Working toward climate neutrality

Climate neutrality is achieved when the net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of an individual or organisation are equal to zero. Greenhouse gases include many types of emissions, but are frequently measured in CO2-equivalence for simplicity. GHGs emitted into the atmosphere due to human activities are known to contribute to global climate change.

While the concept of carbon neutrality can be generally applied to individual emissions and localities, it usually refers to business operations and projects. Achieving climate neutrality is a long-term process, and centres on reducing GHG emissions in scopes 1, 2, and 3. For instance, by reducing the use of fossil fuels and energy consumption, making sustainable procurement choices in your supply chain, implementing on-site energy generation, and making energy efficiency, material reuse, and recycling a priority.

Generally, actioning on emissions reduction does not immediately reduce emissions to net zero. It takes time, requires investment, stakeholder buy-in, and in many cases also innovative solutions at scale. Companies tend to therefore compensate residual emissions on a yearly basis. To start the emission reduction process in earnest most companies develop baseline GHG calculations and discloses their emissions using relevant sustainability reporting standards.

When considering becoming carbon neutral the reporting effort is in many cases combined with either setting internal KPIs or signing up to the Science Based Targets initiative. This helps to set longer-term reduction goals and aligns efforts to achieve them.

Ecomatters offers concrete and practical support around these topics to support your organisation on your journey towards climate neutrality. We focus specifically on the GHG calculations, provide support on developing KPIs, and advice on questions related to emission reductions. However, we do not provide CO2 compensation or give advice on these matters.