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Ontario — Thomson Reuters announced it has reduced its annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 93% from 2018 baseline levels.
The reductions are largely the result of investment in renewable power for the company’s facilities through the purchase of renewable energy credits that incentivize the addition of more renewable power into the grid. The company is now ahead of its Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) commitment to reduce annual GHG emissions by 50% by 2030.
The annual emissions reductions of 94,175 metric tons of Scope 1 (direct operations) and Scope 2 (indirect operations related to energy and heat, etc.) are equivalent to removing 20,346 passenger vehicles from the road annually. In addition to the switch to renewable energy, Thomson Reuters is carbon neutral through the purchase of carbon offsets and has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 or sooner.
“Despite the pandemic, we’ve seen tremendous momentum in corporate action on climate change and our company is committed to doing its part,” said Steve Hasker, President and CEO of Thomson Reuters. “Reducing our GHG emissions is an important part of our ESG commitments. We are pleased to report that our decision to shift to renewable power has already reduced emissions significantly. Through our work across the entire supply chain, we are committed to doing more.”
In 2020, Thomson Reuters joined the SBTi, a partnership between the United Nations Global Compact, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), to drive climate action in the private sector in support of the goals of the Paris Agreement limiting global temperature warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The SBTi requires companies make commitments, register their targets for approval, and report on progress. Thomson Reuters has the following SBTi-approved climate change targets:
– Reducing absolute Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions by 50% by 2030 from a 2018 base year;
– Reducing absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions from fuel and energy-related activities, business travel and employee commuting by 25% by 2025 from a 2019 base year; and
– Targeting 65% of its suppliers by spend to have Science-Based Targets by 2025.
Thomson Reuters is using its procurement process to engage and incentivize suppliers to take action and further reduce emissions across the entire supply chain to meet its SBTi commitments. The company has already begun tracking suppliers that have signed on to SBTi and is using this information to update its list of approved suppliers monthly. Moving forward, other actions to reduce emissions include reduced employee commuting through a hybrid working model, the increased use of technology for meetings, and efficiency upgrades within offices and data management centers.
“As part of the transformation of our business, we’re making changes to our operations and we plan to embed these early results into our organization and capitalize on this momentum to take the company even further,” said Kirsty Roth, Chief Operations and Technology Officer at Thomson Reuters. “By looking at our business model and operations, we’re identifying ways to be more agile, innovative – and sustainable.”
This week, Reuters launched a new ranking of the top climate scientists shaping the climate change debate. “The Hot List” identifies and ranks climate academics according to how influential they are, exploring not only their research but also how their work influences other scientists and the public, activists and political leaders.
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