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These six charts will tell you everything you need to know about global energy consumption
August 4, 2022
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14 Sustainable & Ethical Cleaning Products For A Non-toxic Home
August 1, 2022
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Why Measuring Carbon Footprint Improves Business Growth and Sustainability
July 29, 2022
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The scoop: You can’t improve what you can’t measure. An organization must accurately measure GHG emissions and carbon footprint to improve its environmental sustainability outlook.
Here’s an interesting set of stats:
99% of F500 companies report being “sustainability-conscious” or mention it as a priority in their goal statements.
A little over 60% made commitments to reduce emissions with varying degrees of comprehensiveness. A common goal is to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, yet most companies don’t have decarbonization roadmaps or intermediary reduction targets.
And less than 15% set long-term and short-term reduction targets in line with corporate standards derived from the latest climate science.
These numbers tell a straightforward story. Sustainability gets a lot of lip service, but most businesses haven’t invested time and money into this objective. Creating a carbon footprint baseline is a high-impact first step in any organization’s sustainability journey, and this exercise achieves diverse goals within profitability and risk management.
Emissions accounting terminology may seem complex, but by the end of this article, we’ll find that the foundations of GHG emissions accounting are relatively intuitive. It’s just a matter of breaking up different impact areas of an organization into smaller, digestible bites.
Dig deeper → 5 min
The scoop: Cycling is a simple but effective way for individuals to reduce their carbon footprint. On a larger scale, cycling is an important tool in fulfilling the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Facts and figures:
- 50% of all deliveries in metro areas can be completed by bicycle.
- Switching from a car to a bicycle saves 150g of CO₂ per kilometer. (UNEP)
- A 2015 Institute for Transportation and Development Policy study concluded that a dramatic increase (about 20%) in cycling worldwide could “cut carbon dioxide emissions from urban passenger transport by nearly 11 percent in 2050.” (bicycling.com)
- In 2019, direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transport sector accounted for 23% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, with 70% of direct transport emissions coming from road vehicles. Case studies suggest that active mobility like walking and cycling could reduce emissions from urban transport by up to 10%. (UCI)
Bottom line: Cycling allows individuals to lead a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle. And when an entire society adopts cycling, it can profoundly impact the climate.
Dig deeper → 4 min
