Why aren't companies doing more about cutting their greenhouse gas emissions, especially those produced by supply chain partners? Bart De Muynck, chief industry officer with project 44, explains how they can make a start in measuring and cutting emissions across the supply chain.

The major challenge that companies face today in reducing greenhouse gases is in Scope 3 emissions — those generated by supply chain partners over whom they have no direct control. Just getting the data is difficult, De Muynck says, especially given that the amount of information relating to sustainability increased by an estimated factor of 200 between the years 2010 and 2022. 

It's not surprising, then, that so many companies are behind the curve in measuring and controlling emissions. “Any CEO will say that Scope 3 [emissions] is in the top 10 of their priorities,” De Muynck says. “The problem is how actually to put action to it.”

With all of the supply chain disruptions that have occurred over the past two and a half years, companies have “bigger fish to fry right now,” he says. In addition, they need to approach sustainability efforts from the perspective of boosting profitability.

European companies are more motivated than their North American counterparts because they’ll be financially penalized for failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in the form of a costly carbon tax. Additional legislation by European governments is on the way. In North America, at least for now, the price to be paid is in the form of lost business from consumers who are increasingly making their buying decisions on the basis of companies’ environmental commitments.

Businesses must make a start by taking a close look at the available data, then measuring it and applying benchmarks to the results, says De Muynck.