Greenhouse gas: ‘suppliers the missing link’

TOO FEW businesses are working with their suppliers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to study that praised 29 companies including General Motors, Sky and Sony for taking the lead.

“The supply chain is the new frontier in environmental responsibility – an area rich with opportunity that remains mostly unexplored,” non-profit group CDP, formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, wrote in its report published yesterday.

Many companies set their own goals to limit climate change but omit greenhouse gas emissions related to products they buy from others, such as metal components, electronic parts, timber or crops, said CDP.

“The vast majority of emissions of the average company are in the supply chain,” said Dexter Galvin, head of CDP’s supply chain programme.

“Too few companies have engaged with their suppliers.”

Overall, it found that only 22 percent of 4 300 companies surveyed were working with their suppliers to reduce emissions.

The report, which also reviewed action to improve use of water, said respondents reported cuts in emissions equivalent to 434 million tons of CO2 in 2016.

They also reported cost savings of $12.6 billion in 2016, mostly related to improved energy efficiency, almost double reported savings of $6.6bn from 2015.

“Action on climate change and water is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do,” Patricia Espinosa, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, wrote in a preface to the report.