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Emissions estimations should embed a precautionary principle

Nature Climate Change volume 11, pages 638–640 (2021)Cite this article

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To align their portfolios with the Paris Agreement, investors need to know the emissions of companies they invest in. Estimating these should start from a precautionary principle that disincentivizes free-riding and protects the planet.

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Fig. 1: Application of the precautionary principle to estimation of under- and non-reporting companies.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Adamsson, M. Bytheway, T. Cojoianu, N. Humphreys, J.-C. Nicaise Chateau, C. Posti, M. Rezec, P.-S. Yu and G. Zdanceviucite for constructive discussions on precautionary estimation techniques. A.G.F.H. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme for research on Fintech (grant no. H2020-ICT-825215) and Science Foundation Ireland (award 19/FIP/AI/7539). J.R. acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no. 820829; CONSTRAIN).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smurfit Graduate Business School, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Andreas G. F. Hoepner

  2. Platform on Sustainable Finance, DG FISMA, European Union, Brussels, Belgium

    Andreas G. F. Hoepner

  3. Centre for Environmental Policy and Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Joeri Rogelj

  4. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria

    Joeri Rogelj

Authors
  1. Andreas G. F. Hoepner
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  2. Joeri Rogelj
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Contributions

A.G.F.H. and J.R. contributed equally to the writing of the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Andreas G. F. Hoepner or Joeri Rogelj.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Peer review information Nature Climate Change thanks Kornelis Blok, Timo Busch and Jonatan Pinkse for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Hoepner, A.G.F., Rogelj, J. Emissions estimations should embed a precautionary principle. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 638–640 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01109-3

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