Carbon neutral industries and compensation for greenhouse gas emissions

An increasing number of industries and governments (international, national, regional and at city level) is establishing plans to arrive at a neutral carbon level in a reasonable timeframe. This implies implementing climate change strategies, measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, setting up reduction goals, implementing actions to reduce emissions, checking if the actions work as expected and correct them if not. An institution has arrived zero emissions condition if no emissions occur in all of its related activities, and consequently it is considered carbon neutral. The path to a net zero emissions scenario involves replacement of all types of fossil fuel consumption with renewable energy such as solar, wind, hydro power, geothermal and renewable fuels, such as bioethanol, biodiesel, biogas and hydrogen. It also means generation of zero emissions in waste disposal and implies zero emissions in the value chain of the company from suppliers to consumers. As this is very difficult to attain in practice, institutions aiming to become carbon neutral need to compensate for their unavoidable emissions. This path includes support of economic projects that result in absorption of the generated greenhouse gases. Some organizations go further and aim to become carbon negative, which means the activities of the organization absorb more greenhouse gases than what it produces. In some situations, organizations not only set future goals, but also compensate for their past emissions by becoming carbon neutral in its whole operation from past to present and even projecting to be carbon neutral in the future. Many organizations, alliances and initiatives have emerged over recent decades with the purpose of accelerating the transition to a more sustainable economy. The United Nations (UN) Global Compact is the largest corporate sustainability initiative whose main strategy is to drive business awareness and action in support of achieving the well-known Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, aligning its strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption. The Net Zero Coalition is a United Nations global alliance committed to reduce emissions by 45% by 2030 and by 100% by 2050. The emission sources are classified in the GHG Protocol, corporate standard, as scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 emissions, and in the ISO norm 14.064-1 as direct emissions, indirect emissions for the consumption of electricity and other indirect emissions. The direct emissions are those generated inside the limits of the organization. Examples of these sources are stationary combustion and mobile combustion of fossil fuels, fugitive emissions of refrigerant gases and treatment of generated waste. Examples of indirect emissions are those produced for the consumption of electricity. Scope 3 emissions include fossil fuels consumed in transportation and distribution of raw materials, supplies and downstream products, employee commuting to work and waste disposal as examples. Once the emission sources are evaluated and selected, the activity data for each one needs to be collected. Examples of activity data are the amounts of energy (generally measured in KWh) consumed, the total fossil fuel consumed by type, the amount of waste treated inside the company and disposed in the studied year. The activity data are then multiplied by the emission factor, which transforms the activity data in emissions of GHG gases. Some good practices include: use of primary sources to obtain activity data, and use, when possible, local recommended and updated emission factors. The final results are shown usually in tonCO2eq (equivalent), which means that all gases are expressed and converted, using as reference the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. In conclusion, once the organization implements actions to reduce its emissions, the remaining ones can be compensated to qualify as carbon neutral.