ESG-Sustainability Archives

Renewable Energy Procurement: What are electricity customers seeking beyond clean energy?

In the evolving landscape of corporate sustainability, the integration of renewable energy has become a cornerstone of decarbonization strategies, for a company’s Scope 2 carbon footprint (indirect emissions from purchased electricity) and beyond. In the real estate sector, building owners are increasingly considering the energy impacts of their tenants and in some cases offering renewable […]

Data Challenges in Sustainability: The Path to Automation

Wherever you are on your sustainability journey, data is a critical component to guiding your path. To truly understand our environmental impact and craft effective decarbonization strategies, we must embrace a data-driven approach. While the significance of data in measuring carbon footprints, managing energy, and mitigating environmental impact is clear, the path to automation, though […]

Unlocking the Business Case for Sustainability: Driving ROI Through Environmental Action

In the realm of sustainability and decarbonization action, understanding the material impact on your business is paramount. While the moral imperative to invest in a better planet is undeniable, it’s equally important to recognize that sustainable actions can and should significantly benefit your bottom line. In this article, we’ll explore the symbiotic relationship between sustainability […]

Mandatory Climate Disclosures: Unpacking the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

In the realm of emerging sustainability regulations, United States (US) headquartered companies are often focused on North American regulations. Yet, in the ever-evolving landscape of climate accountability, it’s essential to cast our gaze across the Atlantic to the European Union (EU), where groundbreaking strides in environmental governance are transforming the global corporate climate disclosures paradigm. […]

Mandatory Climate Disclosures: Unpacking CA SB 253 and 261

Amidst the flurry of attention surrounding the recently adopted SEC climate disclosure rule, it’s important to step back and consider other recent climate regulations reshaping the corporate climate-related disclosure landscape. Notably, California’s (CA’s) Senate Bill (SB) 253 “Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act” and SB 261 “Greenhouse Gases: climate-related financial risk” have emerged as formidable pillars […]

The SEC’s Climate Vote: Implications for Corporate Carbon Accountability

The Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) voted today (March 6, 2024) to adopt a scaled-back version of its long-awaited proposed climate disclosure rule, formally titled “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” The vote comes two years after the proposed rule’s draft language was released in March of 2022. The final rule, which […]

ESG Regulatory Readiness for the Utility Sector

Utilities need to be ready for the deluge of customer requests and the data to back up green programs and other emerging ESG compliance reporting requirements. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG)-related regulations took huge leaps forward in 2023, and more regulatory progress is anticipated in 2024. The passing of a range of disclosure and reporting […]

REC Management: When the Challenge is Allocation, Not Acquisition

The growth of markets and registries for Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) have enabled companies to book and claim large amounts of renewable energy (or simply the environmental attributes) in markets different than the ones they are operating in. For utilities and power producers, the creation and trading of RECs has created new challenges that requires […]

Carbon Data: When Does a Company Need It?

As companies race to build out ESG and sustainability programs to measure their environmental and social impacts and set goals to address them, the critical element to starting their decarbonization journey is good baseline data. Without it, companies are forced to rely on assumptions, estimates and often far-apart observations. But putting systems in place to […]

Advancing Decarbonization through Clean Energy Procurement: Practical Tips from the IEA

Let’s start with the good news. A lot of companies are committing to decarbonization; in fact, over 1,000 companies across a range of sectors have pledged some kind of emissions reduction or climate neutrality goal. Very naturally, the ways in which corporations account for carbon dictate the ways they procure energy, which in turn dictates […]

Biggest Pitfalls Corporations Face with Net Zero Commitments

Answering the climate challenge and managing operational impacts is one of the largest challenges facing companies, particularly corporations with large regional or global footprints. As enterprise businesses scale up ambitions, they run the potential of making major mistakes when it comes to creating and publicizing their net zero commitments—whether those mistakes are intentional or not. […]

GRESB: Advancing ESG Investment Data for Real Estate & Infrastructure

The health of our environment, sustainable conditions for our communities, social and economic equity, and reliable government policies are essential to growth and business prosperity. Yet, stacks of well-meaning books and hours of informed dialogue are not enough to assist in the unblinking world of large investment firms, whether hedge funds, banks, REITs, or fiduciary […]