12 September 2019
GRI, CDP Report Urges Businesses to Align Sustainability Objectives with NDCs
Photo credit: Lynn Wagner
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The report analyzes corporate reporting practices through the first round of NDCs, and discusses examples of good practice.

It recommends that businesses align operations and sustainability objectives to national targets and explore business opportunities to support NDCs through investments and changes to their operations.

11 July 2019: The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), with support from the Government of Sweden, have issued a report examining the role of the private sector in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the SDGs.

The report titled, ‘Engaging Business in the NDCs: Policy Recommendations on the Role of the Private Sector and Reporting,’ analyzes corporate reporting practices through the first round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and discusses examples of good practice.

To meet the challenging goals in the Paris Agreement, governments alone cannot achieve the changes required.

The report recommends that policymakers: include clear targets for private business contributions; set up efficient and transparent monitoring processes that include data from the private sector; and provide support to encourage private sector engagement. For the private sector, it recommends that businesses: align operations and sustainability objectives to national targets; explore business opportunities to support NDCs through investments and changes to their operations; and proactively engage policymakers at the national level.

Examples of good practices presented in the report include: the establishment by countries of monitoring processes to track progress and adapt the strategy regularly; investing in enabling factors to further support private sector involvement; and identifying the budget and the conditions needed for its implementation to reach sectoral targets.

Speaking about the report, Peter Paul van de Wijs, Chief External Affairs Officer, GRI, noted that in order to “meet the challenging goals in the Paris Agreement, governments alone cannot achieve the changes required.” “Businesses,” he said, “also have a crucial role, which is why we need clarity on each other’s contribution.”

Published as a contribution to in-depth review of SDG 13 (climate action) by the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in July 2019, the report will also contribute to discussions during the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in September 2019, prior to countries submitting their next round of NDCs in 2020. [Publication: Engaging Business in the NDCs: Policy Recommendations on the Role of the Private Sector and Reporting]

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