Buy Clean California Act Creates Incentive to Cut Carbon Emissions by Requiring EPDs Posted February 28, 2018 by Julie Sinistore Background In 2017, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the Buy Clean California Act (AB 262) into law which encourages greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions associated with state infrastructure projects. AB 262 requires state agencies to consider embedded carbon from the production of construction materials, such as rebar, during contracting for state projects. The law will apply to all California state infrastructure, as well as University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) projects. The bill arose as a recognition that construction materials contribute significantly to California’s annual GHG emissions (about 24 percent). Given this contribution to the state’s emissions, construction projects needed to be addressed for the state to reach its GHG emissions reduction goal of 40 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2030. A 2015 executive order from Jerry Brown ordered that state agencies “take climate change into account in their planning and investment decisions and employ Read More
Supplier Sustainability Assessments: Using EcoVadis to Report on Performance Posted December 7, 2017 by Kealy Herman Guidance on how to streamline your EcoVadis response and maximize your score. As supplier sustainability evaluation tools proliferate, WSP is being asked more and more which tools and frameworks to use and the reasons why. EcoVadis is one tool that can be used by customers to assess their supply chain and by suppliers to report on their environmental, social and governmental performance. This post will focus on suppliers responding to EcoVadis. What is EcoVadis? EcoVadis is a global reporting platform allowing suppliers to provide information on corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance to customers who request it. Through the platform, requesting customers can solicit many types of CSR information from its suppliers. During each annual reporting period, EcoVadis generates a customized questionnaire based on the supplier’s sector, scores each response, summarizes corrective actions and creates a CSR performance scorecard that requesting customers can access. EcoVadis provides a platform for suppliers to Read More
Moving beyond greenhouse gas inventories to energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies Posted September 16, 2017 by Jeremy Mohr With carbon reporting season in our collective rearview mirror, we look forward to this year’s CDP report and are reminded of the effort that organizations expend disclosing meaningful greenhouse gas (GHG) information and climate change strategies. Every year more and more organizations collect and report energy and GHG data through avenues such as CDP and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. Adding to this, organizations are setting targets – science-based and renewable energy – in an effort to demonstrate improved corporate responsibility and improved environmental performance. The carbon inventory and reporting process yields significant amounts of useful information, but how can organizations leverage this momentum to achieve benefits beyond business as usual and accomplish meaningful sustainability goals? In our whitepaper – Inventory to Action: Moving beyond greenhouse gas inventories to energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies – we highlight the benefits of developing and implementing a strategic energy management program. The Read More
