Our thinking

All Hands on Deck

18 February, 2022

The past couple of years have been busy ones in terms of businesses setting ambitious carbon reduction targets. And with the UK Government announcing at COP26 that all UK-listed businesses and financial institutions will need to publish net zero plans by 2023, this is no short-term fad.

Although it’s still not clear exactly what will be expected of businesses, it is an important step in the right direction: we need to see companies large and small, as well as government bodies, local authorities and other organisations align with the transition to net zero. Many of these will be only just setting out on the journey of understanding what their climate impact is and how to manage this. They will need help.

So we were pleased this week to see the launch of Carbon Call, a cross-sector initiative setting out to enhance data quality, accessibility and transparency, setting out to “build reliable and interoperable carbon accounting for the planet”. Carbon measurement remains an art, and a dark art at that, rather than a science, so we’re supportive of any steps to enhance comparability and ease of use.

And they’ll also need support. So while it was good to see EY recognising the scale of the challenge with its announcement this week  that it is investing £100M and recruiting 1,300 people for its new sustainability service, EY Carbon, just a reminder that the Good Business climate team have been helping businesses measure and manage their carbon and develop carbon leadership strategies since we did Orange’s first carbon footprint in 2007. Give us a call.

By Patrick Bapty