Strategic Focus: The Contingent Use of Scope 4 Avoided Emissions For Low-Carbon Storytelling
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Executive Summary
Scope 4, or avoided emissions, quantify the theoretical GHG reductions from using less carbon-intensive products or services. However, accurately measuring these emissions is challenging, due to reliance on speculative assumptions and the difficulty of proving direct emission reductions. Despite these issues, avoided emissions narratives help organizations quantify contributions towards low-carbon product design and supply chains, as well as towards climate-positive solutions. Transition risk assessments incorporating avoided emissions offer strategic insights for aligning with a low-carbon economy, albeit with acknowledged estimation limitations.
Table of contents
Scope 4 avoided emissions are a fuzzy proxy for a low-carbon futureScope 4 avoided emissions measurement has significant limitations
Firms should apply Scope 4 emissions calculations for well-vetted, low-carbon strategy decisions
Table of figures
Figure 1. Avoided emissions: definitions and examples from different sectorsFigure 2. Avoided emissions and assumptions that can reverse them
Figure 3. Choice of base case for comparison can lead to huge differences in avoided emissions
Figure 4. WBCSD’s three gates and nine reporting principles for avoided emissions claims
Organisations mentioned
Allianz Global Investors, CDP, Cisco, Forterra, GHG Protocol, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), MSCI, Net Zero Initiative, Patagonia, Pentair, PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric), Procter & Gamble, ReNew Energy Global, Rockwool, Schroders, Siemens, SKF (Svenska Kullagerfabriken), Telefónica, Tesla, US Postal Service, Walmart, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), World Resources Institute (WRI)About the authors
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