Corporate climate action is increasingly considered important in driving the transition towards a low-carbon economy. For this, it is critical to ensure translation of global goals to greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets at company level. At the moment, however, there is a lack of clear methods to derive consistent corporate target setting that keeps cumulative corporate GHG emissions within a specific carbon budget (for example, 550–1,300 GtCO2 between 2011 and 2050 for the 2°C target) . Here the authors propose a method for corporate emissions target setting that derives carbon intensity pathways for companies based on sectoral pathways from existing mitigation scenarios: the Sectoral Decarbonization Approach (SDA). These company targets take activity growth and initial performance into account. Next to target setting on company level, the SDA can be used by companies, policymakers, investors or other stakeholders as a benchmark for tracking corporate climate performance and actions, providing a mechanism for corporate accountability.

Full citation: Krabbe, O., Linthorst, G., Blok, K., Crijns-Graus, W., van Vuuren, D. P., Höhne, N., Faria, P., Aden, N., Carrillo Pineda, A., (2015). Aligning corporate greenhouse-gas emissions targets with climate goals. Nature Clim. Change, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2770.

Affiliations of the authors:

Ecofys: Oskar Krabbe, Giel Linthorst (corresponding author) & Kornelis Blok

Utrecht University: Oskar Krabbe, Wina Crijns-Graus & Detlef P. van Vuuren

Delft University of Technology: Kornelis Blok

PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency: Detlef P. van Vuuren

Ecofys: Niklas Höhne (present address NewClimate Institute)

Wageningen University, Environmental Systems Analysis Group: Niklas Höhne

CDP: Pedro Faria

WRI: Nate Aden

University of California, Energy & Resources Group: Nate Aden

WWF International: Alberto Carrillo Pineda