Measures to reduce corporate GHG emissions: A review-based taxonomy and survey-based cluster analysis of their application and perceived effectiveness

Abstract

Companies contribute to a large extent to greenhouse gas emission. To mitigate this, measures for reducing these emissions can be applied. There is, however, neither a systematized general overview of existing measures nor an estimation of their application and their effectiveness to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study strives to close this gap by reviewing research on the reduction of corporate greenhouse gas emissions and synthesizing emission reduction measures in a taxonomy. Furthermore, the application of these measures and their perceived effectiveness is empirically assessed using a survey among companies that are involved in emission reduction activities. On this basis, a cluster analysis is conducted to identify measure types and to unveil application patterns. 27 different measures and 65 respective implementation examples are identified and structured within nine categories: energy, product, process, technology, 6R and waste management, office and mobility, management, reporting and disclosure, and compensation measures. The empirical analysis shows that there exist measures with a high efficiency to reduce emission, which are rarely applied in companies. On the other side, a large share of applied measures is not perceived as highly effective. Companies can use these results to structure their emission reduction activities and identify best practices.

Keywords: Carbon footprint reduction; Climate change mitigation; Corporate greenhouse gas emissions; Emission reduction measures; Literature review; Sustainability.