Why is reporting not enough to hit the SBTi targets?

In our journey towards sustainability, one question echoes: Why isn't reporting on carbon emissions enough? The answer lies in its role as the ignition, not the destination. Let us share a story to illuminate this crucial point.

Imagine you're piloting a ship towards an uncharted future, and a sustainable profitable business performance and practices are your North Star. Carbon reporting is like 25 % of your compass, providing what happened in the past and reflection of what was done on emissions, but you don't know how much your impact on water, waste, biodiversity and communities nor what the financial impact were on your efforts, neither the NEW or changed direction you need to take based on your business plan, changed competition, requirements from NGOs & consumers nor new regulations. It tells you where you are, or more clear, where you were last year, but it's the actions and accountability you take on an actionable project level that propel you forward.

Your commitment to carbon reporting is vital, and there are many companies offering their support to help you on this. We do trust them, and they are cracking on to get  Scope 3 on reporting easier also. It's the beginning of the voyage—a declaration of intent. It tells stakeholders, investors, and consumers that you're aware of your carbon footprint and are accountable for it. But reporting alone won't alter your course or close the gap to a sustainable future.

To navigate towards sustainability in operations, you must steer the ship. It's the actions, the operational changes, and the sustainable practices that determine your progress. These actions are the wind in your sails, propelling you towards your destination.

Let's be clear: Reporting is not the goal; it's one of the important tools. It helps you measure, understand, and report. But true sustainability lies in the decisions you make, the investments you prioritize, and the cultural shift you instil within your organization.

Here's the key message: Reporting on carbon is essential, but it's not enough to hit your Science Based or Net Zero Targets, the public commitments  you have done, it's the actions that follow, the collaborations and investments, the priorities and trade offs—reducing emissions, water, waste and  community impacts, adopting renewable energy, optimizing supply chains, innovating in sustainable products—that make a genuine difference. And this is hard without integrated data and digitalisation. It require hard efforts from every single person in the organisation. And you can't postpone decisions.

So, as CEOs and Sustainability Directors, let's leverage carbon reporting as a must have to comply with current regulations, but with new CSRD, double materiality and forward looking impact on social and environmental projects, combined with financials, are required, which will be your fundamentals as catalyst for change.

Use it to identify areas for improvement and to inspire your teams and partners. Let's turn awareness into action, intentions into innovations, and commitment into results. Currently this happens in power points, spread sheets or through months of expensive consultancy work.

In closing the gap to a sustainable & profitable future, it's the commitments, plans & actions, with optimised allocation of capital and resources, you take today, that will set the course for a better tomorrow. The destination is within reach, but it's the journey, powered by your financial & sustainable practices, that will get us there.

Curios to learn how we visualise impact on both sustainability and financials and help decision makers shift money in minutes, to reduce impact and improve communities?

Contact: anna.sandgren@unibloom.world