Mitigation, as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), involves human interventions aimed at reducing emissions or enhancing greenhouse gas sinks. Companies often focus on mitigating their emissions within the value chain, encompassing the entire life cycle of a product or process. However, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) introduces the concept of Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM), which goes a step further. BVCM involves interventions by companies that aim to reduce emissions or enhance greenhouse gas sinks without directly affecting their scope 1, scope 2, or scope 3 emissions.
The SBTI pioneered the BVCM concept in the Corporate Net Zero standard, offering examples and recommendations for companies to report annually on BVCM activities and investments. This approach recognizes that mitigating climate change requires actions that extend beyond a company’s immediate operations.
You can read more about SBTi targets and the Corporate Net Zero standard in this article.
Beyond Value Chain Mitigation Guidance for SBTI Companies:
The SBTI is currently working on providing guidance for companies adopting BVCM. The goals include:
- Clarifying BVCM Definitions:
- Defining key terms such as “climate compensation claim” and “climate contribution claim.”
- Exploring questions related to expected outcomes, quantifiability, additionality, avoidance of double claiming, permanence, avoidance of leakage, and fungibility.
- Allocating Responsibility and addressing the tension between “responsibility” and “ability” to pay for BVCM
- DevelopingMethods for BVCM:
- Ton-for-ton: Delivering mitigation proportional to a percentage of a company’s emissions in a defined period.
- Money-for-ton: Channeling finance into BVCM based on the predefined price of emitted greenhouse gases.
- Money-for-money: Allocating a share of revenue or profit towards financing climate mitigation.
- Principles for Resource Deployment:
- Scale: Maximizing value and delivering near-term, verifiable mitigation impact.
- Urgency: Preventing ecological and climate tipping points.
- Transformation: Supporting activities that deliver long-term systemic change.
- Financing Need: Focusing on underfinanced mitigation.
- Co-benefits: Supporting deliver co-benefits such as adaptation, resilience, livelihoods, just transition, biodiversity, water security, etc
- Climate Justice: support activities which contribute to climate and earth system justice
- Creating claims for BVCM that are comparable to the evolving regulatory landscape
The BVCM guidance, currently in the development process, stems from a comprehensive approach by the SBTI to address climate change at a systemic level. As the corporate world seeks to align with ambitious climate targets, BVCM emerges as a crucial strategy for companies aiming to go beyond conventional emissions reduction practices. Public consultations and survey results have contributed to shaping this guidance, reflecting the collaborative effort needed to navigate the evolving landscape of climate action.
Since the editor of this portal also administers a portal on climate regulation in the Russian Federation, in some cases relevant information for the Republic of Moldova may be copied from there.
This article was originally published at the link on the CarbonUnits.RU portal.
