Estelle joined Carbon4 Finance in April 2024. Before joining the team, Estelle worked for three years as an ESG Analyst in a rating agency, developing its expertise on sustainability issues for the Energy sector.&nbsp;Within Carbon4Finance, she is working on the Waste and Water, ICT and Forest and Paper sectors.&nbsp;

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Essential to modern societies, the Waste and Water sector also contributes to climate change, accounting for more than 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions , driven mainly by methane emissions linked to waste and wastewater treatments. Companies in this sector are therefore exposed to climate transition risks. This exposure is intensifying with urbanisation, population growth, and the westernisation of lifestyles, in a context where water resources are becoming scarcer due to disruptions in the water cycle. To respond to these multiple pressures, the sector must adapt and mitigate its impact on the climate. Nevertheless, waste and water companies have an opportunity: they can leverage the flows they treat to contribute to the low-carbon transition.In the waste management sector, various treatment methods are available to recover waste: recycling, methanisation, composting, or incineration with energy recovery – whose suitability depends on waste type. Yet globally, these solutions account for only 38% of the waste management sector. Due to inadequate infrastructure in developing countries, 33% of waste is still dumped in open landfills and 25% is buried. Reducing these practices remains crucial to limiting methane emissions. As part of this study, 23 companies were analysed using the Carbon Impact Analytics (CIA) methodology. The sample mainly covers companies listed on financial markets and located in developed countries. Consequently, waste recovery challenges are well understood by companies in the sample.In the water sector, wastewater treatment companies must reduce their methane emissions from sewage sludge decomposition, which is the final by-product of filtration processes. However, the sector's lack of maturity and transparency on this issue means that avoided emissions remain limited. In the drinking water production and distribution sector, the main lever for decarbonisation – reducing networks leaks – appears to be under-exploited by companies in the sector.&nbsp;Significant geographical disparities persist in addressing these challenges, driven primarily by different regulatory and cultural practices. For example, wastewater treatment activities are better regulated in the United Kingdom, which improves the transparency and performance of these companies. As a result, the performance assessed seems to be explained mainly by exogenous and structural factors, rather than by proactive company initiatives. This observation highlights the need for companies in the sector to adopt more ambitious climate strategies, going beyond regulatory constraints.&nbsp;<a href="https://airtable.com/appg6GCdot07K6kLX/pagxJwb5usXBlgXG7/form">Download the publication in English</a><a href="https://airtable.com/appzgSAJ62Dlg3T4V/pagzg4SfDNlQkYz0k/form">Download the publication in French</a>&nbsp;

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751-publication-waste-and-water-sector.pdf

Waste & Water: Going with the Flow of Transition?

In 2025, Carbon4 Finance selected the three or four main news per week in sustainable finance and published them on our website and on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/carbon4finance/">LinkedIn</a>.&nbsp;This summary is based on a weekly review of published news by Carbon4 Finance, with selections informed by voting results when applicable and consolidated in this document. This paper does not take into consideration the entire amount of news in the sustainable finance ecosystem and should not be considered as the only source of information.Follow us to read more about 2026 news !<a href="https://carbon4finance.com/files/The_Breaking_News_in_Sustainable_Finance_of_2025_by_Carbon4_Finance.pdf">Read our selection</a>

Carbon4 Finance

2025 Breaking News in Sustainable Finance

Marguerite joined the Carbon4 Finance team in January 2022 as a Carbon Data Analyst, after internships at an energy transition consulting company and in a holding company specialized in the forestry sector.&nbsp;Through her studies and professional experiences, she has acquired a good knowledge of the French energy sector, as well as the climate and environmental policies of France and Europe.

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As the guardian of global public health, the health sector plays an important role in climate transition. It contributes to greenhouse gas emissions—approximately 5% of global emissions—mainly related to the manufacture of medicines and medical devices and globalized supply chain logistics. At the same time, the effects of climate change directly threaten people's health (respiratory diseases, spread of infectious vectors, heat waves), which reinforces the sector's responsibility to act. However, these emissions remain poorly regulated and insufficiently taken into account by healthcare stakeholders.Faced with increasing regulatory constraints and pressure on resources, companies in the sector are increasingly exposed to transition risks: pressure on carbon-based raw materials (particularly those derived from petrochemicals), regulations on gases with high global warming potential (such as HFCs), and the gradual relocation of production. However, the adoption of climate strategies remains very uneven: while a few large companies stand out with relatively robust strategies, the majority of the sample shows a lack of maturity, particularly on Scope 3 issues.Analysis of the CIA results also reveals a wide dispersion of scores, reflecting the heterogeneity of practices within the sector. The three sub-sectors studied—pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and cosmetics (we will return later to the presence of the latter within the healthcare sector in the CIA)—are represented at all levels of the ranking, although the highest scores are held by pharmaceutical companies. Conversely, the lowest-rated companies often combine a lack of transparency, an absence of reduction targets, and a dependence on highly emissive processes.The sector's decarbonization efforts are still limited, but there are levers that can be used. Low-carbon technological alternatives are being developed (dry inhalers, intravenous anesthesia, lower-emission logistics), and some companies are gradually integrating environmental criteria into their purchasing and industrial processes. However, these dynamics must be amplified if the sector wishes to reduce its impact while ensuring the accessibility and resilience of care.In addition, many companies in the sector outsource a significant portion of their production, which can lead to a transfer of emissions outside the direct operational scope (Scope 1 and 2), making climate performance appear artificially favorable. A credible climate strategy must therefore include a rigorous assessment of emissions linked to the value chain (Scope 3).Finally, the transition to sustainable healthcare requires a more comprehensive change in approach. It involves reviewing healthcare practices, strengthening prevention, rationalizing the use of medicines, and rethinking economic models. Au- beyond corporate action, it also calls for a transformation of public policies and financing mechanisms.<a href="https://airtable.com/appAQyTmqZBPUlNVj/pagxJwb5usXBlgXG7/form">Download our publication in english</a><a href="https://airtable.com/appVIh0EOhyEDdLhs/pagzg4SfDNlQkYz0k/form">Download our publication in french</a>&nbsp;

