Driven to become better
Pressure from all sides
Companies are under increasing pressure not only to disclose their sustainability data, but more importantly to cut emissions and act responsibly along the entire supply chain: socially, economically and environmentally. B2B customers are driving companies because they, in turn, are part of their sustainability data and ESG rating. Consumers and the public are aware and putting pressure, employees are too, and investors are pushing. If you want to survive in the market and keep up with strong competitors and technological innovations, you need to take action now.
How do you manage to implement climate neutrality?
With the automation of processes: and GLOBAL CLIMATE
ithout automating your processes, it will take a lot of personnel and time to manually evaluate your data and meet your verification obligations. Especially complex group structures, lack of internal expertise and regulatory requirements pose challenges to companies. Add to this the knowledge that not all shareholders think in the long term and the investment may only pay off for you later. Producing more sustainably means producing more fairly and with higher quality, and that costs money. But are customers prepared to bear the additional costs? Despite all doubts: The fact is, the laws force you and the environment does too. There is only one option. And that is to act now. And action begins with measurement.
Obstacles are there to be overcome
Why you need to do the climate check now:
Drivers:
Sustainable customers
Demanding public
Convinced employees
Leading competitors
Current and upcoming legislation
Pressing investors
Technological progress
Barriers:
Personnel costs
Complex corporate structures
Short-term thinking shareholders
Lack of internal expertise
Difficult regulatory requirements
High personnel expenses
Complex corporate structures
Ambivalent customers
Scarce resources
Climate neutrality, Net-Zero, CO2-neutral
What is behind these terms?
For most companies, the goal of achieving climate neutrality is a top priority. But what is actually behind the terms climate neutrality or climate neutral greenhouse gas neutrality or greenhouse gas neutral, CO2 neutrality or CO2 neutral and net zero or net zero. And what are negative emissions anyway? We shed some light on the subject.
The terms climate-neutral and CO2-neutral are often used synonymously, which is actually not correct. This is because climate neutrality also refers to the other greenhouse gases such as methane, CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and nitrous oxide, and is not purely limited to CO2 emissions. To achieve climate neutrality, companies must know their CO2 emissions, ergo calculate them, reduce them and compensate for emissions that cannot be avoided. In addition, they must refrain from or balance out all other actions that affect the climate. Climate neutral is greenhouse gas neutral plus neutrality with regard to all other man-made changes that affect the climate.
Climate neutrality exists when the emissions caused on the one hand and the emissions offset, e.g. through compensation projects, on the other hand are in balance - i.e. neutral. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change defines climate neutral as "a state in which human activities have no net impact on the climate system."
This is where the accusation of green-washing often comes in, because it is not defined how many emissions must be proportionately reduced and how many emissions can be compensated for through financial participation in climate protection projects. In addition, to be able to claim climate neutrality, companies only have to offset Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions: i.e. the CO2 emissions caused by the company itself or, for example, its energy supply. Scope 3 emissions in the supply chain play no role in this scenario.
Greenhouse gas neutral is usually used synonymously with climate neutral. Actually, greenhouse gas neutrality is the more precise term for what is usually meant by "climate neutral." The term includes CO2 emissions as well as the other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide that must be included in calculations, reduction and offset strategies. Here, too, the aim is to ensure that the atmosphere, and thus the Earth's climate system, is no longer altered by the emission of greenhouse gases after a certain point in time.
The term refers only to CO2 emissions. All other greenhouse gases are excluded. Here, too, the aim is to measure, reduce and offset them so that the CO2 emissions caused are balanced in such a way that they have no effect on the CO2 content of the atmosphere.
Net-zero emissions or net-zero is defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as removing from the atmosphere those emissions of greenhouse gases that are still caused by humans despite all reduction measures. Net-Zero attempts to raise the standard and close the gap that climate neutrality leaves. This is because "simply" offsetting emissions, as is the case with CO2 neutrality, climate neutrality or greenhouse gas neutrality, is not enough here. To achieve net zero, additional natural sinks must be created, such as soils, forests and peatlands, or artificial sinks (such as new CO2 capture and storage technologies, CSS). The idea is to progressively develop projects that not only offset CO2 emissions, but remove them (carbon removal).
Net-Zero is the highest standard and includes Scope 1 and 2 as well as Scope 3. It is not enough to offset emissions, they must be removed from the atmosphere.
These are greenhouse gases that are removed from the atmosphere by, for example, creating CO2-absorbing natural ecosystems such as peatlands and forests. A state of complete freedom from emissions will not be achievable, especially in industrialized countries. Therefore, it will always be necessary to compensate or to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. If more greenhouse gases are compensated than emitted, this is called negative emissions.