Ceres Launches Effort to Fully Decarbonize Six High-Emitting Industries by 2030

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Ceres (Boston, Massachusetts), a non-profit organization that works with investors and companies to advance environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies and corporate performance, has initiated a campaign to fully decarbonize, by 2030, six industries with high levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The industries are electric power, oil & gas, food & beverage, transportation, steelmaking and banking.

Ceres is no ordinary non-profit organization. Its investor network includes more than 200 institutional investors with more than $47 trillion of assets under management. That's roughly twice the size of the U.S. economy. Ceres' Company Network includes dozens of the largest, and greenest, companies in the Fortune 500, including: Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) (Dearborn, Michigan); General Mills Incorporated (NYSE:GIS) (Minneapolis, Minnesota); Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE:BF.A) (Louisville, Kentucky); General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) (Detroit, Michigan); Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) (Houston, Texas); Nike Incorporated (NYSE:NKE) (Beaverton, Oregon); and PepsiCo Incorporated (NYSE:PEP) (Purchase, New York).

Ceres essentially works on the principle of peer pressure: when one of its networks adopt a position on an ESG issue, it sets a new benchmark and puts pressure on peers to meet the new standard.

The Ceres effort follows a year of natural disasters caused or made worse by climate change. These disasters include the Texas deep freeze, Western wildfires, an especially active Atlantic hurricane season and more than 250 tornadoes in the U.S.

ESG used to be thought of as a way to do well by doing good. But that has evolved: "ESG is not a values-based system anymore," Kristen Spaulding, senior program director for the Ceres Investor Network, told Industrial Info in an interview. "Instead, ESG now is seen as a core way to create value in the market."

"Investors are motivating companies to take action on sustainability," Spaulding said. "Today, ESG issues are top-of-mind concerns for boards of directors." And soon the conversation will include regulators: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is drafting a rule on ESG disclosures, expected to become public later this year.

In launching its "Ambition 2030" campaign September 2, Ceres Chief Executive Officer and President Mindy Lubber said: "If we want to avert the most catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis, we will need bold, broad and immediate action. We must act now and we will need everyone to do their part--countries, policymakers and regulators, each investor, every company."

The campaign seeks to drive greater corporate ambition, transparency and accountability within the six high-emitting industries, Ceres said.

"By building on decades of work at Ceres, and leveraging the power of investors and other stakeholders, we aim to transform these key sectors by moving the biggest emitters to ratchet up the ambition of their corporate climate goals, create robust transition action plans and provide disclosure about how they're achieving interim targets by 2030," Lubber said.

Ceres said this about the specific industries it seeks to fully decarbonize by 2030:

Transportation
"Transportation is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and we need to move quickly to decarbonize it. Ceres is driving the vehicle sector towards full electrification, engaging with other transportation sectors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and advocating for policies needed to ensure a clean transportation future."

"Smart transportation policies drive innovation, cut pollution, and boost the global competitiveness of the U.S. transportation industry," said the Ceres initiative. The group said it was using several of its networks to "advance corporate and investor advocacy for strong, clean transportation policies and corporate strategies that will help create jobs, save businesses and consumers money, and promote investments in electric vehicle technology and deployment."

The group said it also was working directly with transportation companies in the Ceres Company Network "to set ambitious sustainability goals to reduce the transportation-related emissions of companies' operations and products."

Electric Power
"We set the highest standards for the electric power sector, providing specific recommendations that all electric utilities can use to reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency, increase renewable energy and improve power grid functionality to deliver clean, affordable energy to businesses and communities across the U.S. The bottom line is, if we're going to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change, electric power companies must accelerate the transition to clean energy and provide affordable and reliable electricity to power our economy."

"A net zero emissions economy is good for our climate, our health and our economy," the group continued. "Ceres is working with investors, companies and policymakers to transform the electric power sector--making our grids cleaner, more efficient and more reliable."

Oil & Gas
"Oil and gas companies can no longer afford to ignore growing calls to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to a net-zero emissions future," Ceres said in its "Ambition 2030" campaign. "Ceres is spurring oil and gas companies to align their strategies with the low-carbon transition by reducing investment in high-cost, high-carbon fossil fuels, setting science-based GHG targets and supporting ambitious climate policies."

"From record-breaking shareholder votes at ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) (Houston) and Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) (Houston), to stunning victories at ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) (Irving, Texas) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) (San Ramon, California), we're driving investor engagement through Climate Action 100+ and the Ceres Investor Network to pull the world away from the climate change precipice."

Food & Beverage
"We're driving company and investor action to reshape food industries, with a focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and commodity-driven deforestation, and to protect and restore forests and natural ecosystems," the "Ambition 2030" campaign said.

"When companies fail to address the potent greenhouse gas emissions from food and agriculture production, it leaves them, their investors, our economy and our planet exposed to greater climate risks. We leverage the power of investor engagement to drive action in the food and agriculture sector."

In its "Food Emissions 50" effort, Ceres said it was "engaging 50 of the highest-emitting public food companies in North America to accelerate progress toward a net-zero future."

The group had little to say about its efforts to persuade steelmakers, other than it is seeking to accelerate the steel industry "toward the use of zero-emission technologies that can be powered by renewable energy sources."

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.