Green business: Growth or degrowth to meet IPCC targets? Discussion of an assessment tool: IPCC CAPRO change target
Gulliver Lux, Emmanuelle Fromont, Thi Le Hoa Vo
Abstract
This article questions the prospects for growth or degrowth of companies as a means of preserving the Earth's ecosystem. More specifically, we propose using a carbon productivity indicator in association with the IPCC Carbon Productivity Target (based on UNFCCC work) to assess the genuine ecological impact of corporate economic activity. This indicator was applied to data from 2015 to 2019 for a sample of companies in the SFB 120 index, and results from their classification are compared to the results obtained with indicators that do not take into account the IPCC targets based on UNFCCC work (Scopes). We highlight how a company's economic growth plays a key role in the fight against global warming. We found that a significant share of the companies that usually qualified as green using the Scope 1 and 2 emissions are, in fact, not green (63% and 43% of polluting and low-polluting companies, respectively). We underscore the fact that while green growth still seems possible, the same is true of green degrowth. More specifically, our results advocate for either controlled growth or for slight degrowth in business activity. Lastly, our results open a discussion on degrowth by highlighting how companies in this situation are over-represented among those that meet IPCC objectives.