MCCHE Convergent Innovation Webinar Series with Sanjith Gopalakrishnan
Collaborative Climate Action: Strategies for Managing Scope 3 Emissions Across Firms and Borders
Sanjith Gopalakrishnan
Sanjith Gopalakrishnan is an assistant professor of operations management and academic director of MBA at the Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University. His primary research interests are in environmental and socially sustainable operations management. He is fortunate to have been associated with White Box Analytics based in Vancouver and has handled data consulting projects for several Canadian businesses such as Best Buy Canada, Lululemon, Procurify, and Lighthouse Labs. His interests in sustainable urban transport planning have led him to serve on the Transportation Advisory Committee to the City of Vancouver. He also serves on the Board of Green Teams of Canada, a non-profit committed to community-led environmental stewardship.
Abstract
For most companies, Scope 3 emissions — indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain — represent a substantial part of their overall carbon emissions. Therefore, in the face of mounting environmental challenges and expectations, addressing Scope 3 emissions has become crucial for firms committed to net-zero targets. This talk explores innovative policies and practices at both the firm and governmental levels for managing these emissions , emphasizing the importance of collaboration across industries, countries, and regions. It will outline the challenges businesses face in quantifying and reducing these emissions and showcase successful case studies where cross-sectoral and cross-border cooperation has led to substantial reductions in Scope 3 emissions. We will also discuss the role of technological innovations in tracking and reducing these emissions, the importance of supply chain engagement, and sketch policy frameworks that encourage transparent reporting, incentivize emission reductions, and foster collaboration among stakeholders.
Chair: Professor Laurette Dubé (Scientific Director of MCCHE)
Co-Chair & Moderator: John G. Keogh (Professor of Practice, MCCHE; Founder, Shantalla Inc.)
Panel Discussion: A panel with scientists, business and policy leaders will discuss how scientific and technological developments and ontologies bridging farm, food and human behavior, can accelerate the design and long-term performance of convergence platforms ecosystems targeting achievable and time-bound real-world solutions placing human and environmental health at the core. This will advance the design of integrative digital architecture and governance framework to scale up how real-world data generated by individuals and institutions within and across disciplines and sectors can contribute to a World reset on convergence economy. Capitalizing on digital transformation of science and society, convergence economy takes a person-centered approach to bridging organ- izations and systems across sectors and jurisdictions, fully acknowledging that developed and developing worlds share the same planet, for world-scale transformation toward sustainable prosperity and affordable nutrition and health.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The Convergent Innovation Webinar Series features cutting edge science, technology and innovation in agriculture, food, environment, education, medicine and other domains of everyday life where grand challenges lie at the convergence of health and economics. Powered by data science, artificial intelligence, and other digital technologies, this disciplinary knowledge bridges with behavioural, social, humanities, business, economics, social, engineering, and complexity sciences to accelerate real-world solution at scale, be it in digital or physical contexts. Initiated in the agri-food domain, the series is now encompassing other grand challenges facing modern and traditional economies and societies, such as ensuring lifelong wellness and resilience at both the individual and population levels.
