What to expect at COP28

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties, (COP) occurs every year and brings together the 197 nations that agreed to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992.

This is the 28th conference (COP28) and will be held in Dubai this year. The conference aims to engage governing bodies to address the rising issue of climate change and will last around two weeks.

What is on this year's agenda?

There are three main focuses to look out for from this year's conference:

• This conference will for the first time conduct a ‘global stocktake’, where countries’ progress (or lack thereof) and their contributions to Paris Agreement targets will be reviewed
• The “loss and damage fund” proposed in last year's conference, which aims to financially support vulnerable countries who are more susceptible to the impacts of climate change, will (hopefully) be finalised
• A potential deal will be discussed for the phasing out of fossil fuels, such as the burning of coal, oil and gas. If agreed by countries, it will be a world-first deal of this nature

There will also be an emphasis on the private sector and the first call to action has been set out. The COP28 presidency recently launched the ‘Net-Zero Transition Charter’ which seeks to ‘elevate the role of the private sector…pushing companies to move from commitment to action with a gold standard level of transparency and integrity’.

As businesses and their supply chains embrace their vital role, Scope 3 emissions – often representing the vast majority of a company's total carbon footprint – will be a key focus area.

Want to learn about our carbon data collection to help track and manage your supply chain's Scope 3 emissions? Contact us and learn how we can help you get started with transforming your supply chain.

Back to basics: What are supply chain ESG risk ratings?

EiQ produces geographic and product level rating for 100+ geographies, and 350+ products and services, covering different ESG issue areas.

The ratings are derived using data from LRQA audits (20,000+ per year), trusted civil society organisations, and media controversies.

The importance of ESG risk ratings is growing because they:

• Help investors identify material sustainability issues that can impact financial performance
• Facilitate a risk-based approach to managing ESG issues

However, limitations in current rating methodologies undermine their usefulness. Most ratings:

• Rely primarily on voluntary corporate disclosures, which aim to present performance favourably and lack independent verification. This reduces consistency, comparability, and reliability of the ratings
• Use public data sources that provide little visibility into actual supply chain risks. As supply chains are often where the most significant ESG issues arise, this overlooks a major component of corporate impacts and risks

Our ratings prioritise transparency through the use of quality data and are used to support responsible sourcing programme design and portfolio review and engagement strategy.

Curious to know more about EiQ and supply chain risk ratings? Get a free demo of our platform.

Speaking of risk ratings...

Our new risk report is out. Find out this years best and worst countries for ESG supply chain risk

Each year, we underscore the sourcing geographies identified as high risk to global supply chains in our Global ESG supply chain risk outlook report .

This year's report, available now, highlights:

• 2023's highest and lowest risk regions
• The persistent issue of child labour and the emerging critical ESG risks in key markets
• How regulations are shaping the way we must approach due diligence

The findings in this report are derived from our supply chain risk ratings, available on our data platform EiQ . Our ratings give insight into the supply chain operating context and the inherent risk exposure for countries/regions, suppliers, and products.

A sneak peek from the report:

Find out which countries made this year's best and worst lists by downloading the full report .

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating this week!

Wishing our US friends a Happy Thanksgiving!

Three things we at LRQA are thankful for this year after a complicated year in the world of ESG:

• An incredible team dedicated to the improvement of business-driven sustainability and a more sustainable future
• The success of our grievance mechanisms, which have remediated more than 13,000 worker grievances since its implementation and assisted millions of factory workers worldwide
• The challenges that have helped us grow, evolve, improve, and remind us why the work we do is vital to help improve the state of human rights and impact of climate change

Happy holidays from LRQA!

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