As climate change is the most defining issue of current times, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 has become an indispensable priority for the world. We are at a critical juncture, where climate change is moving faster than us, and every half degree is making a world of difference.
As we all know, companies are largely responsible for the rising level of emissions; it is vital for them to undertake efforts to reduce harmful emissions and become carbon neutral companies. However, a few companies are still unable to figure out how they should go about it. So, before we head to the detailed process of achieving carbon neutrality, let us understand the definition of carbon neutrality and the role of companies in achieving it.
In the simplest terms, carbon neutrality means balancing carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere due to a company’s activities by removing an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. Corporations have an important role to play in scaling innovative and robust solutions to present realistic and concrete plans towards a zero-carbon economy. Ambitious business leaders have eventually recognized and realized that achieving carbon neutrality by developing a corporate climate action plan is one of the practical ways to build healthier and sustainable economies and businesses.
What Does it Mean to Be Carbon Neutral?
Unless your business completely relies on renewable energy, your carbon emissions are unlikely to be zero. Being ‘carbon neutral’ means that your business operations emit an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that you can offset by some other means. Some companies have proactively started working towards becoming carbon neutral companies by devising innovative strategies and adopting advanced technologies such as digitalization, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Precisely, achieving carbon neutrality means your business’s carbon emissions have a neutral impact on the environment.
Now that we have a fair understanding of what carbon neutrality is and what it means to be carbon neutral, it is time to dive deeper and understand the simple process of becoming a carbon neutral company.
Why Becoming Carbon Neutral is Important
Achieving carbon neutrality involves maintaining a balance between the quantity of carbon dioxide released into the air and the equal quantity that is extracted. This action mitigates the adverse consequences of climate change, including elevated temperatures and the rise of sea levels. The pursuit of carbon neutrality is crucial because of its favorable influence on the ecosystem and future generations’ well-being. Enterprises have the capacity to achieve carbon neutrality by embracing eco-friendly methodologies. This not only combats climate change but also promotes the brand.
What is an Example of Carbon Neutrality?
An example of carbon neutrality is when a company takes steps to minimize its carbon emissions, such as using renewable energy sources, optimizing transportation, and reducing waste. Any remaining emissions can be offset through initiatives like planting trees or investing in carbon capture projects. This ensures the company’s overall carbon footprint is effectively balanced to zero. In essence, carbon neutrality means emitting no more carbon than is being removed from the atmosphere, contributing to a healthier planet, and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Achieving Carbon Neutrality: How to Become Carbon Neutral Business?
Companies have the potential to lead the transition to net zero emissions by 2050. The decisions and steps companies take today would matter to our communities and economy in the decades ahead. So, we’ve collated a few steps to help companies achieve their carbon neutrality goals:
- Commit
As the first step towards achieving carbon neutrality, companies need to set ambitious goals of net-zero emissions and prepare a corporate climate action or transition plan that the world needs. It will act as a framework for companies to implement their carbon reduction strategies and plans in an organized and calculated way.
- Collaborate
Collaboration with technology and strategic partners can prove successful for companies who need assistance in developing and fueling their corporate climate action plans for achieving carbon neutrality goals. They can seek assistance throughout their journey, right from analyzing their emissions based on concrete data to devising robust climate change mitigation strategies and their implementation. Therefore, collaboration with leading companies can significantly help drive change, reduce emissions, and increase the impact.
- Invest
Strengthening innovation and augmenting investment in carbon reduction strategies while deploying reliable and resilient technological solutions is the key to achieving the ambitious carbon neutrality goals set by the companies. Moreover, as a majority of carbon emissions are due to energy consumption, it is imperative to change how businesses create, manage, and use energy to achieve carbon neutrality. Therefore, it would be logical to begin with understanding how and where energy is being consumed or wasted, wherein digital technologies will play a crucial role. Sensors that can monitor performance, software solutions that will connect the operations with IT systems, analytics, and automation will equip individuals and organizations with the ability to better optimize and manage their environment. And the positive news is we already have energy and digital automation technology in place.
- Advocate
Lastly, companies need to advocate the results of the efforts they’ve invested in achieving their carbon neutrality goal. They can do this by pursuing an ambitious and science-based climate policy plan, being a part of the Climate Group’s EP100 and EV 100 initiatives and joining other global initiatives. As achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is an urgent and critical mission, it is important for companies to advocate their activities, strategies, and progress proactively. This would play a vital role in helping them become carbon neutral companies.
Moving Toward Achieving Carbon Neutrality Collaboratively
The world needs to build a truly global coalition for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Every company, financial institution, city, and country should strategize and deploy plans for net-zero emissions and act now to get on the track to achieve this goal by cutting down global emissions significantly. Advantageously, technology is on our side. Today, it costs more to run coal plants in contrast to building new renewable plants from scratch. So, it’s time to set ambitious targets, develop a well-structured carbon neutrality plan, deploy technology, invest wisely in global goals of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and lead the change.
Read More: Carbon Neutrality Consultancy Services: Here’s How to Achieve Carbon Neutral Certification
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