Twenty Climate-Neutral Frontrunners Join Caring for Climate
(Stockholm, 14 May 2009)
– The United Nations Global Compact has welcomed 20 Scandinavian
companies as new signatories to Caring for Climate, its business leadership platform on climate
change. All have pledged and achieved climate neutrality.
In order to meet their commitment, the companies measured the direct greenhouse gas emissions
of their operations, as well as emissions associated with their purchases of energy and indirect
emissions relating to business travels. This was done in accordance with the GHG Protocol, the most
widely used greenhouse gas accounting and reporting protocol for business. During the first year,
the companies reduced their emissions by a total of 33 percent.
Remaining emissions were compensated through support of premium Clean Development Mechanisms,
financing four certified reduction projects in developing economies - reductions that would not
occur without this financing. The companies have pledged that this offset solution will not weaken
their efforts to continue reducing their own emissions.
The companies have also pledged to verify their baseline emissions and publicly report on
progress made.
The group of companies is part of a network known as Climate Neutral Companies. Their
progress is facilitated by Svante, business software developed by Respect in Stockholm, Sweden.
Svante enables companies and organizations to measure, manage and report their greenhouse gases
according to the GHG Protocol.
“Climate-neutral companies provide an inspiration for business seeking to anticipate the
profound changes necessary to avert climate risks,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the
Global Compact. “Complementing their own reduction efforts by supporting clean development
mechanisms also helps those most vulnerable to climate change in emerging economies. We welcome
their experience. It further strengthens the impact of Caring for Climate.”
“We are very pleased that the United Nations has highlighted the work we do and regard these
companies as corporate role models in the fight against climate change," said Respect CEO Ebba
Lindsö . "We see how many companies are interested in taking responsibility for their climate
impact and we have developed excellent programs that provides them with a comparable, systematic
and straightforward way to do this.”
List of new signatories to the UN Global Compact and Caring for Climate:
Relevant links:
Read more about the Climate Neutral Companies:
www.klimatneutral.se
About Respect
Respect supports businesses in implementing systematic sustainable work that simultaneously
strengthens their brand value and bottom line. Respect is a leader in climate impact calculation
programmes, offering standardised tools to increase efficiency and evaluate actions on the climate
issues, and certification programmes for climate neutrality. Respect supports companies in
sustainability reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard and cooperates
with international organisations, including GRI and United Nations Global Compact. More
information:
www.respect.se
Media Contact
Elin Bergman
+46 73 966 23 49
elin.bergman@respect.se
