Exploring measuring construct validity criteria for carbon management programs - Assessing Heineken’s carbon management program ‘Drop the C’

Abstract

Over 20% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions result from approximately the 2500 largest companies in the world. A global approach for reductions is needed since emissions resulting from the production of a product are caused by every step performed on the product along an often geographically widely spread supply chain. This research introduces an assessment scheme that can be used to assess the validity of company carbon management programs. Stakeholder perceptions were collected through semi-structured interviews and combined with a document analysis to establish the indicators as well as appropriate assessment criteria. The scheme consists of 21 indicators divided over five main themes (Complete goal and scope disclosure, In- and external verification, Representativeness, Data accuracy and reliability, and Materiality). Another finding is that a minimum validity level for a carbon management program is case dependent and is predominantly influenced by the size and maturity of the company and its suppliers. For the case study of Heineken’s mature carbon management program called ‘Drop the C’, this means that a strict minimum validity level has been established. This minimum level is aligned with the European Commission’s Product Environmental Category Rule and the Science Based Target initiative. The carbon footprint behind ‘Drop the C’ was found to be a hybrid version of the product and company carbon footprint, suggesting that the current theory on carbon footprint levels should be revised to include a grey area between these two to accommodate this type of hybrid carbon footprints. The program ‘Drop the C’ has been assessed and was found to have high validity overall. Yet, a decrease in validity from 2017 to 2018 is observed. It is important for Heineken to reverse this trend to keep showing continuous improvement.