On Monday 2 July, South Pole hosted a webinar alongside consumer brands L'Oréal and Nespresso on carbon 'insetting'; an innovative solution that allows businesses to integrate carbon compensation with supply chain sustainability.
Global supply chains are increasingly exposed to serious environmental and social risks. First pioneered by South Pole in 2011, carbon 'insetting' is a way for companies to mitigate these risks, achieve emission reduction targets, and create positive changes in the ecosystems and communities along their supply chains.
First-hand experiences of success with the insetting strategy were given by industry leaders L'Oréal and Nespresso, who integrate insetting into their own extensive sustainability ambitions.
Julie Reneau, Sustainability Strategy and Relationship Manager at Nespresso underlined the connection between insetting and the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
"By acting on reduction, we would be able to deliver against Paris Agreement and consume a lower footprint of our products on Scope 1, 2, and 3," explained Renau.
The company had originally planned to compensate for all Scope 1 and 2 emissions through insetting by 2020. After achieving this goal early, Nespresso added Scope 3 emissions to this target. The company has also pledged to reduce the carbon footprint of a cup of Nespresso coffee by 28% compared to its 2009 impact by 2020.
French cosmetics company L'Oréal is also examining and reducing its climate impact. L'Oréal Sustainability Manager, Rachel Barre highlighted her company's targets of reducing factory and distribution centre emissions by 60% below 2005 levels by 2020. In transport, the goal is 20%.
The company's remaining emissions – 160,000 tonnes for 2015 Scope 1 and 2, and 240,000 tonnes for Scope 3 – will be compensated through insetting. Barre outlined L'Oréal's insetting initiative "Carbon Balanced" in West African nation, Burkina Faso, which is being realised with the support of South Pole.
"Agriculture supply chains, particularly those in the Global South...relying on smallholders, really depend for their resilience on ecosystems and communities," explained Tilmann Silber, South Pole's Director Sustainable Supply Chains, "And that's exactly where insetting, through those additional sustainability impacts next to carbon, can help to really deliver a really positive impact on the ground to reduce and act on those risks."
View a recording of the webinar to hear more of the insetting success stories shared by L'Oréal and Nespresso, and learn from South Pole's team of experts about how carbon 'insetting' can unlock the synergies between supply chain sustainability and carbon compensation for your business – all while delivering positive impacts along the supply chain.
For more information on South Pole's insetting solutions or to consult our insetting experts, visit the webpage.