Get started with a convenient online Introduction to Net Zero Webinar and find out the basics of how to start your journey. You’ll receive an overview of the entire process for your business to aim for and reach Net Zero, including an introduction into emission categories and reporting. (45 minutes)
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believe that is everyone uh who’s invited uh so we can uh make a start with the journey to Net Zero so my name’s uh Toby I’m a graduate engineer at desna and a low carbon consultant uh my role uh desna involves energ audits developing net zero plans implementing energy efficient and renewable Solutions within the built environment I also have a background in mechanical engineering and renewable and sustainable energy Technologies it’s a bit of a mouthful so a little bit about desna DNA is a consultancy which works to facilitate the transition towards a lowc carbon economy powered by clean and affordable energy uh we do this through our key four key service areas which are smart home fit technology field trials grid scale Renewables and energy storage Energy Efficiency Renewables and storage in the built environment and life cycle assessment and Net Zero carbon reduction plans we do this all alongside developing our own solar energy storage and GD stability assets so what’s this Workshop um who’s it for this is me to provide a foundation on the fundamentals of emissions targeting for businesses who are both starting their Journey towards net zero and those who have already Comm committed and need some guidance um so what are the aims for this presentation um firstly is to show the importance of reducing emissions and Net Zero uh to understand what emissions targeting is and its relevance to Net Zero um to provide some clear steps to calculate these greenhouse gas emissions and setting reduction targets that are aligned with the greenhouse gas protocol and science-based targets and also to highlight emission reduction strategies which will be further explored in one of our other workshops that we so a little bit of information about the presentation and how it’s going to go it’s going to be around 40 minutes long um please use a chat feature for any questions and there’ll be regular breaks between sections where I’ll answer those questions and slides will be sent over uh by email after this presentation and there is some overlap with our other workshops that we offer which I’ll let you know when we get to those so firstly I’d like to just go over the St of the current Global emissions uh emissions have been linked to increasing global temperatures um from the graph you can see global emissions have drastically increased since 9 1950 so what’s being done about this in 2015 the Paris agreement was signed by 196 parties at cop 21 um this is a legally binding International treaty with a goal of limiting uh global temperatures increased to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels uh to achieve this greenhouse gas initi need to be reduced by 43% by 2030 and to achieve this is where Net Zero comes in and it’s so important to highlight that reducing emissions is crucial for mitigating climate change protecting the environment and ensuring a sustainable development for the future so what is net zero Net Zero is achieving that balance between greenhouse gas emissions emitted and those removed from the atmosphere requ reducing as much as uh emissions as much as possible and then using strategies such as offsetting to compensate for any remaining emissions so why should you reduce carbon emissions bus has contributed around 18.7% of UK’s emissions in 2022 so any reduction in that will have a significant M impact as well as adjusting the global challenge of climate change reducing emissions can for many opportunities for success and growth for businesses as adopting sustainable practices can strengthen Customer Loyalty help with business gain Competitive Edge and increasing the energy conscious um Marketplace another benefit of reducing carbon emissions is that they can lead to substantial cost savings uh through increased Energy Efficiency streamlining operations and optimize resource management and again with the recent develop in the UK government it’s still the UK still has an obligation uh to be Net Zero by 2050 to further some reasons to reduce emissions many larger organizations and companies have already committed to Net Zero and these commitments are finding their way into procurement processes so as organizations look to reduce their scope three emissions which is their supply chain emissions they’ll then they’ll they’ll then look at the supply chain and how they can reduce or eliminate those times emissions so if a business is part of a supply chain then they’ll be affected by this uh and they may need to reduce their carbon emissions or else larger organizations may start to look elsewhere for a lower carbon supplier which will help them reduce their emissions so the UK government requires that any biders for contracts over5 million pound are required to have a full carbon reduction plan this includes any work that’s part of a framework even if the individual bid is less than 5 milon bounds and this doesn’t just apply to the direct work in the in the bid and extends to suppliers contractors and sub contractors involved and this ensures that the commitment to reduce emissions Cascades down the supply chain which is crucial for impact uh environmental impact reduction the NHS also requires all the procurements must align with their net net zero targets which from April 2024 will mean that procurements over5 million pounds or or new Frameworks will require bid is to have full carbon reduction plans um for procurements between 10,000 and5 million and and then procurement between 10,000 and 5 million uh Net Zero commitment is required lot financial institutions are also committing uh to ensuring that they do not directly or indirectly finance activities that have a negative environmental impact and Main contractors on supply chain such as Ericson Ikea BT already committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions so many of them are looking to reduce their scope three in their supply chains so just have a little pause for a minute and if there’s any questions