What is carbon neutrality?
Everything you do that produces carbon dioxide — from driving to powering your home and more — makes up your carbon footprint. Being “carbon co2 neutral” means that you, or the operations of your business or your national economy, emit the same amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that you offset by some other means. Adding solar panels to your home, or switching to an electric vehicle are examples of things you can do to reduce your carbon dioxide output.
Achieving carbon neutrality means that that your carbon dioxide output has a net neutral impact on the environment, and it can help stem the effects of climate change. Greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide increase average temperatures worldwide, which in turn contribute to rising sea levels, changing weather patterns and other factors associated with climate change.
Carbon neutrality methods
Carbon-neutral status can be achieved in two ways,[5] although a combination of the two is most likely required:
Carbon offsetting
Balancing carbon dioxide emissions with carbon offsets — the process of reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make up for emissions elsewhere.[6] If the total greenhouse gases emitted is equal to the total amount avoided or removed, then the two effects cancel each other out and the net emissions are ‘neutral’.
Reducing emissions
Reducing carbon emissions can be done by moving towards energy sources and industry processes that produce less greenhouse gases, thereby transitioning to a low-carbon economy.[7] Shifting towards the use of renewable energy such as wind, geothermal, and solar power,[8] as well as nuclear power reduces greenhouse gas emissions.[9] Although both renewable and non-renewable energy production produce carbon emissions in some form, renewable sources produce negligible to almost zero carbon emissions.[10] Transitioning to a low-carbon economy would also mean making changes to current industrial and agricultural processes to reduce carbon emissions, for example, diet changes to livestock such as cattle can potentially reduce methane production by 40%.[11] Carbon projects and emissions trading are often used to reduce carbon emissions, and carbon dioxide can even sometimes be prevented from entering the atmosphere entirely (such as by carbon scrubbing).
One way to implement carbon-neutral products is by making these products cheaper and more cost effective than carbon positive fuels.[12] Various companies have pledged to become carbon neutral or negative by 2050, some of which include: Microsoft,[13] Delta Air Lines,[14] BP,[14] IKEA,[15] and BlackRock.[16] However, without cheaper carbon-neutral products, companies are less likely to switch over to renewable sources.[17]
Whats is the difference between Carbon neutral and Net-zero?
As established previously, carbon-neutral and net-zero are two similar terms. In both cases, companies are working to reduce and balance their carbon footprint. When carbon-neutral refers to balancing out the total amount of carbon emissions, net-zero carbon means no carbon was emitted from the get-go, so no carbon needs to be captured or offset. For example, a company’s building running entirely on solar, and using zero fossil fuels can label its energy as “zero carbon.”
However, when referring to “net-zero”, it is crucial to specify net-zero carbon or emissions. On the contrary, net-zero emissions refer to the overall balance of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced and GHG emissions taken out of the atmosphere. Even if the scientific concept is often applied to countries like the US, China, it can also be used for organisations. In other words, net-zero describes the point in time where humans stop adding to the burden of climate-heating gases in the atmosphere.
To do so, there is only one way: calculate the scopes 1, 2 and 3 of carbon emissions. And you are in luck because Plan A’s carbon management software calculates all three scopes emissions scopes, enabling companies to reduce significantly their emissions.
As the EU aims to become the first continent to become carbon neutral, companies and individuals must rapidly reduce their carbon footprint. Now that you are familiar with the terms carbon-neutral, climate positive and net-zero; it is time to achieve your next sustainable step: calculating and reducing your company’s carbon footprint.
We believe every business has the opportunity and obligation to protect. We believe in climate change and work to build a better future.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_neutrality
https://plana.earth/academy/what-is-difference-between-carbon-neutral-net-zero-climate-positive
https://www.cnet.com/home/energy-and-utilities/what-does-carbon-neutral-mean/
