We recently attended GreenBiz 24, and were inspired to engage with many brilliant and dedicated leaders in the climate space. We were encouraged to see a big emphasis being placed on the concept of risk management as related to solving the climate crisis. Throughout the event, many panel speakers emphasized this theme, including a lively roundtable discussion hosted by Yuhau Lin and Meredith Pickett from Morgan Stanley. A few risk management themes we took away are the importance of data consistency, community-centered decision-making, and anticipation of ESG regulations. 

Data consistency in reporting is key 

While attending a roundtable hosted by Chad Breckinridge, VP and Deputy General Counsel at Cisco, we discussed overall challenges in data collection. We heard strategies on striving for consistency over granularity to allow for better reporting. 

While reporting methods and information about carbon credits vary across the board, CEEZER provides the data needed for buyers to make informed and effective decisions. Without CEEZER, comparing projects across methodologies and technologies would take substantial legwork. Our platform removes that barrier by allowing users to compare the breadth of the carbon market in one place. 

Community-centered decision-making should be at the center of climate-forward solutions 

It is clear that we need to examine and perfect how we involve and empower communities at the frontlines of the climate crisis. Ensuring communities worldwide have a voice in how funding is activated and distributed is a crucial piece of our work as sustainability teams— centering intersectionality by working with local communities as partners provide co-benefits and leads to reduced risk. 

It is important to be able to compare and judge community involvement across carbon removal projects. The CEEZER platform makes it easy providing access to data on projects’ risks and community benefits.

ESG regulations are raising standards

Policymakers around the world are working towards requiring more of companies when it comes to carbon disclosures and transparency. The European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and California’s Climate Disclosure laws will set a new global precedent for companies. Whether required to at this point or not, companies are preparing to go above and beyond the status quo.

At GreenBiz, Sara Cronenwett, Senior Vice President, Corporate Environmental Sustainability at Comcast, and Jeannie Renne-Malone, Vice President of Global Sustainability at VF Corporation, cited the high ESG expectations of investors and customers as the reason they are investing beyond what compliance currently requires in anticipation of tighter regulations.

Staying ahead of regulations and raising the ESG standards of an organization are essential parts of managing risk. Achieving this ambitious goal requires companies to have access to consistent, reliable data, a community-centered approach, and the right tools. To help understand the voluntary carbon market landscape, we partnered with BeZero Carbon and Spencer Meyer, PhD to create a guide to balancing risk in the carbon market.

Download the guide to learn more.