Carbon emissions are, at their core, an intangible concept – but though we can’t see them, their impact on our daily life is certainly being felt through climate change. Whether it be through extreme weather (just look at the latest report from the BBC about 2022 being the warmest year on record) or through increased societal and welfare impacts (migration and conflict exacerbated by climate change), to name but two examples.
But what is Net Zero Carbon, and how can your organisation reduce carbon emissions?
What is Net Zero Carbon? The Importance of Qualification
Not all carbon emissions are created equal. Depending on their source, carbon emissions sit within 3 different reporting categories (or Scopes) as defined by the GHG Protocol. These qualifications begin with the emissions that businesses can control (and likely reduce) first, before expanding to emissions within their wider supply chain:
- Scope 1 Emissions (Direct emissions): Scope 1 emissions are all owned emissions that an organisation has released directly from business assets they control. This includes energy required for operations, fuels for heating or vehicles, as well as any fugitive emissions from HVAC systems and other industrial processes. Note: A fugitive emission is an unintended release of greenhouse gas, and comes in many forms, including dust, aerosols, and fine particles.
- Scope 2 Emissions (Energy Indirect emissions): Scope 2 Emissions can be most simply defined as ‘bought’ emissions. These are indirect emissions released from energy bought from a provider (such as electricity) as well as district heat and district steam.
- Scope 3 Emissions (Other Indirect emissions): Scope 3 Emissions are a bit more complicated. Scope 3 includes all emissions that the organisation is indirectly responsible for – including the value chain. Commonly this includes business travel, waste, water and employee commuting to name but a few. Scope 3 also includes supply chain activity, products purchased from suppliers, as well as the emissions produced by customers using the products. This is a much larger task, and we recommend that organisations focus on the Scope 3 emissions they can control and influence as a starting point.
What is Net Zero Carbon? What Your Organisation Should Know
The GEP Environmental team has worked with and supported numerous organisations at every step of their sustainability journey; including those who are just dipping their toes into Net Zero, to developing Science Based Targets and everywhere in between. Our experience across many different industry sectors has given us valuable insights and helped us to develop robust methodologies to help organisations on their Journey to Net Zero Carbon. Our best suggestions?
- Prioritise action: the best way to begin your journey is to simply start. For most organisations, it’s essential to begin by tracking Scope 1, Scope 2 and some key Scope 3 emissions. These emissions can be (fairly) easy to assess – collate all the emissions your organisation produces, along with the energy bought from the grid, for these initial calculations. Remember, getting started is the hardest part, so simply investigating your emissions and making a move to collate the data is a tremendous step.
- Understand what you can directly control and what you can influence: take the time to understand what activities your organisation can directly control as well as those over which you have influence, as your reduction strategy and actions will need to be different. Direct control extends to the operation of buildings/assets/transport you directly own whilst influence extends mainly to Scope 3 categories (particularly supply chain, operation of leased assets, employee commuting, and homeworking).
- Focus on what you can control: one of the most common issues we see is organisations that are paralysed by data and aren’t sure what to do next. To those organisations, we suggest focusing on emissions that can be controlled before looking at the supply chain, which brings us to our next point…
- Consult an expert about Net Zero Carbon: Scope 3 Emissions are often where the impact lies – in many cases, Scope 3 Emissions are responsible for more than 70% of an organisation’s carbon footprint. Just as we said with organisations dealing with Scope 1 and Scope 2 Emissions, many organisations tackling Scope 3 Emissions for the first time begin by setting information gathering targets, rather than diving straight in. This is also a time when discussing options with an environmental consultancy would be helpful – environmental consultancies employ a team of experts on the cutting edge of science, who are discovering new ways to innovate and optimise Scope 3, ensuring that your organisation can confidently reduce total emissions.
- Engage and collaborate: at first this process may seem like a daunting and sometimes isolated challenge however this should be seen as an opportunity to engage and collaborate with your industry peers, your supply chain, and external bodies to drive industry-wide decarbonisation. By taking collective action we are more likely to be succeed in meeting our Net Zero ambitions.
Is your organisation curious about beginning your journey to Net Zero Carbon, but unsure of where to start? Our team of experts would be delighted to help. Get in touch today.
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