Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) recently launched a new action plan, Accelerate – The Business Pact for Climate and Nature, which seeks to assist Irish firms with establishing a net zero target and climate transition plan.
According to BITCI Ireland chief executive Tomás Sercovich, the new Accelerate pact builds on previous initiatives undertaken by the group, including 2018’s Low Carbon Pledge – a call to action for businesses to set Science-Based Targets (SBTs) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
“When the Pledge was launched, the landscape was different – there was little regulation or disclosure requirements, no European Green Deal, and Ireland’s Climate Act hadn’t even been enacted,” Sercovich tells SustainabilityOnline.net. “The Low Carbon Pledge brought SBTs to the forefront of Irish business, elevating awareness, understanding, and ambition on climate change. The sixth and final report is a testament to this, with 62 companies having set or working towards setting their SBTs.
“However, ambition – though necessary, is not sufficient, and must be matched by action.”
State of the Environment
Sercovich references the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent State of the Environment report, which stated that Ireland’s emissions reduction efforts have been “nowhere near good enough” and action on climate and nature must “scale up and speed up.”
“The Accelerate pact raises the bar of the Low Carbon Pledge by calling on business to reach Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, if not earlier – where feasible for the business sector as per current guidelines – and to develop a Climate Transition Plan to get them on their way,” he says. “This Plan must take action in nine important leverage areas: Nature, Scope 3, Just Transition, Targets, Decarbonisation, Finance, Advocacy, Risk and Governance.
“A Climate Transition Plan goes beyond decarbonisation and outlines how a business will adapt operations, mitigate risk, engage stakeholders, and align with a net-zero future, which the science and policy is directing us towards. It is a comprehensive strategy for staying relevant in a world aligned with meeting the goal of the Paris Agreement. These plans are fundamental given their inclusion in the upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) regulations, and we want to equip business to create high quality plans for reaching these targets.
“Both of these challenges should be complete by 2030 at the very latest, and earlier for those who already took part in the Low Carbon Pledge.“
Enabling businesses to act
As Sercovich explains, the financial year cycle can sometimes constrain efforts to move the needle on climate transition, with most businesses ultimately accountable for their shareholders.
”However, we know we need to approach the twin climate and nature crises, and the social consequences of addressing each appropriately, with a long-term perspective,” he says.
Earlier this year, BITCI, in collaboration with the University of Maynooth, published a research project examining six sustainability capabilities considered important for leaders in a volatile, complex, uncertain, and ambiguous world.
“The capacity for long-term thinking scored low, which is understandable given the pace of business,” says Sercovich. “However, an absence of this capability jars with the long-term perspective required to achieve genuine sustainable development. We would encourage business to explore the potential adoption of metrics beyond the standard P+L that demonstrate an increased value-add to society.
“Additionally, we know that many businesses Climate Transition Plans are not robust enough to help keep us on a 1.5°C pathway. According to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), there are not enough Climate Transition Plans, and many of the ones out there do not align with 1.5°C. Accelerate will operate as a Centre of Excellence for developing Climate Transition Plans.
“By increasing the number and quality of Climate Transition Plans, we will contribute towards addressing the pitfalls highlighted by CDP.”
The Scope 3 dilemma
Addressing Scope 3 emissions is expected to be a significant challenge for businesses in the coming years. In its Low Carbon Pledge closing report, BITCI found that for more than half of the 62 signatories, over 80% of their emissions fall under Scope 3.
Research from the CDP also shows that it takes companies an average of one to three years to disclose supply chain emissions, and only 25% use supplier-specific methods to measure them.
According to Sercovich, supplier engagement is crucial in order to reduce Scope 3 emissions.
“BITCI’s approach to supporting the reduction of Scope 3 emissions focuses on education, collaboration, and scaling supplier engagement models to drive progress across value chains,” he says. “This is evidenced by the recent success of one of our projects, the ‘All Ireland Climate Action Pilot Programme for SMEs’. Through this project we worked with three of our member companies – Bank of Ireland, SSE and Musgrave – to help them engage their supply chains in decarbonisation efforts.
“Our soon-to-be published evaluation report of this project will show most of the SMEs we worked with were, prior to the programme, not actively reporting emissions, nor did they have Climate Transition Plans in place.”
To address this, BITCI facilitated 22 SMEs in the supply chains of its member companies to measure their carbon emissions and develop Climate Transition Plans for their businesses through a series of interactive workshops.
“This pilot marks a milestone in our efforts to support and challenge business to engage their supply chains in decarbonisation,” says Sercovich. “In Phase 2 of the project, we are exploring opportunities for scaling this important piece of work.
“Accelerate is an effort to build an Irish Centre of Excellence for developing corporate Climate Transition Plans, and we believe addressing Scope 3 emissions is an essential element of any Climate Transition Plan. We will develop capacity-building interventions which will be delivered as part of a Community of Practice to support members to learn from each other to better engage and improve data gathering.
“While we do not provide detailed expertise on Scope 3, we provide technical expertise through our carbon consultancy register.”
