Tangible progress: Targeting a greener tomorrow
Corporations have a responsibility to their stakeholders, including customers and employees, to contribute to a greener tomorrow. At Moody’s, we are committed to advancing sustainability in our operations, global value chain, business offerings and communities. In 2020, we established new environmental sustainability targets and commitments, including plans for expanding our carbon neutrality, procuring 100% renewable electricity, and targets for reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
“Contributing to an environmentally sustainable global future is a key business objective for Moody’s,” said Mark Kaye, Chief Financial Officer of Moody’s Corporation. “We are proud of the work we’ve done to enhance our environmental sustainability and will continue to expand and enhance our efforts to integrate best practices throughout our business, using science-based targets.”
MARK KAYE
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, MOODY'S CORPORATION
New environmental sustainability milestones and targets
Carbon Neutrality
We achieved carbon neutrality for the first time in 2019 and are committed to remaining carbon neutral on an annual basis by reducing emissions, as set by our science-based targets, and purchasing verified carbon offsets for residual emissions from our operations, employee commuting and business travel. In addition, we are retroactively offsetting our GHG emissions from September 2000, when Moody’s became a public company, to December 2018. This will be completed by 2040 through verified carbon offsets.
Moody's long-term plan is to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, consistent with our commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Business Ambition for 1.5°C.
Renewable Energy
In 2019, Moody’s renewable energy comprised 11% of our total global electricity usage, which included 100% renewable electricity in our London, Frankfurt and Edinburgh offices. Beginning in 2020, we are procuring 100% renewable electricity for our global operations by increasing our contracts with utility suppliers whose electricity originates from a renewable source, where possible, and purchasing unbundled renewable energy certificates.
Science-based Targets
Moody’s targets for reducing our GHG emissions focus on three key commitments:
These targets were validated in July 2020 by the Science Based Targets initiative, a collaboration between CDP, UNGC, World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), that is seeking to reduce corporate GHG emissions.
Building blocks for success
These commitments and milestones build upon actions Moody’s has previously undertaken, including:
Strategic Partnerships
In 2019, we joined the UN Global Compact, including becoming a founding member of its CFO Taskforce for the SDGs and signing its Business Ambition for 1.5°C pledge. Additionally, we became a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), building on Moody’s 2016 signing of PRI’s Statement on ESG in Credit Risk and Ratings, part of an initiative to enhance the transparent and systematic integration of ESG factors into credit risk analysis. We also signed the Prince's Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) CFO Net Zero Statement of support.
Business Strategy
Moody’s recognizes that ESG considerations are increasingly relevant to issuers, investors, counterparties and other market participants. In 2019, Moody’s acquired majority stake in Vigeo Eiris, a global provider of ESG research, data and assessments, and Four Twenty Seven, a provider of climate data and risk analysis, as well as a minority stake in ESG and sustainability specialist SynTao Green Finance in China. These acquisitions allow for Moody’s to provide new product offerings and enhance our tools, research and analysis across Moody’s Investors Service and Moody’s Analytics to promote greater resiliency to climate risk.
