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Recent Editions
Risk Channel
North America
Staff at the Science-based Targets initiative (SBTi) have found that carbon offsets are largely ineffective, according to a confidential preliminary draft. The SBTi, an influential corporate climate action group, had announced plans to allow companies to offset greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chain with carbon credits. However, the findings in the draft, based on scientific papers and other submissions, suggest that most emission reduction credits do not deliver the promised results. The SBTi's board of trustees, including financial backers like the Bezos Earth Fund, are pushing for the adoption of carbon offsets to drive investment in clean energy. The draft's findings, subject to further analysis, could pose a significant obstacle to the adoption of carbon offsets in companies' emission reduction plans. The Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets is tasked with ensuring the quality of carbon offsets, while the U.S. and the European Union are working on guidelines for their use. The United Nations' COP28 climate talks aim to establish a central system for offsetting carbon emissions.
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UK/Europe
KPMG missed multiple red flags in the run-up to the collapse of construction and facilities outsourcer Carillion in 2018, according to a 450-page report from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). The FRC handed KPMG a record £21m fine last October for failures when signing off the firm’s accounts, having uncovered “significant and serious breaches” in KPMG’s work between 2014 and 2017. The report says that Peter Meehan, the partner who led KPMG’s audits of Carillion, “failed to challenge management’s judgments or have regard to the evidence in his possession, but rather actively assisted Carillion to achieve its desired result.” It was also found that, in a number of instances, the audit team “failed to adopt a rigorous and robust approach and agreed the presentation of financial information that suited Carillion’s management.” The FRC also found that auditors carried out detailed testing on only the riskiest contracts, meaning that they “obtained very little evidence” over other contracts. In response to the report, KPMG reiterated a statement in which Jon Holt, its UK chief executive, said: “It is clear to me that our audit work on Carillion was very bad, over an extended period," adding: “In many areas, some of our former partners and employees simply didn’t do their job properly. Junior colleagues were badly let down by those who should have set them a clear example."
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