On 25th September, experts and practitioners gathered at the Value Change Initiative’s annual Net Zero Value Chains event in New York City to exchange actionable insights and explore pathways for accelerating value chain decarbonisation. As the urgency to meet Net Zero targets grows, addressing Scope 3 emissions has become an essential challenge for companies worldwide. 

Through insightful panels, an interactive workshop, and collaborative discussions, participants dove into the complexities of Scope 3 and worked toward collective solutions. 

Here are the key takeaways from this year’s event: 

Collaborative Achievements: Progress in Tackling Scope 3 Challenges 

Scope 3 emissions remain a collective challenge, requiring a unified and collaborative effort across value chains. Since last year’s event, the VCI community has made significant strides in addressing key obstacles to decarbonisation. Through transformative collaboration and the shared ambition of drastically reducing emissions, the Scope 3 pioneers within our network have been working to tackle climate change head-on. 

We know that no organisation can do this alone, which is why in 2024, VCI focused on solving key issues raised by our members through surveys and discussions. By collaborating with global partners and technical experts, we’ve worked to tackle the most pressing Scope 3 challenges. 

In a move to further accelerate sector-specific decarbonisation, we were pleased to announce the Food & Agriculture Working Group V and Apparel & Footwear Working Group IV for the upcoming year. These groups will continue working on developing industry-specific solutions to help accelerate decarbonisation efforts. 

Evolving Standards and Incentives for Scope 3 Action 

Achieving Net Zero requires a unified approach to climate reporting and regulation, especially for Scope 3 emissions. The first panel explored the evolving role of standards and the importance of value chain interventions. 

Pankaj Bhatia, Global Director of the GHG Protocol emphasised the need to standardise market instruments such as biogas certificates and sustainable aviation fuel. Alberto Carrillo Pineda, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) urged companies to act now: “97% of companies with science-based targets include Scope 3. My advice? Take meaningful action now and engage in the standard-setting process to help shape the future.” 

Mandy Rambharos, CEO of Verra introduced their Scope 3 program, designed to streamline auditing, certification, and reporting, while also announcing a new partnership with SustainCERT, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to accelerate credible Scope 3 action. The partnership aims to standardise terminology, improve communications, and integrate Verra’s Registry with SustainCERT’s VIVID platform to enhance clarity and incentives for corporate decarbonisation. Together, they seek to overcome key barriers and scale up Scope 3 efforts across value chains. 

This session highlighted the urgency of aligning standards and scaling Scope 3 efforts, paving the way for meaningful decarbonisation. 

Corporate Best Practices: Tackling Challenges and Making Progress 

The second panel brought together corporate members from Arla, Danone and Mars to share their challenges and the strategies that are driving real progress in decarbonising their value chains. 

Maia Reed, Global Climate Data Lead, shared an update from Mars, where they’ve made significant strides since announcing their validated net-zero SBTi target. The company, one of the VCI’s global partners, announced last year that they’re aiming for net zero emissions by 2050 and to half their emissions throughout their entire value chain by 2030. Mars has made great progress towards this goal and has already reduced emissions by 16% since their 2015 baseline, including an 8% reduction in just the last year. 

Hanne Søndergaard, Executive Vice President, Agriculture, Sustainability & Communications, Arla, discussed their company’s ambitious goals to reduce Scope 3 emissions by 30% and Scope 1 and 2 by 63% by 2030, and how they’re on track to deliver. She also shared an insightful method they use, “We’ve created a point-based incentive system for farmers, rewarding them for actions like switching to deforestation-free feed or using biogas. The funding for these incentives comes directly from the milk price.” 

Ryan Smith, Director of Regenerative Agriculture Impact & Partnerships at Danone, emphasised the critical role of collaboration, “Groups like ours can help ensure farms are set up for success using the best mechanisms available. The common theme of the day is that we don’t want perfection to be the enemy of good…collaboration is key to making these initiatives work.” 

This session underscored the importance of collaboration and innovation in overcoming the practical challenges of decarbonisation, as companies continue to drive real impact across their value chains. 

Watch the recording here for more insights from the event.

Learn more about our upcoming Food & Agriculture Working Group V to address sector-specific challenges for Scope 3 accounting.