feel free to be to ask okay so good question uh about if there’s a climate clock teas Valley and how much will it cost to calculate a carbon footprint carbon footprint so teas Valley I’m I’m not aware that they have a climate clock but the Net Zero commitment to 203 uh of 2030 of 2050 does exist so in essence that is a clock uh and to calculate your carbon footprint so uh we offer our our tool which will can help you calculate that and that is available for free if you’re a part of the te’s valley okay so how to get access to the to so we we are able to send that over to you um after this uh if you’re interested in joining that and it’s part of our part of process uh so go through the webinars and then we can then move you on to the tool so uh answer to having it as an API embedded to a website I don’t think that’s available at the moment so sorry about that okay so uh there’s n question uh we can move on to the next section so first thing on your journey towards net zero as a company would be for a basier assessment uh which we’re going to explore in some more detail there are two main tools we can use for our commitment and Target setting uh first one is the greenhouse gas protocol which was developed by the World Resources Institute and the world Business Council for sustainable development in 1998 uh this is internationally recognized framework that provides comprehensive guidel lines and tools for organizations to measure report and manage their greenhouse gas emissions so how does it work it provides a stand methodology to assess and count and count greenhouse gas emissions including the following steps which is second boundaries identifying sources of emissions data collection and calculations reporting of documentation verification and insurance and setting targets and continuous improvements uh this is important as it provides a standardized methodology that ensures that emissions are measured accurately and consistently across organizations which allows for more meaningful comparisons and assessments um by helping to classify emissions the greenhouse gas protocol also helps to identify and prioritize emission sources and establish comprehensive emission reduction strategies is often integrated into a broader sustainability and Reporting Frameworks such as the global reporting initiative so we’re going to have a brief overview of the different scopes of emissions and the different sources under under those Scopes so the first one will be scope one emissions which is the direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company so your scope one emissions are what you burn so that would be your gas or oil burning boilers or non- electric vehicles that are owned by a company or any leaks from refrigeration and Air air conditioning units as and process emissions from Factory funes and chemicals scope two uh are those indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy such as Grid electricity or heating from heat networks or the generation of purchased Steam and finally there’s scope 3 missions which are the indirect mission that are not included in scope one or two uh that linked to the company’s operations scope three emissions can account for about 70% of company’s greenhouse gas emissions and examples of this include business travel employee commuting and Emissions related to production and purchase of goods and services as well as Investments W and wage disposal Um this can be a very broad area and there’s lots of different categories involved in this which can again contribute a large proport of a company’s greenhouse gas emissions so here’s a sort of example of a basio assessment um let me introduce you to our example company uh Magnus carbonis manufacturing is a small manufacturer of small consumer goods and to complete their first step on their journey to Net Zero they’ll have conducted a baser assessment to find the scope one two and scope three some of the scope three emissions which are shown in the table uh just to note about the units used uh tons of CO2 equivalent is a unit of measurement uh used to express global warming potential of different greenhouse gases in terms of their relative impact to carbon dioxide uh the most obvious emission Source in the table where this applies would be the refrigerant losses the refrigerant itself does not contain any CO2 but the refrigerant gr gas will trap heat in the atmosphere more effectively than CO2 so it’s given an equivalent value to to show how much CO2 how much CO2 would produce the same warming effect the rest of the table you can see the majority of um Magnus carbon manufacturing emissions are in the scope 3 category which is typical for most businesses so I’ll take another pause if there’s any questions about uh scope one two and three emissions and any of the uh Bas assessment feel free to ask them e so um answer to the if the CO2 equivalent is lower um it’s not more polluting so if you got a lower CO2 equivalent that means there’s less carbon dioxide uh if that number is higher there’s more carbon dioxide so if the uh for example with the refrigerant if you’ve got say 700 kilogram or tons of CO2 equivalent that will be lower um and then you have another one which is, 1400 uh tons of CO2 equivalent the 1400 tons will be higher okay if there’s uh no more questions we can move on to the next session so the next step on our net Journey towards net zero would be commitment and Target setting another tool we can use for this is science-based targets initiative uh this is a collaborative effort between several organizations including the United Nations Global Compact and the World Resources Institute and the worldwide fund for nature uh and the carbon disclosure project along with some others um the primary goal of science-based targets initiative is to help businesses and organizations set and Achieve scientifically grounded targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions so how does sbti work uh so the NetZero standard laid out by STI requires companies to set near and long-term targets um um by 2050 uh either by 2050 or and by reducing and neutralizing greenhouse gas emissions any Targets made with sbti will be in line with the Paris agreement and this helps to ensure that emissions targets are ambitious enough any Targets made with sbti