronic technology, and others. Soon, he grew from a grassroots technician into an indispensible electric engineer. With the increase of his income, his family’s living standards have greatly improved.

At present, there are nearly 1,000 local employees like John working with the Redstone project of POWERCHINA, which has created a large number of job opportunities for locals.

POWERCHINA actively implements a strategy of localization. Grounded on local resources in South Africa, it gives priority to local enterprises in terms of procurement and outsourcing. To date, the corporation has established partnerships with 50 sub-contractors in South Africa, forming a new industrial cluster in the locale.

Teaching Locals “How to Fish”

To enhance local employees’ vocational skills, POWERCHINA’s Redstone project set up a welder training base. In the future, POWERCHINA will join hands with local universities to launch the “Power Plant Lecture” program, with an aim to cultivate new energy talent for South Africa’s power development.

Starbucks announced that it has now certified more than 6,000 of its locations globally as “Greener Stores,” meeting a series of environmental impact criteria and sustainability features, including energy and water savings and waste diversion. A Starbucks store is certified as a “Greener Store” when it successfully meets 25 required standards, as verified by an outside auditor, across eight environmental impact areas such as energy efficiency, water stewardship and waste diversion. The standards were developed in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and SCS Global Services.

Starbucks launched its Greener Store initiative in 2018, beginning with stores in the U.S. and Canada, and setting a goal to reach 10,000 Greener Stores globally by 2025.

The number of certified Greener Stores has nearly doubled over the past year, reaching 6,091 after the company expanded its program in 2023 to new markets, announcing the first Greener Stores in the Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions. Starbucks said that it now has Greener Stores in 44 markets, with new markets including India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Bahrain, Italy, France, Spain, and Costa Rica.

Michael Kobori, Chief Sustainability Officer at Starbucks, said:

“Our big vision for the future is for every Starbucks store around the world to be more sustainable. That’s why I’m excited to see the continued growth of Greener Stores globally, driven by the passion of our partners.”

In order to be certified as a Greener Store, a store must successfully meet 25 required standards – developed in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and SCS Global Services – across eight environmental impact areas ranging from energy efficiency and water stewardship to renewable energy, responsible materials, and waste diversion, and be verified by an outside auditor.

Different combinations of sustainability features are used by stores to meet the standards, ranging from elements such as solar panels or water recycling tanks to less visible features including high efficiency appliances and HVAC systems and low-emitting paint and sealants.

According to Starbucks, the Greener Store practices save the company nearly $60 million in annual operating costs in the U.S., including through 30% water savings and 30% energy reductions, and contributed to the company’s “resource positive” sustainability goals which include reducing carbon emissions, water usage and landfill waste by 50% by 2030.

https://www.responsible-investor.com/csddd-secures-majority-backing-of-eu-member-states/

On Friday the 15th of March, a revised text of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) was endorsed by the European Council, so can now move forward to become formally adopted, subject to approval by the European Parliament and sign off by the European Commission. This new text was the subject of much negotiation and, as a result, the thresholds which determine which companies are in scope – and when – were adjusted (effectively meaning fewer will now fall under CSDDD, and there is a phased approach to those that do). However, even if your company is now no longer directly impacted by the Directive, your supply chain partners may continue to be – so, under CSDDD, you will be expected to maintain policies and put in place due diligence systems. 

What is the aim of CSDDD?

The aim of CSDDD is to establish obligations requiring businesses to identify, prevent – or at least mitigate – and finally terminate adverse impacts on human rights (such as forced labour, and inadequate workplace health and safety) and the environment (greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, waste disposal), concerning their own operations, those of their subsidiaries, and those carried out by their business partners.

How might it impact EU companies (and non-EU companies with EU operations)?

The Directive sets out thresholds (such as ‘employee numbers’ and ‘turnover in the EU’) that determine its applicability both for EU and non-EU companies. If a company falls within the scope of CSDDD, then the Directive requires the development of a due diligence policy, setting out the company’s approach to due diligence on adverse human rights and environmental impacts for which it, its subsidiaries, and its supply chain partners would be responsible. The Directive will then ensure that the company is held to account for its impact across all tiers of the supply chain, which is a departure for companies that historically have focused on the impact of their top supply chain tiers via the lens of spend.

What are the proposed thresholds that determine which companies are impacted by CSDDD, and when they are impacted?

The latest proposed Directive applies to companies meeting one of the following criteria:

• EU companies with more than 1,000 employees and a global turnover of €450 million+
• Non-EU companies with a turnover of €450 million+ generated in the EU market (the European Commission will publish a list of non-EU companies that fall under the scope of the Directive)

This applicability of CSDDD for in scope companies will be phased in as follows:

• Companies with more than 5,000 employees and a turnover of €1,500 million+ will be impacted 3 years from entry into force
• Companies with more than 3,000 employees and a turnover of €900 million+ will be impacted 4 years from entry into force
• Companies with more than 1,000 employees and a turnover of €450 million+ will be impacted 5 years from entry into force

How will CSDDD operate alongside the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)?

CSDDD demands that companies have robust systems for acting on and managing human rights and environmental due diligence. This is especially relevant if they fall under the scope of the CSRD as that Directive (effective from 2024) recommends companies conduct due diligence to assess and address material impacts for disclosure (but note that the applicability thresholds of CSDDD and CSRD are not the same).

References

https://media.licdn.com/dms/document/media/D4E1FAQFYmc4_haAuyA/feedshare-document-pdf-analyzed/0/1710431679412?e=1711584000&v=beta&t=P4gZonQDN43v5Yicsbc7t3pxZboEPkEYj1uCJ92SEPE