A comprehensive tool designed to help organisations understand, implement, and navigate various carbon pricing strategies.
Every tonne of carbon is a cost to society because it causes climate change. However, this cost is invisible in commercial markets. Invisible that is, unless it is explicitly factored in, for example, by government regulation, or by companies choosing to reflect it in their balance sheets and decision making processes.
Over 100 national or subnational governments have now put a price on carbon, and this number is growing each year. As the cost of carbon increases and pricing mechanisms expand to cover more sectors, climate change has become a concrete financial risk, and opportunity, to countless businesses. Even more organisations are indirectly impacted through their supply chains, and efforts to price carbon on a global scale are ramping up.
Businesses are also starting to take the lead. Microsoft, for example, prices carbon internally at $15 per tonne, and at $100 per tonne for business travel. It has used the revenue generated to purchase renewable energy and sustainable aviation fuel, as well as carbon credits, to meet its aim of being a “carbon negative, water positive, zero waste company” by 2030.
More and more businesses are taking similar action, not just to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but to prepare for regulatory carbon pricing that is growing in scope, size and complexity. By understanding carbon pricing, boards can ensure that their businesses are resilient to policy developments in this area and positioned to implement effective internal carbon pricing policies, creating a competitive advantage over less-prepared peers.
