Roadmap for a fossil-free Sweden (World): By the Digitalisation Consultancy Industry

Role: Lead-Author and project leader

Summary
More than 30 leading firms in the digitalisation consultancy industry have joined forces behind this roadmap and we are united in our ambition to help society recognise and tap the potential of digitalisation for a fossil-free future. We believe it is critical that the digitalisation that is providing some of the most powerful tools humankind has ever created is given a framework for contributing to a smart and sustainable future.

The contents of the roadmap were developed in parallel with and largely based on the strategic long-term vision for a climate-neutral Europe presented by the European Commission on 28 November 20181 and the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 C that describes

pathways to achieving the 1.5 C target by implementing new and smarter solutions (products and services) that lead to steep reductions in energy and resource consumption.

Digital solutions can help reduce emissions in three ways. First, existing systems can be optimised. Second, the uptake of sustainable solutions can be accelerated. Third, transformative changes can be achieved.

A transformative change that results in radical and rapid reductions of GHG emissions occurs when the impacts of digitalisation at various levels work together, i.e., when novel technical solutions, business models, economic incentives, new legislation, social planning, new financing models and methods for assessment and creating transparency, etc., are brought together.

One serious challenge is that the less significant contributions of digitalisation (optimisation of individual products) are relatively easy to explain, measure and support politically, while the greater, transformative and systemic changes are often more difficult to explain, measure and support politically.

The transformative and systemic changes demand numerous interacting measures that often require collaboration among government ministries, public agencies and sectors in a way that seldom occurs today. Consequently, focus is apt to end up on the minor contributions of digitalisation, with risk that the major contributions will be ignored.

Link to report here

A three-step approach to support and assess low-carbon solutions (Report)

Role: Author

Summary
The purpose of this work is to better identify and support solutions (including technologies, products, services and business models) that enable us to do things in a different way to today, and which result in significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than would occur under a business-as-usual scenario. Examples include the use of teleconferencing to displace business travel, replacing a motor with a more efficient alternative, or offering an advisory service to help customers reduce emissions.

Businesses, investors, governments and legislators are today familiar with the commonly-used and generally accepted approaches and methodologies for measuring the greenhouse gas emissions associated with organisations, products, services, and other activities. Effective use of these measurement tools allows for reductions in emissions to be readily tracked from a baseline, supporting better target setting and risk management, identifying cost reduction opportunities and supporting good policymaking.

However, there has been far less consistency around measuring the impact of solutions that can help to avoid emissions. The approach and methodology outlined in this document has therefore been developed to provide a robust and coherent way to measure, assess, and compare the current and potential impact of solutions that

help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is hoped that this will support greater levels of innovation, as well as unlocking growth and new revenue opportunities for the solutions that will be necessary in addressing the challenge of climate change and achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement.

Link to report here

Zero-Carbon Transition Index (ZTI) 2016

Role: author

Summary
As the world moves into implementation of the Paris agreement, an agreement that is notoriously vague even by international environmental agreements standards, it is important to understand the broader context for a transition to a zero-carbon society. One of the most important factors that will decide the outcome of the Paris agreement is the kind of stakeholder that will influence the international agenda.

There are many ways that different stakeholders can influence the international agenda in many different ways, but based on historic experience international media, leading policy makers, key academic institutions, international organizations, etc. will act very much in line with the companies that are the most powerful and the agenda they promote.1 These companies does not only have significant investments in R&D and enormous PR /lobby budgets, they are also overrepresented in key fora, including industry groups and agenda-setting processes such as OECD, B20, and WEF.

Currently, and perhaps surprisingly, the domination by pro-fossil companies among the world’s top-50 companies is record high. The situation today is even worse than back in 1996, when the Kyoto protocol was negotiated. In other words, 20 years of negotiations, discussions and actions to reduce global carbon emissions have failed to deliver a new generation of proactive zero-carbon companies on the same scale as the old fossil companies. What we have today is a situation when the top-50 companies on the planet are dominated by fossil friendly companies on an unprecedented scale.

The zero-carbon transition index (ZTI) is a tool to enhance transparency regarding how biggest companies on the planet are likely to use their influence. The ZTI uses the revenue data from Fortune Global 500 to select the top-50 companies in the world as measured by revenue.2 These companies are then divided into five categories depending on how they invest, communicate and lobby with regards to the greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions needed to avoid dangerous climate change.

The five categories are “very obstructive”, “obstructive”, “neutral”, “supportive”, and “very supportive”. The companies in the category very obstructive are given the value -100, the obstructive -50, the neutral 0, the supportive +50, and the very supportive +100. The values are added together and then divided by the total number of companies to get the ZTI.

The ZTI for 1996 was -38, for 2008 -27 and now for 2015 it is -39.

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转型解决方案, 创造低碳未来 (leaflet)

Role: Project leader

Summary
在当前应对气候变化的战斗中 在现有体系中采用渐进式的改进方法显然是效果不佳。 幸运的是，现今越来越多的公司采用转型解决方案。 他们把建设一个低碳型经济体制看作企业的商机，而非威胁。 这些解决方案值得我们重视。