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718-publication-healthcare-sector.pdf

Healthcare: Shall we take the temperature?

Pauline joined Carbon4 Finance in March 2023 as a Carbon Data Analyst. Over two years, she worked more specifically on the Power and Agriculture &amp; Food sector. She now serves as Climate Methodology Officer, where she coordinates the updating and enhancement of Carbon4 Finance's climate methodologies.Pauline graduated with a Master’s Degree in Engineering from ISAE-SUPAERO, specializing in "Energy, Transport and Environment", along with "Data and Decision Science", as well as a Master in Management in "Sustainability and Social Innovation" from HEC Paris.Prior to joining the team, Pauline built her early experience through an internship for internal corporate transformation at Mazars, during which she developed a Diversity and Inclusion management toolkit.&nbsp;

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Julie joined the Carbon4 Finance team in July 2023 as a Carbon Data Analyst. She is more specifically in charge of analyzing activities and strategies of companies in the Oil, Gas &amp; Coal and Agriculture &amp; Food sectors, gradually building her expertise through the development of new methodologies. Prior to joining the team, she built her early-on experience through internships in biodiversity and sustainable agriculture.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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The agri-food industry underwent significant industrialization during the last century, with the mechanization of agriculture, the emergence of petroleum chemistry, nitrogen fertilizers, and ultra-processed foods<a class="footnoteLink" href="#footnote-1">[1]</a> . These various developments have led to huge increases in yields and productivity, at the cost of a sharp rise in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the sector.The agri-food value chain comprises four major stages: agricultural production, trading, the processing of agricultural products into food products and their packaging, and finally the distribution of these products via various retail outlets (e.g., large retailers).The agri-food sector is responsible for around a quarter of global GHG emissions<a class="footnoteLink" href="#footnote-2"><a class="footnoteLink" href="#footnote-2">[2]</a></a> and is the leading emitter of gases other than CO2 such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N₂O), gases with a global warming potential 30 and 273 times higher than CO₂ respectively<a class="footnoteLink" href="#footnote-3">[3]</a> .The main challenge for the sector lies in the practices and types of products manufactured and marketed. Plant-based products are generally much lower in carbon than animal-based products.Furthermore, deforestation is one of the main sources of CO2 emissions. Globally, the World Research Institute (WRI) estimates that 50% of agricultural deforestation is directly linked to three widely consumed products: beef, soy, and palm oil<a class="footnoteLink" href="#footnote-4">[4]</a> .During this study, 138 companies in the agri-food sector were analyzed using the Carbon Impact Analytics (CIA) methodology. These companies represent more than three-quarters of the sector's total market capitalization. These analyses make it possible to assess the performance of the various players in terms of transition and to evaluate the alignment of their transition strategies with different climate scenarios.Too few players have already established a coherent and comprehensive climate transition strategy, as shown by the low number of companies obtaining the best strategic rating, which rewards players that consider their entire value chain.<a href="https://airtable.com/appBjQFvx2wCI8z1m/pagzg4SfDNlQkYz0k/form">Download our publication in english</a><a href="https://airtable.com/appQMY5QVgbNFevf7/pagzg4SfDNlQkYz0k/form">Download our publication in french</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;

Roxane joined Carbon4 Finance in 2024 as a Carbon Data Analyst.&nbsp;She focuses on analyzing corporate activities and strategies in the transportation and energy &amp; power sectors, and is developing her expertise through the contribution to new methodological frameworks.&nbsp;Before joining the team, she gained her first professional experience through internships in sustainable finance.&nbsp;

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Agriculture and Agribusiness

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Industrial formulations made from five or more ingredients, including substances not commonly used in cooking and additivesintended to mimic the sensory qualities of food. Source: Anthony Fardet, La classification NOVA : degré de transformation desaliments et santé. Université d’été de Nutrition, Centre de Recherche en Nutrition Humaine (CRNH)

Poore, J., &amp; Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food's environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392),987-992. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaq0216&nbsp;

IPCC, 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report ofthe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change&nbsp;

687-publication-agrifood-sector-2025.pdf

The agri-food sector: time to separate the wheat from the chaff

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