Measure, manage, reduce and report on emissions

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This guide enables organisations to:

commit to measure, manage and report on their greenhouse gas emissions
set legally binding and enforceable emissions-reduction targets
consider and comply with reporting and disclosure requirements, especially on scope 3 emissions
commit to a plan to transition their business to align with Paris Agreement goals.

Choose the appropriate documents

This guide is for any organisation. The example wording in this guide is written for a board resolution of a company but it can be just as easily used in corporate constitutional documents and by organisations that are not companies. It can be more difficult to amend constitutional documents, but including climate wording in them will have more impact. It will be harder to remove and will affect corporate governance frameworks and directors’ duties.

Commit to measure, manage and report on emissions at board level

Ideally, an organisation will measure:

its own greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and 2)
emissions from its value chain (scope 3).

Agree a reporting standard or a common supplier to calculate the company’s emissions. Domestic law might mandate a reporting standard. Where there is no legal requirement, use internationally recognised standards (for example, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard ).

Measuring, managing and reporting on emissions should be approved by the board or most senior leadership team with ultimate responsibility for overseeing operations. Read our guide Factor climate considerations into board decisions.

Example wording

[The Company] confirms that it measures, manages and reports its greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with [The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, Revised Edition 2015, as amended periodically].
The directors of [the Company] nominate [name of director] to be responsible for ensuring that [the Company] measures, manages and reports on its greenhouse gas emissions.

Set emissions-reduction targets and timeframe

Ideally, the emissions-reduction targets will:

define the scope of emissions covered by the target. Best practice is to set targets relating to an organisation’s own emissions (scope 1 and 2) and emissions from its value chain (scope 3) as classified by The Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
include short- (annual) and medium-term (2 to 5 years) interim targets
be validated by the Science Based Targets initiative or other international standard
align with the Paris Agreement goals and latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change findings.

To affirm commitment to decarbonisation, organisations could also:

align their emissions-reduction targets with another internationally recognised standard for setting targets
join the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change’s Race to Zero campaign.

Example wording

[The Company] confirms that it will:

reduce its scope 1 and 2 [and 3] emissions by [●] percent by [short- or medium-term year] from a [year] base year
set public annual emissions-reduction targets [that are validated by the Science Based Targets initiative]
join [Race to Zero] within [●] months of entering into this [agreement or resolution].