Mr. Scott Eidson could you please tell us about 3Degrees? Which are the main activities of your company and how do you intend to achieve your business goals?
3Degrees is a global climate solutions provider that helps organizations around the world achieve renewable energy and decarbonization goals. For nearly 20 years, we’ve provided tailored renewable energy and emission reduction solutions to companies, utilities, and other organizations that want to join the fight against climate change. The 3Degrees team has deep expertise in climate consulting, environmental markets, renewable energy and carbon project development, and transportation decarbonization solutions. We offer a full suite of solutions to address organizations’ Scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions. 3Degrees has over 6,400 established supplier relationships globally, works with over 1,200 customers, and operates in more than 65 countries.
We achieve our goals through the passion and dedication to climate action that all 3Degrees employees share as we assist our customers – leading global organizations – on their journey to achieve their own meaningful climate commitments, such as net zero.
What makes 3Degrees stand out among competitors and how are you planning to grow in Europe?
3Degrees is unique in a few ways. First, we are one of the industry’s pioneers, having operated for nearly two decades now. Several of our leadership team members have been with the company from its start – this level of knowledge and deep expertise is not easily replicated. Next, we offer a full suite of solutions to meet our customers wherever they are on their climate journey. We are not just a climate advisory firm, or just an EAC or carbon supplier, etc. 3Degrees’ products and services truly address our customers’ full, global GHG footprint. We’ve bought, sold, and consulted on clean energy in over 65 countries. Finally, 3Degrees is also a B Corp.
Just last month, we announced a new London office, which joined our existing Oslo office, and a significant expansion of our European presence. Our expanded operations in Europe are driven by increased demand from customers responding to the need to take urgent action on climate change. So we are strengthening our teams across Europe and scaling delivery of our full-spectrum, global solutions to meet these critical needs.
What conclusions did you reach about the current state of world energy markets and their progress on decarbonization? What progress is being made to produce clean energy more affordably?
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report, immediate and deep reductions in all sectors are required to limit global warming to 1.5 celsius. This report is a call to action that connects us all.
In recent years, decarbonization efforts have been increasingly reflected in governmental policy, including both incentives and mandates for reducing emissions. A growing emphasis on Scope 3 emissions and working on reductions throughout supply chains will continue to lead to deeper emissions cuts. There’s also a greater focus on ensuring 100% renewable energy is consumed during the specific hours organizations are operating – this is often referred to as 24/7 renewable energy. The transportation sector is already dramatically transforming as the push to electrify fleets and personal vehicles has ramped up.
As these and other decarbonization mechanisms have gained steam, we’ve seen advancements in technology playing a greater role to make energy use more efficient and clean energy more accessible, and affordable. Market-based incentives have also contributed to signaling demand and bolstering supply of clean energy such that its production is more cost-effective than ever before. There’s considerable innovation in the industry that shows that the market is rising to meet the challenge and take the urgent action that’s needed.
In your opinion, has COP26 been a success or a disappointment just when the world really needed a serious ramping up of action against climate change?
COP26 was a somewhat mixed bag of successes and disappointments. There were some wins with the elaboration of carbon credit certification and counting and the requirement that a percentage of proceeds from carbon trading be put into the global climate change adaptation budget. Also, certain human rights obligations were agreed upon, so there is some comfort on that front. That said, there remains a substantial gap between what the convention’s nations have committed to and what actions are needed to effectively combat climate change.
Since the 2020 COP was canceled and rescheduled to 2021, the global community experienced many unprecedented effects of climate change. Experts say that the world will need to radically decrease fossil fuel use and extraction and widely implement emissions reductions strategies in order to prevent the worst impacts. We were pleased that action on fossil fuels finally became a serious part of the dialogue at this COP even if results were somewhat limited.
Recently you met our students of the Master programme in Energy Resources Management. How can education contribute to sustainable development and which are the professional profiles 3Degrees is most interested in?
Although the state of the world and, particularly, the climate crisis can seem overwhelming at times, I definitely feel more hopeful when I see how committed students are to being part of the solution. Education has a huge role to play in making sure everyone is aware of what’s at stake and what each of us can do to contribute to helping to address climate change. Whether that’s in the personal choices you make in your life, or what you decide to do for your career – it’s all important and all in play. 3Degrees is experiencing significant growth and I encourage everyone to regularly visit our Careers page and check out our job openings – they change all the time!
There’s considerable innovation in the industry that shows that the market is rising to meet the challenge and take the urgent action that’s needed.
Scott Eidson
