home
frankly speaking podcast

#52 Frederic Hans and Thomas Day: How Are Companies Faring in their Net Zero and Climate Action Efforts in 2024?

Germany's NewClimate Institute has produced the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor report, evaluating the transparency and integrity of climate pledges of 51 major companies across different sectors and geographies. 

Richard Howitt welcomes Frederic Hans and Thomas Day, co-authors of the report to discuss their findings and key recommendations to companies on their journey to net-zero.

In this episode, you’ll find more about:

  • Good practices and what makes a business leader in climate action efforts
  • Checklist of things to avoid if companies want to try and do this better
  • If the ESRS and ISSB Standards are improving things and if companies can feel confident in following them?
  • The need for science-based targets and what SBTi should do next 
  • What is green hushing and to what extent it can be dangerous

Resources:

“There are three things to what makes a good leader. The first one is having a holistic and credible transition plan. An example of that is the Volvo Group, they set very credible targets in the short term towards 2030, what they want to achieve in terms of selling zero emission vehicles. They also set very specific actions and measures on what they want to achieve in terms of procurement of low carbon steel. Besides the transition plan, there are different other aspects of being a leader. For example, being transparent and proactive in communicating what our progress really looks like. How do we influence the relevant processes at the regulatory level, at the voluntary initiative level, in order to improve the system? Lastly, there is the forward looking planning for a just transition: How do our transition plans affect communities, employees, suppliers, etc.”

Frederic Hans in Frankly Speaking

You may also like these episodes

36:06

#58 Piotr Biernacki: How To Tailor Sustainability Reports to Your Business-Specific Context

How can and should you address entity-specific reporting? Listen to Piotr Biernacki, EFRAG TEG Member and ESG Reporting Fellow at Materiality.

31:45

#57 Jason Judd: What Does the Just Transition Really Mean for Workers

Will there be a just transition? Listen to Jason Judd, Executive Director of Cornell's Global Labor Institute.

38:06

#56 Myriam Vander Stichele: Where Does The Money Flow?

Do our ideas about what makes companies competitive actually hinder the shift toward sustainability?