Blog

Our Second Quarter Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) Symposium was held both in person at the Biogen Headquarters in Cambridge and virtually on Thursday, June 16th.  We heard from six fantastic presenters: Jennifer Wright, Director of Global EHS & Sustainability at Biogen; Johanna Jobin, Global Head of Reputation & Responsibility and Executive Director of the Biogen Foundation; Annette Kuhn, Director of Compliance & ESG Operations at UKG; Bekah Heath, ESG Operations Manager at UKG; and Clara Ohakim and Hallie Sacks, MBA students at Georgetown University.

The theme of the second half of the Symposium was the role of Net Zero Emissions & 24/7 Carbon Free Energy in corporate global decarbonization. During this session, we heard from Clara Ohakim and Hallie Sacks, members of the student research team at the Georgetown University Business School, which SR Inc partners with annually to study emerging trends in corporate decarbonization.

Key findings highlighted during this session include:

1. The Science-Based Targets Initiative remains the dominant corporate framework for driving down carbon emissions.
2. 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) is emerging as an additional and (necessary) end-game strategy for achieving local grid decarbonization led by handful of the world’s largest corporate energy buyers.
3. However, corporations are aware that the projected 1.5⁰ carbon budget runs out in 8-11 years.
4. To help accelerate global decarbonization, companies should achieve a Net Zero emission reduction strategy focused on rapid carbon abatement while embracing 24/7 CFE as the ultimate objective.
5. That means for 99% of companies without massive geographically concentrated load, the biggest opportunity for contributing to 24/7 CFE at this stage is by aggregating energy demand internally and causing new renewable capacity in more carbon intensive grids.
6. EPA’s new whitepaper “Renewable Electricity Procurement on Behalf of Others” lays out several paths for corporates to provide RECs to customers, suppliers, and employees.
7. As Science-Based Targets requires goals for Scope 3 emissions, this protocol provides the opportunity for companies to extend their carbon abatement impact from new renewable energy capacity to help customers and key suppliers as part of achieving their Science-Based Targets.
8. Georgetown student group recommendations for creating a 24/7 CFE strategy: 1) Understand your energy consumption on an hourly basis, 2) Develop a goal-aligned REC purchasing protocol, 3) Make your goals public and report progress transparently, and 4) Support market developing efforts through working groups and compacts.

We look forward to deepening our Member-Client based guidance on innovative global decarbonization strategies throughout 2022.  Our next Symposium will be held in New York City on September 22^nd as part of Climate Week.  Member-Clients can find a copy of the presentation deck from our Q2 Symposium in our Digital Library.