Shift has published a set of metrics to help companies measure how efforts to tackle climate change are impacting people.
Shift collaborated with Business and Human Rights Centre, Business for Social Responsibility, Council for Inclusive Capitalism, LSE’s Just Transition Finance Lab, World Benchmarking Alliance and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to create a set of “Just Transition Metrics.”
This set of 19 sector-agnostic metrics can be used by investors, regulators and companies to assess whether businesses have identified and are addressing the risks and opportunities for people connected to their climate transition plans.
“It is vital that businesses taking much-needed action to tackle climate change don’t leave the poorest workers and communities worse off in the process,” said Shift President and CEO Caroline Rees. “We hope these metrics will enable companies, investors, lenders and regulators to measure progress towards a just transition, which benefits both people and planet.”
A spokesperson for WBCSD said: “When companies work towards a just transition, comparable data and metrics are needed to be able to measure progress. By establishing a common set of metrics on workforce, supply chain workers, and community outcomes, companies, investors and standard-setters become aligned on what meaningful progress on a just transition looks like in practice.”
The metrics focus on quantitative data to help users build a clear picture of how climate transition plans are affecting people, which groups are worst affected and whether adequate action has been taken to engage with affected workers and communities.
For example, one metric examines how many jobs have been created and lost as a result of climate action, whether those jobs are full-time or part-time, and the gender balance and geographical location of those affected.
“Businesses which fail to identify and address impacts on people risk seeing climate transition plans derailed by protests, legal action and intervention by regulators,” said Rees. “These metrics can act as a starting point to help businesses embed respect for human rights into their climate transition plans.”
The scope of the metrics has been limited to focus on data that Shift and collaborating organisations felt companies could reasonably be expected to gather and disclose. The metrics do not cover every possible scenario and variation. Instead, businesses, regulators and others can build on these metrics to capture additional impacts relevant to specific sectors and local contexts.