Autodesk, Inc. has developed a new methodology for corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) target setting -- the Corporate Finance Approach to Climate-Stabilizing Targets (C-FACT). It uses this methodology to align its own GHG reduction targets with global scientific and policy climate stabilization targets. Using the new methodology calculation to set targets for FY10, Autodesk will aim to reduce its absolute emissions by 4.52% compared to FY09, translating to 3,756 metric tons of GHG.
"Corporate GHG target setting has become a little like the Wild West, with few laws, little scrutiny, and quite a bit of aimless shooting," said Emma Stewart, senior program lead for Autodesk's sustainability initiative. "C-FACT takes a different approach that accommodates the normal changes to our business. And we are challenging other companies to reduce their GHGs in line with scientific and policy climate stabilization targets of 85% by 2050."
C-FACT advocates that companies adopt a normalized goal using a more nuanced approach that recognizes they are GHG emitters but simultaneously create economic value. It takes the 2008 BT Climate Stabilization Intensity model a step further by changing the measure of added value to be universally acceptable by any accounting system, and it introduces new mathematical principles that allow it to be:
- Proportional, Replicable and Verifiable: Corporate commitments should be proportional to the company's value to the economy, while holding performance accountable with replicable and verifiable information.
- Non-prescriptive, Flexible, and Predictable: Allows individual business units to make decisions and commit to targets to; adapts to short-term deviations from the target trajectory; predictable forecasting incorporated into business planning and optimization of cost-savings.
- Compatible and Fair: Compatible with generally accepted corporate finance principles and fair to companies of all sizes, GHG footprints and growth prospects.
