By Caesar Vallejos
Eagle News online correspondent
(Eagle News) — Impact investing leader James Donovan revealed that carbon scoring is the Philippines’ biggest contribution to global sustainability because of the country’s strong data management capabilities.
This, Donovan said in his recent lecture at the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) of the Philippines in Makati City, where he holds the position as the Co-Chair of its Environment and Urban Development Committee.
Carbon scoring, according to UK sustainability news website BusinessGreen, is the accurate and audited assessment of a firm’s true carbon impact.
“The Philippines, without even knowing it, is creating a big impact because of our data management capabilities. We help [Fortune] 5000 companies come up with their scores, on which they base smarter decisions,” he explained.
Donovan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of ADEC Innovations, a global leader in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Solutions, with over 30-year experience in providing industry expertise in sustainability, health information and education, data management and technology services. It has expanded to five continents and now has over 5,000 employees worldwide.
Donovan added, “These are things we can do. We are empowering change. We do back-office for CDP globally.” CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) is the largest global collection of self-reported climate change, water and forest-risk data.
“Some of the companies have started weaving in sustainability in their operations. They save money and make money at the same time, because reality is, wasted resources is wasted money, and greenhouse gas is wasted energy,” he further explained.
Carbon Scoring and COP21
As an advocate of sustainability, Donovan’s AmCham lecture centered on Conference of Parties or COP21. This is also known as the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, which negotiated the Paris Agreement, a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.
Donovan argued that since the primary goal of COP21 is to keep global warming below 2°C, it would only make sense that companies resort to carbon scoring to monitor and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Donovan believes that carbon scoring is a concrete and effective way for the Philippines to help reach COP21’s goals.
Data: The Key to Making Businesses More Sustainable
Donovan disclosed that growing public awareness of climate change led to the creation of about 10,000 global green initiatives.
These initiatives would rely on data to be able to perform key activities such as carbon scoring.
“We provide data platforms for companies, for countries, for governments. We manage data so they (Fortune 5000 companies) can make intelligent decisions,” he explained.
Donovan is confident that the Philippines can turn this need into a business opportunity. With its strong BPO industry and lower labor costs, the country is definitely capable of managing sustainability-related big data.