Next up in our interview series with sustainability leaders from the technology, aviation, travel, tourism, retail and hospitality sectors, we talk to Pankaj Tanwar, who is the Managing Director of Climate Services at CarbonBetter, a specialist energy logistics and sustainability consultancy firm.
“I encourage corporate leaders daunted by the prospect of decarbonization not to wait for the perfect answer,” said Pankaj Tanwar, who heads up Austin-based specialist sustainability management consulting firm, CarbonBetter.
“We might all hope for a silver bullet that can solve climate change but, unfortunately, it’s too complex a problem for a single solution. Business leaders can begin now by taking small steps. It will give them the confidence to scale up action.”
He points out that sustainability initiatives can have positive financial benefits. “There are things companies can do right now to reduce their carbon footprint that will also have a positive return on investment. For example, making their buildings more energy efficient or setting up on-site renewable energy generation.”
Since 2012, CarbonBetter has been a one-stop shop for companies at all stages of their sustainability journeys and in need of different kinds of support.
“With our clients ranging from large, Fortune 500 companies to non-profits and start-ups, we offer them four main services," said Tanwar. "The first is consulting—enabling them to define and achieve their sustainability goals through everything from sustainability strategy creation, greenhouse gas accounting, product life cycle assessments, climate risk assessments and alignment with sustainability reporting frameworks.”
As a case in point, CarbonBetter has partnered with cocktail-in-a-box startup Beatbox since its inception. Initially, the consulting firm measured Beatbox’s carbon footprint, before supporting the identification of relevant decarbonization strategies. CarbonBetter also helps the brand create its annual sustainability report and compensate for its residual emissions by offsetting them through high-quality carbon credits, which happens to be the second component of its offering.
“We help corporations effectively utilize carbon offsets to reduce their overall carbon footprint. Uniquely, we have direct relationships with over 40 project developers across the globe, which allows us to maintain a very high-quality portfolio of environmental products. In terms of the carbon markets, we also help project developers set up and implement high-quality carbon projects.
“Our third service is energy logistics, helping clients fulfil their energy demands in the most efficient manner. And the last one is clean energy retail. For example, if a client wants to purchase low-carbon electricity and gas, we can make that happen,” said Tanwar.
While corporate climate action may not be growing at the pace that science demands, Tanwar believes that consumers will continue to favor products and services that help people and the planet. With sustainability the way the world is inevitably headed, he said that C-suite leaders should embrace it now, rather than risk being perceived as laggards, by taking three initial steps.
“They can start by incorporating sustainability into their overall business strategy. I don't mean that they must necessarily make it a central part of their strategy, but there needs to be a well-defined place for it, and that should be communicated to all stakeholders. At the same time, they can give their sustainability leaders a seat at the top table—to inform them of what is happening and explain how that may impact other business decisions.”
He said that the second step is for businesses to calculate their company’s environmental impacts, because if they do not know how much carbon dioxide, water or waste their organization is producing, they are extremely limited in what they can do. Thirdly, they can set climate targets and then put together a detailed roadmap of how they will achieve them, to ensure they are meaningful.
“Recently, we’ve seen organizations backtrack on climate goals as they were set without good planning of exactly how they would be met. As deadlines approached, organizations realized that they couldn’t fulfill their promises and thus backed out of their goals. Sometimes, this was because goals were set based on the assumption that technological advancements would make them viable—so my advice when setting targets is to conduct a robust road mapping exercise, which includes practical consideration of the technology available today.”
For businesses to play their central role in achieving a sustainable future, Tanwar set out the barriers that must be overcome. Primarily, there needs to be greater incentives for corporations to decarbonize, especially in the U.S. and including in the form of regulation. But before that future scenario becomes reality, corporate leaders need to stop worrying about risk and just take the first step—although he underlined that this means they need to be allowed some grace too.
“The challenge is that our knowledge of nature and the climate is constantly evolving. We’re now seeing companies who followed science ten years ago, and invested accordingly, getting into controversies because the actions that they took are no longer understood to be the best solutions. It’s not only unfair but also stops other companies from acting.
“The last barrier is the limited number of companies providing the finance needed to develop the carbon markets, for example to conduct research and development into developing new kinds of carbon projects. In part, it's down to the current geopolitical environment, in which companies and banks are pulling out of net zero alliances.
“No sector can evolve without money," concluded Tanwar. "There must be incentives for either the public or private sector to step up and provide the funding. Some companies are already active in this space, but I think a lot more can be done.”
To find out more about how CarbonBetter can help businesses align their environmental and financial goals when navigating the transition to a net zero future, visit CarbonBetter.
Catch up on other interviews in our Sustainability Leadership Series:
Using AI to Stabilize the Grid – Meet the team at Flower, the Swedish cleantech firm optimizing battery storage to make renewable energy reliable across Europe.