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What is NetZero
and how do we get there?
The answer begins with: Together.

Paris: 2015

196 Global Leaders from all over the world came together to sign the Paris Agreement.

A legally binding international treaty on climate change whose goal was to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

To achieve this, countries had to commit to stop the emission of global greenhouse gasses and as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.

Reaching 0 greenhouse gas emissions worldwide in our modern era is close to impossible, with modern technologies like aviation and manufacturing being a prevalent part of society.

What was needed was to offset, or actively remove greenhouse gases from our atmosphere. A world where greenhouse gas emission and greenhouse gas removal balance each other out.

This is NetZero

This is what the countries who signed the Paris Agreement agreed to.
We’ll need to go from a society that pumps our 40 billion tonnes of CO2 a year.

How?

Fortunately for our planet, The Greenhouse Gas Protocol has outlined a standardized way for businesses to get to NetZero that is being adapted rapidly around the world.

The GHG Protocol helps organizations measure, manage, report and reduce their carbon emissions.

The GHG Protocol can be broken into 3 scopes.

Scope 1 and scope 2 are mandatory to report in most countries in the world,
whereas Scope 3 is currently voluntary and the hardest to monitor.

Scope 1:

Direct Emissions

Scope 1 emissions are the direct emission from company owned and controlled resources. These include stationary combustion (fuel, heating sources, etc.), mobile combustion (all fuel from cars, vans, trucks etc used for the company), fugitive emissions (leaks from greenhouse gasses like refrigeration and air conditioning), and process emissions (those released during processes and on-site manufacturing).

Scope 2:

Indirect Emissions-Not Owned

Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy, from a utility provider. All GHG emissions released into the atmosphere from the consumption of purchased electricity, stream, heat and cooling for the purposes of the organization. The electricity consumed by the end-user, what the company pays for.

Scope 3:

Indirect Emissions

Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions not included in Scope 2, that occur in the value chain of the organization. This includes both upstream and downstream emissions that can be linked to the company’s operations.

According to the GHG protocol, Scope 3 emission are separated into 15 categories:

  • Business Travel. Air travel, rail, underground and light rail, taxis, buses and business mileage using private vehicles.
  • Employee Commuting, as it results from the emissions emitted through travel to and from work.
  • Waste generated in operations. Relates to waste sent to landfills and wastewater treatments.
  • Purchased goods and services. Includes all the upstream (‘cradle to gate’) emissions from the production of goods and services.
  • Transportation and distribution occur in upstream (suppliers) and downstream (customers) pieces of the value chain.
  • Fuel and energy-related activities include emissions relating to the production of fuels and energy purchased and consumed by the organization.
  • Capital goods are final products that have an extended life and are used by the company to manufacture a product, provide a service or store, sell and deliver merchandise. Things like buildings, equipment, vehicles, etc.
  • Investments. According to GHG accounting, investments fall under 4 categories: equity investments, debt investments, project finance, managed investments and client services.
  • Franchises are businesses operating under a license to sell or distribute another company’s goods or services within a certain location.
  • Leased assets correspond to leased assets by the reporting organization (upstream) and assets to other organizations (downstream).
  • Used of sold products is included, concerning “in-use” products that are sold to the consumers.
  • End of life treatment corresponds to products sold to consumers, and is reported similarly as “waste generated during operations”. Companies must assess how their products are disposed of, which encourages firms to design recyclable products that limit landfill disposal.
AWorld can help measure the baseline of your employee commuting emissions and reduce it to align with your Scope 3 goals.
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