What are you doing about climate change?

Every single business needs to be taking action.  

The first step is to conduct a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory.  Have you done that yet? 

The subsequent steps are to reduce emissions and then offset the remaining ones.  By conducting a GHG inventory, you will discover ways to make positive changes.  This is an iterative process so progress can be measured and reported.  

It is the transparency of the process and the reporting that helps provide credibility.  If you aren't transparent you will lose credibility and might be accused of greenwashing.  How sustainable is that? How long do you think that type of firm will survive in this market?

Stakeholders are far more sophisticated these days and are asking legitimate questions.  On Friday last week I sent an email announcement formally introducing TriLibrium and our website.  One of the receipients noted our GHG offsetting claims and asked the following questions:

Upon review of your website you mention that you will be "offsetting" your GHG emissions.  I have a  few questions/comments:  How are you determining your GHG Emissions?  What Scope are you defining and what are your boundaries?   As a matter of transparency, it might be advisable to define how you are calculating your GHG Emissions.  Also, it may be advisable to indicate how you are offsetting your GHG Emissions.  What company you intend on buying offsets from, etc.

I'll share my answers with you tomorrow.

Transparency and reporting

I have been super busy wrapping up the end of school but really wanted to follow up on my last blog entry. While doing a GHG inventory is the first step towards climate and emissions sustainability, the obvious question is what's next for the business owner?

As a reminder, at one level, the process looks like this:

1. Measure your GHG emissions (conduct a footprint analysis)
2. Take steps to reduce your GHG emissions
3. Purchase carbon credits to offset the remainder

While that is a high level overview, their is another equally important aspect of this process: Reporting and transparency.

As we move towards sustainability, transparency is vital to the success of the journey and reporting is part of this effort. By reporting your results, you build trust and credibility with your stakeholders and you allow yourself to be benchmarked for comparison.

Just as a public company reports financial results, the information gleaned from a triple-bottom line reporting needs to be communicated to help stakeholders make decisions.