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Press release
01 Oct 2025
EY and WBCSD call for global collaboration across value chains to speed up efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions
· New report from EY and WBCSD outlines new value-chain approach to accelerate emissions reductions.
· Report signals crucial role for AI in identifying and targeting emissions hotspots and interventions; and in speeding up emissions reductions.
· Report comes in advance of WBCSD’s Emissions Reduction Accelerator launch and its action plan designed to help members cut global emissions.
Global efforts to tackle greenhouse gas emissions must be stepped up, and there is an urgent need for collaboration across the business world, to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, according to a new report from EY and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The report, “Accelerating GHG Emissions Reduction”, highlights the pivotal role that businesses can play in accelerating emissions reductions through collaboration across their value chains, and the challenges of decarbonizing across global value chains to achieve vital goals.
The report was developed through a combination of data analysis, research, and stakeholder engagement sessions. It looks at the action needed among the WBCSD’s member businesses - which together account for approximately 25% of both global corporate revenue and greenhouse gas emissions - and shows that current 2030 targets for emissions reductions fall short of the requirements set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Paris Agreement.
Scope 3 emissions account for up to 89% of WBCSD members’ GHG emissions and approximately 64% of Scope 3 emissions are those generate by the ‘use of sold products’ and 20% by the ‘purchusing of products and servicing’. Focusing only on Scope 1 and 2 emissions is not enough if we want to achieve the ambitious emission reduction goals that are needed to mitigate the material climate related risks we are facing now. Reducing Scope 3 emissions, the major component of a company carbon footprint, requires engaging and working strategically with suppliers, contractors and customers across the whole value chain. It also entails the businesses in many sectors to transform and innovate their strategy and business model through the design of products and services which helps our societies to reduce their carbon emissions and, more generally, the overall social and environmental impacts.
The new report comes ahead of the launch of WBCSD’s Emissions Reduction Accelerator (ERA), at COP30, and an action plan designed to encourage vital collective action towards emissions reduction goals targeting all stages of a business’ value chain – the “value chain approach.”
Through this value chain approach — and tools and solutions developed by WBCSD and others — ERA is designed to identify hotspots for impactful interventions, harness AI-driven insights, and foster collaboration among industry, policy, finance, and innovation stakeholders.
ERA is a response to the business need for solutions that unlock business value while accelerating emissions reduction.
The scale of the climate challenge is immense, but so is the opportunity. ERA’s approach to address emissions across entire value chains is exactly the kind of game-changing action the world needs to meet the moment. WBCSD has the unique opportunity to convene more than 250 of the world’s leading companies to accelerate emissions reduction and improve business performance for all. The time for action is now.