More and more businesses are looking for ways to be more sustainable whether becoming a B Corp or aligning the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Nowadays, more and more companies are pledging to become carbon neutral, net-zero or even climate positive as it becomes the new focus.
BUT… What does this mean?
Terms like “carbon-neutrality” and “net-zero” have been around for a while, but have been integrated into business mainly for mainstream marketing purposes. In this blog we will discuss exactly what it means to be climate neutral and/or reaching net zero.
What's The Difference Between Net Zero And Carbon Neutral?
Carbon neutral refers to a policy of not increasing carbon emissions and of achieving carbon reduction through offsets. While net zero carbon means making changes to reduce carbon emissions to the lowest amount.
Carbon Neutral
By definition, carbon-neutral (or carbon neutrality) is the balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon emissions from carbon sinks. Or simply, eliminate all carbon emissions altogether. Carbon sinks are any systems that absorb more carbon than they emit, such as forests, soils and oceans.
The average carbon footprint per person in the UK, per year, is 12.7 tonnes CO2e (Carbon dioxide equivalent). To put that into perspective you’d have to eat over 1,000 beef steaks or blast your heating for 80 days straight!
Businesses can measure their carbon footprint and take their first step to being better by using a carbon footprint calculator.
So how do we reduce our carbon footprint?
- Drive less or go car free
- Buy an electric car
- Use renewable energy
- Use renewable-based heating
- Eat less meat
How can businesses reduce their carbon footprint?
- Recycle
- Use recycled resources
- Use sustainable suppliers
- Switch to a hybrid or fully electric fleet for company cars
- Use public transport or car share for business trips
Net Zero
Net Zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. We reach net zero when the amount we add is no more than the amount taken away.
When we speak about net zero we are talking about the transition to a new normal, where we produce little to no greenhouse gases at all. This means we will have to cut the emissions from homes, transport, agriculture and industry. Here’s a report on the UK’s plan to transition to Net Zero.
Why Net Zero?
With the scale of extreme weather we’ve seen over the past few years – from Australian bush fires to flooding in the UK – few people now deny that we are facing a climate emergency.
The scientific evidence is clear: emissions of greenhouse gases, resulting from human activity, are causing our climate to change.
To address the problem, in June 2019, the UK became the first major economy to pass legislation that commits the country to net zero emissions by 2050. In other words, the target is to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 100% in order to stabilise climate change.
Watch our youtube video below to learn more about what needs to be done to be carbon neutral and to transition to net zero.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT YOUR CLIMATE SHADOW!
As everyone focuses on trying to be Carbon Neutral and transition to Net Zero, we don’t hear many speak about reducing their climate shadow. The problem with the carbon footprint is that our footprints don’t paint an accurate picture of our true individual impact on the climate crisis. We speak about the things that can be easily quantified like recycling but are doing climate damaging activity for example; driving halfway across the country to do the same recycling. To learn more about “Climate Shadow” read here.
To learn more about sustainability, net zero, and how betternotstop can help your business to decrease your carbon footprint, please get in touch via our Contact Page today, or email us directly at info@betternotstop.com
