ICC offsets carbon to reduce environmental impact of operations
ICC has offset carbon emissions for the first quarter of 2020, backing Gold Standard projects to reduce the global institution’s environmental footprint.
As the official Focal Point for business for the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change and for UN Environment, ICC continues to play its own part in reducing impact on the planet from its own operations.
The carbon offsetting project is being undertaken as part of ICC’s staff-led Action on Climate initiative which aims to reduce the world business organization’s environmental footprint and raise employee awareness on sustainability best practices.
To offset first quarter emissions from travel in 2020, ICC has made an initial investment of close to US$6,000 in a portfolio comprising four diverse, Gold Standard projects that address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and align with ICC global campaigns for people and planet.
The four projects selected to offset ICC’s first quarter travel emissions are the Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor in Southwest Australia – supporting bushfire recovery and the GreenUp Australia initiative – and three projects – Clean Water Access for Families in Laos, Cleaner, Safer Water in Cambodia, Safe Water in Rwanda – promoting Global Goals for health and ICC’s collaborative efforts with the World Health Organization to strengthen the response to the Coronavirus pandemic and address interrelated structural issues in developing countries to better combat the COVID-19s pandemic.
Despite reduced travel activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ICC will maintain the level of first quarter investment for the second quarter of the year.
“At ICC, we live by our values. While we are expecting to see a significant drop in carbon emissions as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions, emissions will escalate as business and travel resume. We are committed to continue being part of the solution through a range of activities including ICC efforts to leverage digital tools to measure impact and to offset travel,” said ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO.
Tracking and monitoring of the ICC Action on Climate initiative will be will be carried out on an on-going basis by linking the initiative with objectives set out by the United Nations Global Compact Blueprint for Business Leadership on the SDGs.