will show companies how much and how quickly they’ll need to reduce uh their greenhouse gas emissions to be in line with the Paris agreement and prever prevent the worst effects of climate change companies will need to disclose some information to spti for validation and these will include things such as emission reduction targets base and Target years uh annual emissions and methodology used and any supporting documentation such as calculations something and boundaries the way sbti illustrates how much companies need to reduce their emissions by uh uses a linear annual reduction um this involves a consistent gradual reduction over a spe specified period of time and it makes uh tracking uh making targets uh easier and it benefits a business as it provides a predictable pathway which which is valuable for long-term planning and budgeting so STI has two kinds of targets the first one is your NE near-term targets which lie between five to 10 years of the base year um and if if consistent with the goal being Net Zero by 2050 a annual percentage reduction can be used for example every year a company will need to reduce its emissions by say 18% to be able to reach their near and long-term targets and that is in with that linear reduction the other kind of targets are long-term targets which are targets made from more than 10 years from the base year so a 2050 pledge a net 0er 2050 pledge will be considered a long-term Target um and these targets must have a greenhouse gas emission reduction of greater than 90% And the remaining percentage of the emissions are to be neutralized using permanent carbon storage or removal one the benefits of science-based targets uh science-based targets are supported by Leading scientific organizations and initiatives they undergo a rigorous uh assessment process which ensures their credibility and consistency and this enhances transparency and the reliability of the emissions calculations which will increase credibility with stakeholders investors and customers um these targets are also designed to align with climate targets such as Paris agreement which we previously mentioned and this helps ensure that emission reduction efforts are in line with the necessary trajectory and to address climate change and by aligning these strategies with climate science businesses are able to Future proof their operations and adapt to a changing business and Regulatory landscape so we’ll have another pause if there’s any questions about sbti um feel free to ask them okay I see no questions about that section so we can therefore move on to the next section which is emissions reduction plan so you may have heard both an emissions reduction plan and a carbon reduction plan and assume they’re the same thing um however there are some key differences between them um anyone can make an emissions deduction plan and put in there what they please this can include all emission Scopes or none at all and instead can use a custom method of categorizing emissions but because there’s no requirements for emissions reduction plan plan it’s not really a recognized document um a carbon reduction plan however it has specific guidelines uh that which it must follow which is outlined by PPN 0621 uh for it to be compliant uh for example it has to include scope one two and a number of scope three categories as a minimum uh since there’s specific requirements for the carbon reduction plan it is a recognized document and it’s also mandatory for large government procurements so what’s our example company’s emission reduction plan uh they have planed to make short and long-term Targets in line with sbti to be Net Zero by 2030 uh to reach uh Net Zero by 2030 they need to reduce their emissions by 17 tons annually um they plan to conduct a companywide assessment to find areas of hotpots U where they can reduce their emissions um the three main areas that they’re going to focus on are the energy energy usage behavioral and supply chain and this is expanded further in our low carbon interventions Workshop that we offer um so samples uh of uh reduction U methods of carbon reduction uh include Energy Efficiency lighting um new and more efficient equipment uh lower carbon heating such as heat pumps and other employees sensors such as uh sacrifice a salary sacrifice EV scheme any questions about from that section okay can move on to the next section then which is the with the emissions reduction plan uh determined the next step on the journey towards net zero is Energy Efficiency and renewable energy measures which includes emission reduction strategies Energy Efficiency and renewable measures fit into two categories uh which is abatement and elimination abatement is reducing the need for greenhouse gas intensive sources of energy or implementing renewable uh Technologies and elimination is more focused on the removal of the greenhouse gas emissions which is commonly done through offsetting or by removing emissions from the atmosphere uh this is explored further in our Net Zero webinar which we offer so some examples of AIT elimination will be in installing LED lighting as LED lighting is more efficient than your traditional hallogen lighting uh or fluorescent tube lighting this will reduce the energy demand which will therefore reduce your carbon emissions uh solar PV is another example is it reduces demand for electricity from the grid and replaces The Source from electricity with a low carbon alternative energy saving schemes that focus on behavioral changes can also be used and are an example of batement elimination and this can take a form of encouraging workers to turn off equipment at the plug when it’s not in use or not using hot water when necessary so back to our company example and the measures that they’re going to be implementing so to reduce their Reliance on real electricity uh MC manufacturing has decided to install solar panels and get rid of their gas boilers and replacing with heat bumps um they’ve implemented corporate policies to promote green travel options including requirements for business trips to have access that have access to railway use to utilize train Transportation which is uh lower carbon than for example flying or driving uh MCM has also engaged with a supply chain requiring any suppliers to have Net Zero and Emissions