June 1, 2021
SINAI
The momentum of corporations committing to net-zero by 2050 in carbon-intensive industries, including transportation, utilities, and consumer goods, is promising to say the least. However, the lack of alignment between commitment timelines and targets is one of the most significant factors of such ambitious initiatives not coming to fruition and impacting the actual carbon footprint in business.
To ensure net-zero is reached by 2050, corporations must ensure their timeline matches up with key GHG emissions reduction targets, prioritizing project development, carbon removal, and value chain efforts.
To keep your net zero initiatives from failing and ensure your company’s efforts have the most significant impact when it comes to combating climate change, learn how to easily align and track your carbon-neutral, science-based, and net-zero targets with your various supply chain, carbon removal, and carbon credits projects in a way that is credible and meaningful.
Several companies are committed to one of three well-known emissions reduction targets, including going carbon-neutral, reaching net-zero by 2050, and the science-based target initiative. These three types of initiatives are similar in how they quantify carbon emissions, but where they differ is on their timelines and their approach when it comes to dealing with residual carbon emissions:
A corporation’s carbon strategy can be significantly strengthened and benefit from calculating how much it can generate in revenue by selling carbon credits. After establishing an initial baseline of carbon emissions, it’s also possible to determine and compare the value of various mitigation options that are too costly to be reduced by your corporation internally through carbon offsetting and become a genuine net-zero company.
A robust project development stage should also emphasize investing in long-term net-zero initiatives to ensure the company can stay on track well into the future as it works towards net-zero.
It’s vital to consider the timeframe of any and all carbon removal projects your corporation embarks on. From direct air capture and storage and injecting bio-oil deep underground to vast reforestation projects, carbon removal programs can have a significant impact on your corporation’s decarbonization efforts.
The collective scale of existing carbon removal projects is orders of magnitude away from where many experts say it needs to be in 2050. Many believe there is no way to limit temperature increases to those outlined in the Paris Agreement without extensive carbon removal on top of GHG emission reduction.
A combination of project types, including carbon removal programs, can serve to implement all three targets if your company has committed to them over a timeframe and in a combined carbon strategy, helping you more accurately reach your net-zero ambition by 2050.
Even companies with existing net-zero targets need comprehensive plans to address the most challenging decarbonization challenges within various areas of the company. Several corporations, for example, remain out of focus when it comes to pinpointing how the company will radically alter its supply chain emissions, such as tackling downstream carbon emissions resulting from investments, services, and products, the most significant contributor to the majority of companies' GHG emissions.
Only 10% of the 160 corporations that make up the Climate Action 100 initiative address their Scope 3 value chain emissions. Without question, more ambitious and comprehensive work needs to be done.
A wholesale transformation approach is needed, propped up by a net-zero ambition, considering every part of a corporation’s operating and business model. Buy-in needs to start from the top, with a robust carbon strategy in place, followed by reshaping operating and supply chain models to support the agreed transformation. Investments in innovation should be prioritized, along with access to necessary financing.
Company boards and banks are being asked to deliver not just targets but also comprehensive transition plans that go into detail and provide evidence-backed data on how they will reach net-zero. Technology has emerged to make this as credible and straightforward as possible.
SINAI’s software solution, for example, allows companies to consolidate and organize their emissions data from numerous sources in order to produce accurate, comprehensive reports and assist in making more informed business decisions. With SINAI, your corporation is able to go beyond capturing emissions inventories and reporting with the dynamic scenario assessment tools, including a marginal abatement cost curve and carbon pricing modules.
For corporations looking to take the lead in carbon neutrality within their industry, whether that may be utilities, transportation, materials, consumer goods, or real estate, we can help you join up your commitment timeline and carbon-neutral, science-based, and net-zero targets.
Bring your company’s carbon strategy directly into the business model for the best results, utilizing intelligent data integration across various areas of the business, helping you mitigate risk more effectively. Carbon credits and project development, carbon removal, and value chain projects can all be calculated and tracked easily in a robust commitments timeline that’s meaningful and credible. Contact SINAI today for a demo of our software.
