How can my organization approach decarbonization with science and strategy?

COVID-19 has made it clear to the world that there are some types of crises that cross borders affecting everyone's lives, but above all, the economic normality to which we are used to as citizens of the world.

The reality is that there are still very few people and organizations that know in depth the causes and effects of the Climate Crisis, it's risks, and what we can do to reduce the pollution that is increasing the temperature of our planet on a daily basis.

It is difficult to propose solutions when we do not know all the dimensions of a problem.

Before 2020, if as entrepreneurs someone talked to us about sustainability, or more precisely about doing something for decarbonization, it was common to think that some “ultra environmentalist” partner or collaborator of the company was passionately wanting to save the planet, and what the crisis revealed because of COVID-19, is that they were largely right!

Some economists believe that we are entering a time of great change, others a great change of era, but it is reality and uncertainty that is really forcing us to act together to reconcile the production of the economy with the benefits of nature, and where the level of consciousness behind consumption must be transformed to incline the market towards a new development model that does not compromise the well-being of our environment. Furthermore, we will soon be 9 billion human beings on the face of the earth.

This is evident, now in 2021, we are observing how the governments of Europe, or the new government of the United States of America, are giving greater importance and direction to the matter of Climate Crisis in terms of mitigation and adaptation to Climate Change.

It is remarkable how multiple corporations, leading institutions and even SMEs around the world are demanding more and more professionals who are experts in sustainability issues in order to be competitive by pragmatically addressing Climate Action (SDG No. 13), thus seeking to develop low CO2e production models and more resilient to the threat of any external phenomenon.

To understand the approach to the fight against the causes and effects of Climate Change, we must be clear about the concepts of mitigation and adaptation to the problem.

Easily explained, the objective of mitigation is to try to stop the visible causes of global warming by reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) of anthropogenic origin, while adaptation is proposed to design strategies that minimize the effects of the Climate Crisis on the social and financial well-being all around the world.

A concrete way to bring climate action to productive environments and to contribute to the decarbonization of the economy is by implementing a: Carbon Neutrality process at the organizational level, incorporating science, strategy and technology.

Carbon Neutrality is an eco-efficiency strategy that allows any organization, regardless of its size, location or economic activity, to internalize the habit of measuring, reducing and offsetting its greenhouse gas emissions as a result of its operations and activities related to its value chain.

In Costa Rica, for example, Carbon Neutrality has become an inclusive government program that aims to decarbonize the economy by involving public institutions, the private sector and the general public. They do so by managing a program from the institutional leadership, but being inclusive when it comes to providing feedback to the program from the private sector, which has been a key ingredient in making the national decarbonization strategy even more impactful.

To date there are hundreds of companies involved with this program on a voluntary basis and generating results that are worth multiplying.

Now, how this Carbon Neutrality process can be implemented inside my business' activities?

To explore Carbon Neutrality, it is essential to form an internal work committee that is responsible for the process, and be guided by international methodologies and standards such as ISO 14064-1, GHG Protocol and IPCC, which integrally allow any organization to manage its emissions of reliable, traceable and effective way.

Processes that, for example, demand: fossil fuels, generate refrigerant gas leaks, consume electrical energy, generate solid waste and sewage water, are some common sources of greenhouse gas emissions within an organizational carbon footprint.

The GHG emission sources to be reported, according to international standards, must be categorized as direct and significant indirect emissions according to ISO 14064-1, or as Scope I (controlled), II (semi-controlled) and III (uncontrolled) emissions according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) methodology; the classification in both cases varies according to the level of control that the organization has over some issuing activity.

For example, the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by an own vehicle fleet is considered as a direct emission (Scope I), because the organization controls the efficiency of these operations and decides when or not to perform preventive maintenance on its transportation units, or to make a change that really makes an internal logistics process more efficient and less polluting.

On the other hand, the consumption of grid electricity from a central network is considered as indirect emission (Scope II) because the related greenhouse gases are actually emitted by the organization who produces and distributes the energy, and not necessarily by the company who consumes it.

Other indirect sources (Scope III) include air travel carried out by an organization, sending waste to a municipal landfill, transportation carried out by a supplier with a certain frequency, etc.

The most common way of calculating emissions by organizations at a global level is from the use of emission factors previously studied and published by organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, better known as IPCC.

For example, thanks to IPCC studies we can know that a liter of gasoline emits approximately 2.23 kg of CO2 each time we use a combustion car, but also that for each liter of gasoline we burn, other greenhouse gases are also generated, eg. methane (CH4) and nitrous oxides (N2O).

Finally, through a global warming potential factor that compares the radiation of other greenhouse gases in relation to carbon dioxide (as it is the most emitted globally) we are able to find the carbon footprint that is usually reported in tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).

Any mitigation action that an organization takes to reduce the carbon footprint of any of its internal processes is technically known as a reduction initiative.

Now, organizations alone cannot reduce all their emissions because it would affect the productivity of their business in multiple cases, and also because a deep and broad cultural and technological transformation is still required for this to happen on a larger scale.

Given this, and in line with achieving Carbon Neutrality, after measuring our greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing it to the extent possible, the organization can choose two ways to finally offset its residual impact:

1. Carry out an action to remove emissions, for example, by planting trees or protecting natural forest areas that absorb an equivalent to the CO2 emitted by the organization.

2. Or, they can choose to purchase carbon credits from recognized international schemes to offset emissions; The most recognized schemes to offset an organization's emissions are: Clean Development Mechanisms that are certified by the United Nations, or credits from voluntary schemes such as projects complying with the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS for its acronym in English) and / or Gold Standard, which tend to be heavily trafficked by climate-responsible companies.

This is how Carbon Neutrality is achieved by eco-efficient, environmentally responsible, visionary and low-polluting organizations, favoring the decarbonization of the world's economies and pragmatically fighting against the Climate Crisis.

The big question is whether your company has already defined a course of action in this regard, or if you are waiting for a law to appear that forces you to be environmentally responsible.

These are times to reflect and to take action, and innovation plays a fundamental role in this paradigm transition. We must remember that actions to counteract the Climate Crisis must be immediate if we want to avoid a point of no return in the short term.

Systemic change happens when small actions generate a deep collective transformation.