Credibility analysis of the company’s transition plan

Details

Supervisors

Jeanmart, Hervé

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil électromécanicien, à finalité spécialisée: énergie

Abstract

In a context of climate urgency, climate litigations are used to denounce the climate inaction of public or private parties. In order to support a legal case against a company for climate inaction, this master thesis details a study of the credibility of its transition plan according to the net zero emission target by 2050. The company's carbon footprint for the year 2021 was assessed based on the company's annual report and the GHG protocol. This assessment, as well as the company’s disclosure and the Net Zero Emissions scenario (which is used as a reference by the company), serves as the foundation for the tool created that simulates the company's transition plan. An additional simulation has been conducted in order to propose a pathway to net zero emissions. To support the obtained results, an estimation of the company’s allocated carbon budget is conducted to determine whether the company is exceeding it. The main results of this study demonstrate that the company does not consider all the emissions for which it is responsible and does not set sufficient targets to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The alternative scenarios proposed show that in order to reach the defined objective, the company should drastically decrease its fossil fuel activity, consider decarbonized molecules as a transitionary energy source and increase its electricity production.