Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in the Corporate Sector
Sanith de Silva Wijeyeratne
CEO and experienced Sustainability Strategist. Advocate of corporate sustainability , Serial Entrepreneur and International Speaker on Climate Change and Environment
The newly announced Sustainable Development Goals may just be the herald for better things to come.
Committed to by world leaders at the UN Summit in New York, the 17 proposed goals and 169 targets aim to be a charter for people and the planet in the twenty-first century. Debated by civil society and UN member states for more than two years, the goals will stimulate action over the next 15 years in areas of critical importance to building a more equitable and sustainable world for all. The SDGs will ultimately replace the millennium development goals (MDGs), which expire at the end of this year.
Some of the goals seem almost insurmountable; end extreme poverty; fight inequality and injustice; fix climate change etc. But the goals are needed urgently: Climate change is rapidly becoming the greatest threat to poverty eradication and negatively affecting sustainable development efforts. If action is not taken to cut emissions and support communities to adapt to the changes, its impacts will only increase.
Our company’s vision of engaging with corporate bodies, to bring about a measurable change in their environmental impacts and while helping fight climate change, predates the articulation of these goals by several years. And each year our work has brought about measurable impact reduction across a wide range of environmental and sustainability aspects.
For example, the new Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy includes 2030 targets for universal access to substantially increased affordable renewable energy generation, particularly in developing countries through expanded and upgraded energy infrastructure. The goal sets out to enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology
But the question remains, what has so far prevented the greater uptake of clean energy forms ? The technology for Solar and Wind power have exited for some time, with many large power scattered worldwide. Pioneering initiatives have pushed the boundaries. India for example launched the world’s first airport to be completely powered by solar panels. Cochin International Airport runs on a 45-acre plot of 46,000 solar panels producing 60,000 units of electricity a day The green initiative makes the Indian airport 'absolutely power neutral', saving 300,000 tons of carbon emissions. Over the next 25 years it is set to have the impact of planting 3million trees, according to an airport statement
The answer lies in what in accounting terminology is known as ROI;- Return on Investment. Potential project developers have to raises millions in potential funding in order to be able to set up Wind, Solar, Methane Capture or Hydroelectric projects. Lending institutions, financiers and investors often have the same question on their minds ; just how quickly can they earn their money back.The higher relative cost of clean energy projects ( even with technology getting significantly cheaper ) means a longer payback periods thus reducing the attractiveness to potential backers of the projects.
One solution lies in the international mechanism know as ‘Carbon Offsetting’
Carbon offsetting is the use of carbon credits to enable businesses to compensate for their emissions, meet their carbon reduction goals and support the move to a low carbon economy. Businesses compensate for their environmental impact in order to meet increasing stakeholder pressure and are able to demonstrate leadership, differentiate from competitors and engage internal and external stakeholders in their action. By purchasing carbon credits to offset their emissions, businesses contribute essential finance to renewable energy, forest protection and reforestation projects around the world that would not otherwise be financially viable. These projects play an important role in the mitigation of climate change.
Carbon offsetting works by purchasing carbon credits which are sold in metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tonnes CO 2e). Projects which sell carbon credits include wind farms which displace fossil fuel, household device projects which reduce fuel requirements for cookstoves and boiling water in low-income households, forest protection from illegal logging, methane capture from landfill gas and agriculture, reforestation for small-hold farmers and run-of-river hydro power and geothermal energy. These projects have to demonstrate that they require carbon finance from the sale of carbon credits in order to be financially viable and achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions.
For the last four years, The Carbon Consulting Company (www.carbonconsultingcompany.com ) has been the regional partner for The CarbonNeutral Company of the UK, the world’s leading provider of ethical and verified carbon credits. (https://www.carbonneutral.com ) Our clients in South Asian region have retired approximately 40,000 carbon credits, by funding clean energy projects in projects in the region. All this funding serves to provide a much needed financial infusion into each project, without which the said projects would never have been to be financially viable. The vision of CCC to encourage and facilitate more private sector investment in clean energy significantly aligns itself with the newly introduced SDG 7 and will make a considerable difference in creating cleaner more affordable energy.
For more ways in which CCC works to fulfil the SDG’s see https://carbonconsultingcompany.com/blog/when-will-we-protect-our-water/