We also carry out independent assurance, validation and advise on assurance bodies to ensure your carbon footprint demonstrates credibility to interested parties. Once this step has been completed, the company will have a baseline year to work from, and a strong understanding of where their main emissions are coming from. We are experts at looking into your supply chain and identifying how these emissions can be included. We help clients identify the scope and boundary of their footprint, collect all the relevant data and calculate emissions using best practice frameworks such as the GHG Protocol. Our expert team has over 30 years’ experience in carrying out carbon footprints for organisations. Calculate your carbon footprint (including Scope 3) If businesses act now, they can also benefit from the many commercial opportunities available such as building reputational and competitive advantage, exceeding stakeholder expectations and attracting increased investment. Future-proofing your organisation is vital, and frameworks such as TCFD have been created to help businesses do this. The business risks of not meeting these expectations is huge and need to be managed effectively for commercial interests and investments. Along with this, government legislation increases, investors are asking tougher questions, and society is demanding action. Governments all over the world are setting Net Zero targets which businesses will need to contribute towards, for example the UK set a Net Zero target of 2050, with Scotland setting its own independent target of 2045. Net Positive : To achieve net positive, more carbon must be removed from the atmosphere than emitted. Note that there is no set emissions reduction percentage that needs to be reached before sequestration offsets are used however organisations such as Sky and Formula 1 are aiming at a 50% reduction of their material Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions before moving to carbon sequestration projects. To claim Net Zero, all material Scope 3 emissions must be taken into account. As the markets and technology for sequestering are developed, avoided emission credits are helping to protect the carbon sinks and precious ecosystems that we need to urgently preserve.Īdditionally, many organisations have claimed Carbon Neutrality for several years but by only measuring, reducing and offsetting emissions from the businesses Scope 1 and 2 emissions, but not that of their wider supply chain and other Scope 3 emissions. It should be noted however that carbon neutrality plays a vital role in the transition to Net Zero when the correct projects are chosen. For Carbon Neutrality it can be achieved through purchasing carbon credits from offsetting projects that reduce/avoid carbon emissions, for example by financing renewable infrastructure, but which do not directly sequester carbon. Net Zero is like this but with two key differences:Īny offset emissions must be from projects which sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon Neutrality, Net Zero and Net Positive Scope 3 - Other Indirect Emissions: Emissions which are consequences of an organisation’s activities but arise from sources that are owned or controlled by other organisations (5).Ĭarbon neutrality is where through a transparent process of calculating greenhouse gas emissions, reducing those emissions, and offsetting residual emissions, an organisation’s net carbon emissions equal zero (6). Scope 2 - Energy Indirect Emissions: Emissions from the generation of imported electricity, heat or steam consumed by the organisation (4). Scope 1 - Direct Emissions: Emissions from greenhouse gas sources owned or controlled by the organisation (3). Greenhouse gas emissions, commonly called ‘carbon emissions,’ are released during a number of activities, with the majority of emissions coming from the combustion of fossil fuels, including coal, oil and gas (2). The below provides an overview of some of the common terms. Consumer, investor, government and regulator awareness of Net Zero continues to grow, but what is Net Zero and how is it defined? There are a number of ways to define emissions and carbon reductions. There is an increased interest and expectation for organisations to commit to and reach Net Zero. Removing carbon from the atmosphere through the growth of carbon sinks, such as forestry, as well as new technologies, like heat and electricity from renewable sources, are the best way to reduce emissions and control temperature increases. The global community has responded to this and are working towards a Net Zero economy by significantly reducing the amount of emissions we produce. Net Zero is a state where we add no incremental greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.Īt the Paris Agreement it was agreed that in order to avoid climate change we need to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees centigrade above preindustrial levels (IPCC) (1).
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