A review of Apollo Global Management’s durable CDR Strategy in their latest climate report
We dive into the latest sustainability report from Apollo Global Management to uncover how their carbon removal strategy has advanced over the last year.
📅 We’re back this week for our Corporate Carbon Removal Activity Review - with a spotlight on Apollo Global Management, Inc. who recently released its 2023 Sustainability report.
📈Expanding Carbon Neutral Scope
For 2023, Apollo expanded the scope of their carbon neutral operations to include Athene’s facilities & achieved carbon neutral operations for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions across their global offices by procuring unbundled RECs & carbon removal offsets.
🎯Raising the Bar on Carbon Removal Purchasing Criteria
In prior years, Apollo has used a two-part criteria to define what they believe to be a “credible carbon dioxide removal project” which requires projects to: (1) offer at least 100 years of science-based durability and/or (2) additional third party verification or vetting, such as a BeZero Carbon A rating.
This year, Apollo published five more factors it considers when selecting CDR projects to invest which are outlined as follows in their latest report:
(1) Additional: Does the project provide measurable outcomes that can be verified by an independent third-party?
(2) Durable: Has leakage and a carbon credit ‘buffer pool’ been set aside to safeguard against unforeseen circumstances?
(3) Conservative Accounting: Does the project adopt conservative emissions accounting principles that minimize overestimation of credits issuance during the contracted time-period?
(4) Science-Based: Is the approach advisable under peer reviewed science-based literature such as published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”)?
(5) Regionally Specific: Will the portfolio of CDR solutions generally finance emission removals in the geographies where our emissions are estimated to be released?
🤝Meaningful CDR Progress
In 2023, Apollo procured an undisclosed volume of CDR solutions across nature-based removals, agricultural waste-derived biochar and direct air capture. Examples of providers included in this procurement process are: Charm Industrial (BiCRS) & CarbonCapture Inc. (DAC). In addition, Apollo retired voluntary carbon offsets from Chestnut Carbon (IFM), CarbonCure Technologies (Carbon Injection), Indus Delta Blue Carbon (Afforestation), Novocarbo (Biochar) & an Ocean Biomass startup that has recently shut down its operations (Running Tide).
⚠️ Challenges Ahead
While Apollo has made significant progress on addressing their Scope 1 & 2 emissions, there is still a lot of work to be done to address Scope 3 emissions. We commend Apollo Global Management, Inc. & their sustainability team on their efforts to tackle these emissions by providing decarbonisation tools & playbooks to their portfolio companies.
Read their full report here: https://lnkd.in/gDCpemxD
