We are currently undertaking a survey to assess and gauge the market uptake of greenhouse gas emission measurement, public claims, and reduction.

While the world has seen a ballooning of Net Zero GHG emission commitments by government and non-state actors alike, in particular by businesses in the United States, this is all still a new idea. With the fervor building around GHG emissions reduction impacting such a broad spectrum of ESG factors, our goal with this survey is modest in seeking to report on the current business acceptance and adoption of calculating GHG emissions such that our clients and other stakeholders can use these results as they make their company plans for GHG emission measurement, disclosure, and reduction in 2023.

ESG is such an uncharted territory that there are few authoritative sources of information, including that with no scholarly treatises and few if any peer reviewed published papers, so blogs like this one are the best source of reliable information. Concomitantly, readers of this blog are a target rich environment for current business ESG data, including the subset of GHG emission activity and a group who are ripe for surveying.

The survey is not a truly scientific survey in that, after piloting a questionnaire, we have curated the survey methodology, sample design, and data collection with the aim of providing essential benchmarks that will on a timely basis offer predictive accuracy, in the emergent and fast growing and still a very new idea of GHG emission reductions, on how a company can move forward.

The survey is currently in the field and we thought you would be interested in what we are asking:

Does your company currently measure GHG emissions?

Does your company measure Scope 1, Scope 2, or Scope 3 GHG emissions?

Does your company have the expertise or other ability in house to calculate GHG emissions?

Are you witnessing increased demand, in the last 12 months, for your company to report GHG data?

Has your company ever measured GHG emissions, even as a pilot, part of an energy model during construction, or otherwise?

Has your company disclosed GHG emission data or information?

Has your company made a public GHG commitment (e.g., Net Zero by 2040 or the like)?

Do you believe companies will achieve their stated GHG reduction commitments?

Do you believe companies frequently overstate or exaggerate their GHG emission reduction progress when making disclosures?

Do you believe companies will face increasing litigation as a result of not achieving their stated GHG commitments?

Are you concerned about the potential impact GHG matters may have on brand perception or brand value?

Are you concerned about financial penalties resulting from non-compliance with GHG disclosure and reduction regulatory requirements?

Do you expect most companies will establish and communicate a Net Zero plan in the next 12 months?

Do you expect investors will reward companies that have communicated Net Zero plans with an increased valuation?

Do you believe there will be mandatory GHG disclosures and more GHG regulations that will impact your company within the next 12 months?

Do you favor mandatory GHG disclosures and more GHG regulations within the next 12 months?

Do you believe law firms should be doing more to support companies with GHG matters?

Does the law firm your company uses offer GHG capabilities to its clients?

Does your company engage outside consultants for compliance with GHG matters?

If you have not received our survey and would like to participate, a modified version is available for readers of this blog and we encourage you to click on https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8XG9MYS

Note, in an effort to stay true to our sample design while allowing all who are interested to participate, that self selecting public version asks 10 questions of key import that will be tabulated in the results but does not require you to identify yourself or provide demographic information.

We expect our data collection will be complete within the next month and we plan to report shortly thereafter. We have committed to providing the survey results to clients and those who have participated first and then the data will be the subject of an upcoming blog post reporting on current market uptake on matters of GHG emissions as increasing numbers of businesses look to make the world better.

A live webinar “New Rules for Environmental Site Assessments,” 30 talking points in 30 minutes, Tuesday, February 21 at 9 am EST presented by Stuart Kaplow and Nancy Hudes on behalf of ESG Legal Solutions, LLC. The webinar is complimentary, but you must register here.