Making Your Company Carbon Neutral

As evidence builds around climate change, companies are recognizing the opportunity (and necessity) of carbon neutrality. Implementation requires an organization’s blueprint to encompass the breadth of their operation. This can seem like a tall order.  

Creating an economy that functions on low-to-zero carbon energy sources is a crucial part of this process. The development and use of technology that reduces emissions is essential. Companies on this path are not just helping the environment; they are adding to their own resilience, contributing to innovative technology, and inspiring others to follow along. 

Assessing Your Carbon Neutral Potential 

The first step toward achieving carbon neutrality is to understand your organization’s carbon impact – it’s not always fun asking “how bad is it?”, but everyone has to start somewhere. This foundation is necessary to establish an annual cycle of actionable items, improving positive impact each year while emissions fall. Rome wasn’t built in a day, nor can carbon emissions hit net-zero instantly. 

Knowing Your Global Impact 

Let’s place this in a global context: you may think you’re just a drop in the bucket, but when you break it down, that’s all the bucket is: a lot of drops. Campy, but true. When we grasp the effects of climate change, we begin to realize how it affects our industries; and your business today. 

Embrace Change 

Once we have context, we work on application: Commit to taking action, educate your organization’s leaders on the principles of sustainability, and consider hiring an expert consultant if necessary (we know a few).  

Assess Your Current Performance 

To create effective goals, we need accurate data. Perform an initial carbon footprint analysis, then locate opportunities for emissions reduction, increased performance, and higher efficiency. 

Review Your Business Environment 

To get a sense of how far your goals should go, look at your competitors and see what their targets and initiatives are. Explore new technologies, methods, and incentives; check in with partners and stakeholders. See where you can improve. 

The Annual Cycle for Carbon Neutrality 

Once you understand your organization’s impact and how you fit into the wider global picture, it’s time to build that annual cycle – it doesn’t have to be daunting: it is a yearly plan where you lay out goals, identify tactics, set metrics, and guide your team forward toward carbon neutrality. It doesn’t resolve in a day – it grows over 365 days. 

Initial steps are meant to be bold, realistic targets that align with your ESG strategy. Competitor and international considerations also play a role. Next, develop an action plan that prioritizes initiatives along metrics: think “high school essay rubric”, only instead of spelling/grammar and topic development, swap in reduction impact, feasibility, and profitability.  

Next, engage stakeholders to secure any necessary resources, and apply the plan’s tertiary elements, such as monitoring or reporting structures, or incentivization. As the year goes on, the impact of this implementation is tracked, with real carbon footprint data collection via the chosen methodologies. 

At the end of the year, assess and consult key stakeholders. Determine whether you met, exceeded, or fell short of your goals. If your net emissions were higher than expected, now is the time to purchase carbon offsets from verified developers or sellers, whose projects have a correlating reduction in CO₂e emissions. This should be done through a trusted market participant with a strong track record (such as Radicle – just saying). 

Finally, transparency is key: share your yearly performance with stakeholders, the CDP, and the public. Your commitment to improvement matters. A progress review shows you care; focus on successes, areas of improvement, and areas that need improvement equally. 

Carbon Neutrality Scopes of Impact 

According to the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, true carbon neutrality must account for three different scopes of impact in operations: 

1. Direct emissions from energy use, such as in facilities and in company-owned equipment and vehicles. 

2. Indirect emissions from energy, such as electricity, steam, or heating/cooling (i.e., the emissions are produced elsewhere). 

3. Indirect emissions across the product and service life cycle, including the supply chain, distribution, travel, and consumer use. 

Accounting for all emissions sources is critical in making complete annual cycles, carbon footprint analysis, action plans, and end-of-year assessments. 

Business Benefits of a Low Carbon Economy 

The benefits of a low carbon economy stretch beyond environmental impact. On the business side, a low carbon economy encourages innovation, which may lead to cost-saving efficiencies. This also helps build social goodwill, establishes your organization as a proactive industry leader, and can create a sense of pride for your staff. Companies that delay implementation of low carbon strategies are avoiding their own growth and opportunity; companies that present a forward-facing low carbons strategy are viewed as favourable in the court of public opinion. Responsibility matters! Lastly, some initiatives can present an opportunity for a new revenue stream through carbon credit generation. 

The carbon trading market and the pathway to net-zero can seem daunting and complex for those unfamiliar with how it works. That’s what we’re here for: taking the plunge to net-zero can be very worth your while for a multitude of reasons – so reach out and let’s talk about it at info@radiclebalance.com when you’re ready to get started. 

Download infographic