Companies in the digital technology industry are significantly underreporting the greenhouse gas emissions arising along the value chain of their products. A non-profit organization CDP survey showed more than half of these emissions were excluded from self-reporting in 2019. Activities along the value chain account for most reporting gaps. Most gaps simply because companies don’t receive emissions data from all suppliers and don’t fill the gaps with secondary data. The analyzed tech companies did not disclose more than 50% of greenhouse gas emissions along the value chain in their own reports and/or the survey. Instead of the reported 360 megatons CO2 equivalents, the study arrives at a total of 751 megatons. The discrepancy is comparable to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Australia. Since the reporting system isn’t working, a new regulatory framework is needed.
Journal Reference: Lena Klaaßen, Christian Stoll. Harmonizing corporate carbon footprints. Nature Communications, 2021; 12 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26349-x
www.cdp.net/en
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211118203514.htm