Expert organization commits to leading business initiative:
DEKRA becomes a member of “Business Ambition for 1.5°C”
DEKRA is fully committed to sustainability and reducing carbon footprints – by providing specialized services as well as on its own account. This is why the global expert organization has now signed up to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and its worldwide “Business Ambition for 1.5°C” project aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating global warming. The world’s largest and fastest-growing business initiative helps companies to develop science-based emissions reduction targets consistent with efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
- DEKRA pledges to go net zero by 2025
- Ambitious 1.5°C target for businesses to help combat global warming
- EcoVadis platinum rating already confirms sustainability approach
“We have to do everything we can to limit global warming to 1.5°C. That’s why we’ve joined this leading global business initiative with science-based emissions reduction targets,” says Wolfgang Linsenmaier, member of the DEKRA SE Management Board. “Our ambitious goal is, wherever possible, to cut out CO2 emissions and reliably offset any remaining emissions by 2025 in order to become a net-zero organization.”
Net-zero status is based on direct emissions (Scope 1), indirect emissions from purchased energy (Scope 2), and business travel (Scope 3). “With that in mind, our efforts include accelerating the move toward greater use of photovoltaic systems, exclusively buying renewable electricity, having energy-efficient buildings, improving our environmental record as far as business travel, and switching our company car fleet over to alternative drive systems.”
The ambitions and steps already taken to promote sustainability at the expert organization have also earned external recognition. With a platinum rating from EcoVadis, DEKRA is already ranked in the top one percent of sustainable businesses in its category.
Companies committed to “Business Ambition for 1.5°C” receive independent validation of their targets from the SBTi and become part of the UN Climate Champions’ Race to Zero.
“There is no time to lose. The transformation to a net-zero economy is unavoidable. Hundreds of businesses are leading the way by setting ambitious 1.5°C science-based targets. We urgently need more companies to decarbonize our economy,” says Alberto Carrillo Pineda, managing director of the SBTi.
The SBTi drives ambitious climate action in the private sector by enabling companies to set science-based emissions reduction targets. The “Business Ambition for 1.5°C” campaign is the world’s largest and fastest-growing grouping of companies taking urgent action to reach a 1.5°C future. Since its inception in 2015, more than 2,000 companies from all over the world have signed up to the campaign, with close to half now having a validated target.
Having now joined the SBTi, DEKRA can pursue the goal of becoming a net-zero business by 2025 based on science-based criteria. Its reduction targets for this purpose will be submitted to the SBTi for validation within the next two years. In taking this step – not least against the backdrop of the ongoing global climate conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland – DEKRA hopes to set an example in doing more to combat climate change.