The Business of NET ZERO

Net Zero is a destination with many pathways leading to it— which one will your business take?

- MYTHILI SAMPATHKUMAR

The Earth is already about 1.1°C warmer than it was at the turn of the 20th century and carbon emissions continue to rise, particularly from western nations, China, and India. In 2015, after decades of negotiations facilitated by the United Nations, nearly 200 countries signed the Paris Agreement, which sought to lay out a plan to limit the average global increase in temperature to 1.5°C.

What does net zero mean?

Every time the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) comes out with a report, the news is grim: more needs to be done to contain global warming, and faster. The cross-border group was established to provide policy- and decision-makers with the latest scientific information on man-made climate change and it has repeatedly advised countries and businesses to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. According to the world body: The global temperature will stabilize when carbon dioxide emissions reach net zero. For 1.5°C 2.7°F), this means achieving net zero carbon dioxide emissions globally in the early 2050s.’

What does net zero mean?

In theory, achieving net zero carbon emissions is a fairly simple concept—it is the balance between carbon emissions produced by transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, etc, and the amount of emissions removed from the world's atmosphere. Net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions reabsorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance, says the United Nations Net Zero Coalition.

By the numbers, this means global carbon emissions need to decrease by 45% within the next eight years in order for the world to reach net zero by the 2050s.