Maintaining quality levels
At the same time, accountability and traceability are increasingly important aspects of any sustainability strategy, and Sercovich admits that the quality of Climate Transition Plans can “differ significantly” from company to company.
As an example, the CDP, which collects Climate Transition Plans from thousands of companies, uses 21 indicators to evaluate the quality of these plans. Its recent report found that fewer than 1% of the plans addressed all 21 indicators, noting that that while the number of plans is increasing, their overall quality is inadequate to support a 1.5°C trajectory.
“We are building an Irish Centre of Excellence on Climate Transition Plans precisely to address this issue,” says Sercovich. “We see a future in which our members are best in class globally on the Climate Transition Plan quality, making Ireland stand out even more as a great place to do business and a critical element of our competitiveness.
“For companies that sign the Accelerate Pact and develop a Climate Transition Plan, we will be offering to benchmark the plan’s quality to a best-in-class standard. We will assess nine ‘Accelerator Areas’: Nature, Scope 3, Just Transition, Targets, Decarbonisation, Finance, Advocacy, Risk and Governance, and each company will receive a score for each area and overall, and assistance in improving. Each company’s emissions trend profile will also be assessed.”
BITCI is currently in the process of developing this assessment and plans to launch it for its first cohort of Pact signatories in mid-2025.
“We will only be using data that is publicly available, and so this should function as an incentive to disclose plans and progress as it is important the public can scrutinise business Climate Transition Plans and their completeness,” says Sercovich.
Continuous improvement
BITCI’s member companies also vary in size and maturity levels, as Sercovich notes.
“Accelerate contains a pathway model whereby signatories will be supported to determine their starting ‘Accelerator Level’ out of six options, from Newcomer (1) to Pioneer (6),” he says. “This means companies know where they stand and can always strive for more, which is important, given our commitment to facilitating continuous improvement.
“The company can self-select their target year for achievement of the Pact asks, with more mature companies encouraged to reach commitments earlier. For those less mature or with no sectoral peers in a similar situation, we will be flexible in terms of their deadline. The Accelerate decision tree contained in the Pact which CEOs will sign lays this out in more detail.”
Meeting the 2030 deadline
All BITCI member companies, regardless of their sustainability progress, are encouraged to sign the Accelerate pact and join the community of practice. BITCI expects member companies to develop their Climate Transition Plan as soon as possible and no later than 2030, or earlier if required by CSRD. They should also set their Net Zero target for 2050 as soon as possible and no later than 2030, unless current SBTi guidelines indicate otherwise for their sector.
Member companies are expected to engage with the Accelerate Community of Practice, complete an annual qualitative survey for the Insights Paper on decarbonisation and nature-positive challenges and opportunities for business, and increase their ambition regarding climate and nature.
Additionally, they should make a concerted effort to progress to the next Accelerator Level and collaborate with other signatories to share knowledge and develop solutions for effective climate and nature impact.
The call to action to develop a robust and credible Climate Transition Plan at the latest by 2030, and the call to action to set a net zero by 2050 target, also by 2030, are challenging for all businesses,” says Sercovich.
“But inaction and inertia are not viable options. 2023 was the warmest year on record and 2024 looks set to smash temperature records yet again. Globally, we are on track for a 2.7°C temperature rise—far beyond the Paris Agreement’s goal of 1.5°C, the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation is close to collapse, and the most recent WWF report on the global state of nature found we lost 73% of wildlife since 1970, up from 69% in 2022.
“Compliance clearly is not getting us where we need to be, fast enough.”
Exceeding basic compliance
BITCI’s Accelerate programme encourages businesses to exceed basic compliance with environmental regulations in two key ways.
First, while environmental regulations do not require companies to engage with a community of like-minded peers that encourage mutual improvement, Accelerate provides that opportunity.
Second, although European regulations like the CSRD and CSDDD require companies to develop a Climate Transition Plan, they do not specify detailed action areas. Accelerate addresses this gap by incorporating essential elements identified in various Climate Transition Plan templates and guidance.
“We aim to always be ahead of the curve,” says Sercovich. “We will equip our member companies with the knowledge and skills to be ready for upcoming changes, and to respond to those that are already here.
“Companies that fail to act on climate and biodiversity goals may face regulatory penalties from governments. Many businesses are legally bound to reduce emissions. We are seeing companies around the world being taken to court for their lack of action on changing of the climate, and for their lack of action to address the impacts of their decarbonisation and renewable energy strategies on local communities and workers.”
Green investment
Capital is increasingly being directed toward positive climate action, he adds, proactive businesses can access green investment and gain a competitive advantage in sustainability.
“We want the business community to be as best prepared as possible – not just for CSRD and CSDDD but other requirements that will follow. If business does not change, the climate and nature crises will change business. The choice is not about whether to act; it is about when to act.
“A breakdown in climate and nature is bad for business, and the prudential course of action is to plan for staying relevant in a 1.5°C-aligned world and signalling to investors and governments that business is up for the challenge of reaching net zero by 2050.”
Learn more about Accelerate – The Business Pact for Climate and Nature here. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones.
