Corporate climate work is undergoing a transformation. As stakeholder expectations grow and reporting requirements become increasingly complex, the setting and tightening of climate targets are becoming timely topics for many companies. What kinds of targets are sufficient to achieve science‑based emission reductions? What types of measures need to be implemented— and how ambitious must they be — in order to reach these targets? And how can all of this be put into practice?
Our client Enersense International Plc set out to build a climate roadmap together with us to support its SBTi target‑setting process. The aim was to identify emission reduction targets that are genuinely meaningful while also being realistic and implementable. In this blog post, we describe how the project progressed in practice and how Enersense has taken the project outcomes from theory into real‑world application.
How to create a climate roadmap that truly supports climate work?
Identifying the most significant emission sources is the first step in developing an impactful climate roadmap
We began developing Enersense’s climate roadmap by identifying the company’s most significant emission sources. In Enersense’s case, by far the largest share of climate impacts arise from purchased construction materials and services. Among these, steel, which globally accounts for nearly 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions¹, emerged as particularly significant. This finding made climate targets primarily a supply chain issue: emission reductions do not depend solely on the company’s own actions, but also on supplier choices, market development, and available technologies.
Once the largest emission sources were identified, we began mapping and selecting potential emission reduction measures. In selecting and prioritizing these measures, we considered both their impact on the carbon footprint and Enersense’s ability to influence the emission reductions. Once the list of measures was complete, we developed emission reduction pathways for each measure under selected scenarios. By aggregating these pathways, we obtained an estimate of how the company’s overall carbon footprint is expected to develop over the selected time period. For the most significant measures, we also assessed the investment and operating costs to understand the financial impacts.
Climate roadmap makes the ambition level required by science‑based emission reduction targets tangible
The results were compared against Paris Agreement aligned emission reduction trajectories, which also form the basis of the SBTi requirements. The climate roadmap makes the required level of ambition concrete: market‑driven development alone is not sufficient to achieve science‑based targets. Instead, adequate emission reductions also require active corporate decisions, such as increasing the use of low‑emission materials, strengthening supplier collaboration, and introducing new procurement criteria.
“Transitioning to low‑emission steel, electrifying the vehicle fleet, and engaging material and service suppliers in emission reduction efforts are the most critical means for achieving our climate targets. We have mapped numerous ways to ensure that investments in clean energy transition and telecommunications networks — as well as their operation and maintenance — can be carried out with lower emissions. We do not yet have all the solutions to reduce emissions, so we remain open to innovations and new operating models,” says Liisi Tamminen, Enersense’s Head of Communications, Investor Relations, and Sustainability.
Reducing climate impacts starts with action – an example of collaboration to accelerate demand for low‑emission steel
One of the most significant emission reduction measures identified for Enersense was an increase in the use of low‑emission and recycled steel. To improve the availability of low‑emission steel, Enersense launched a project together with WWF, aimed at accelerating investments in low‑emission steel production through creating strong demand signals. The impact is twofold: it supports not only Enersense’s own climate targets, but also a broader industrial transformation aimed at reducing steel‑related emissions at the global level.
Climate roadmap – not just a document, but a key tool for strategic climate work management
Enersense’s example demonstrates that a climate roadmap is most valuable when it does not remain merely a document, but instead becomes integrated into the company’s strategy and everyday operations.
“We have set ambitious science‑based emission reduction targets, and achieving them requires strong expertise and concrete actions. Our goal is for investments in the clean energy transition and telecommunications networks to be carried out in the future with lower emissions than before. We are pleased to see that our customers are very interested in low‑emission alternatives,” Liisi Tamminen states.
When a climate roadmap brings together the current state of a company’s climate impact and assessments of the impacts of emission reduction measures under different scenarios, climate work becomes manageable, measurable, and predictable. At the same time, the company can communicate to its stakeholders where it is heading and why. Climate targets can be ambitious and still achievable when the work is based on carefully prepared data.
You can read more about Enersense’s SBTi target‑setting here.
If making a climate commitment or preparing a climate roadmap with actionable emission reduction measures is a timely topic for your organization, get in touch with us. We are happy to support you in setting your targets and achieving them!
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