Guidelines for Quantifying GHG emission reductions of goods or services through Global Value Chain
1.5 °C Compatibility Assessment of tools/initiatives
Opportunities
Challenges
Description
Description comments
What the assessment is meant to be used for
2. Support solutions: By providing means to quantify the impact of a specific solution, companies can use the tool to justify a shift to more sustainable practices
4. Increased positive impact: Quantifying avoided emissions helps introduce solutions as well as priortizing those with the highest impact
8. Reporting: Instructions for how to report on the results are included in the framework guidance
Scope of assessment
1. Avoided Emissions: Main focus
Stakeholder focus
5. Other: No focus on a specific type of stakeholder has been identified
Assessment activities
1. Developing Principles (Offering high-level standards to begin to align stakholders: Stated as primary target
2. Assessment & Internal reporting (Organizing common metrics & methodological guidelines): As the tool is designed for external use, this category is likely how it is/will be used
Time horizon
4. Other: The time covered by the assessment is specific to each assessment
Methodology
1. Individual LCA/assessment: Individual assessments of activities and/or solutions within an organization
Approach
1. Reduce problems from existing sectors: Likely to support incremental changes as well as more disruptive changes within an organization
2. Delivering new solutions to needs: Likely to support incremental changes as well as more disruptive changes within an organization
Process
2. Delta (made to help innovations/companies improve): Identified as main purpose of the assessments
Assessment unit
2. Individual solutions (economic, leagal, etc): The scope of the assessment methodology is described to target 'goods and services and their cumulative baseline emissions'
Solution areas
8. Other/not specific: The framework provides 'fundamental principles and framework' for estimating avoided emissions. As such no specific area or focus is expect (or identified)
Process for verifying data
3. No process/nontransparent: The framework states that verification of avoided emissions through internal channels should be done, but no specific detail on how to do it is not provided
Data provided by
4. Conducting solution assessments is not a focus: The framework does not directly conduct assessments
1.5 C Pathway Focus
5. N/A, unknown: No specific solution focus has been identified, the framework is considered ambivalent to the different 1.5C pathways
Scale of operations
5d. Other indicator of scale: Other: No scale of operation identified
1.5 °C Compability Assessment comments
Opportunities
1. Help establish a dynamic solution perspective: Focus primarily on reporting and calculating GHG emissions
2. Quick and Easy Assessment: Main focus
3. Identifying acceleration potential for solutions: Calculating and understanding emissions for a specific company/innovation can help identifying the potential, however this has not been identified as a focus for the tools
5. Need focus for 11 Billion with equity encouragement (Global south agenda): Tools for calculating emissions in China/Mexico
6. Solutions have Synergies with other sustainability goals: Understanding and reducing emissions in sectors with significant emissions is likely to have a positive effect on other areas such as biodiversity, however it's not an identified purpose for the tool
7. + 1000 and/or > 10 Gigatonnes of potential solutions: Not specific numbers identified, however a primary focus is calculating emissions
8. Aligned with Mission Innovations Net-Zero Innovation Compatibility Initative: Calculating emissions across sectors, however no focus on human needs or 1.5C compatibility.
Challenges
1. Lock-in Potential from the solutions: Among other tools, there are some that focus on Coal power plants and cement production
2. Supply and End-of-Pipe Focus: Such as tools for calculating stationary combustion
3. Excluding Transformative (System) Solutions: No focus identified
4. Only including technology innovations: Among the tools identified, most or all focus on emissions related to technological innovations
5. Resource Intensive Solutions: Such as calulcating cement and coal power plant emissions
6. Only Focus on Problems rather than Human Needs: The tools by GHG protocol seem to focus on high emissions sectors. While a focus on these sectors can result in significant emission reductions, it's also assuming that these sectors simply need to be 'improved' for a sustainable future rather than focusing on human needs
7. Excluding other sustainability aspects (biodiversity and poverty): No focus identified
9. No filter to support sustainable solutions for an equitable world with 11 billion: Tools focused towards China/Mexico can be interpreted as aiming towards developing countries
12. No focus on clustering of solutions: No focus on clustering has been identified