reduction plans which will help them reduce their scope three emissions so any questions from that section so I believe um if you get solar panels it’s uh you know it’s from a renewable source uh whereas uh the way um the way suppliers uh buy electricity um they buy credits so and it’s not not all the time certain where that Energy’s come from with credits they bought so if you want to ensure that your electricity is renewable and clean go for solar panels and another point about the uh about that is also um regardless if if you’ve got an NG renewable energy contract or not you’re still getting electricity from the grid and everything in all the electricity sources is just put into the grid so you don’t know what you’re getting exactly there’s you can’t trace it really if there’s no more questions on that we can move on to next session uh which is employee training and engagement so import important part of Net Zero is employee engagement as it helps uh employees understand what n at zero is and its goals uh if everyone in a company understands what the goals of with Net Zero are it makes them easier to achieve as people are more likely to engage positively if they understand why it’s been done um examples here uh show some commonly used methods to engage employees and these are again expanded further up in our decarbonization master class that we offer so if you don’t have time to read that all um the slides will be sent over after after this presentation finished so you can go back and uh reread them so next uh next step is Supply kit chain engagement so once you’ve uh taken efforts to reduce your own emissions uh next uh step will be to collaborate with your supply suppliers and other value chain Partners uh to reduce your emissions through the supply chain this is relevant to scope three categories which is your purchase goods and services capital goods and Upstream transportation and distribution supply chain emissions uh as previously highlighted can contribute significantly to business’s total emissions uh as previously said it’s can contribute up to 70% of your overall emissions um businesses should encourage their suppliers to adopt sustainable practices uh improve Energy Efficiency and reduce their own emissions so here’s back to our company example uh a major Hotpot for supply chain emissions for MCM is a transportation and distribution of its products within the local area uh the currently the company MCM uses for the distribution of its products operates some old vans which are unreliable and inefficient so after discussions with the Distribution Company and showing the upgrading the fleet will reduce fuel fuel and maintenance and ules costs significantly the Distribution Company has decided to purchase some Modern electric vans with their low emissions Vans then being used MCM has successfully engaged their supply chain and reduced their scope 3 emissions so we’re just going to go over carbon offsetting and removal um when it should be applied so carbon offsets a way of permanently removing greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere uh by funding tree planting or other Renewable Energy Products projects uh two UK government recognized schemes that you should look for if you’re looking into offsetting are are the Woodland carbon code and the Petland code code uh there are other organizations that claim to offer carbon offsetting but in many cases they don’t actually work and they’re unable to be validated so it’s really important to research who you’re using for offsetting uh as there been cases where you think you’re obsessing and in reality uh you’re not for example if your organization claims to plant trees when in reality they’re just buying old existing woodlands and then you pay them not to cut it down it’s not really uh not really offsetting any emissions you’re just threatening to cut down some trees essentially and getting people to pay you otherwise and this has happened previously um hence why the UK recognized schemes the Petland code and the Woodland carbon code are important to look for as they can be more easily verified uh offset shouldn’t be really used as an excuse to continue missing greenhouse gas emissions as just offsetting emissions doesn’t help in reaching at zero as the carbon is still being produced and doesn’t address the key issue of using unsustainable sources of energies they should only really be used to offset emissions that cannot be limited by other travel other me means such as International Air Travel it’s really a last resort um for it and again with the sbti uh 90% of emissions need to be reduced and then that EXT the last 10% is the remainder which you can offset so any questions about that section okay but we can move on to the uh next section which is the monitoring or reporting and is’s our final step on our journey to at zero so to ensure or going back to our going back to our example company to ensure that their data is accurate and reliable they’ve decided to conduct regular reviews and validations of the data Um this can be uh by comparing against industry Benchmark figures uh establishing a monitoring system that tracks and controls their emissions data throughout the reporting period or engaging a thirdparty experts or Auditors to conduct independent review and validation of the of their emissions data s spti is an example of an organization are we able to do this or will a to validate the results so there are some benefits of reporting these emissions as it demonstrates a commitment to transparency and builds trusts and holds companies accountable for the emissions they produce and in many cases explained earlier with the NHS requirements or the UK’s government commitment to Net Zero it it ensures compliance with laws and regulations which help avoid penalties and any legal issues also helps track progress and set targets and compare performance against benchmarks or and peers so you can see whether you’re above or below average in your emissions this all comes together to Pro provide insights for decision decision and identifies emission reduction opportunities and prioritizes actions so continuous Improvement is important part of the validation process and refers to an ongoing effort by companies to reduce and optimize their greenhouse gas emissions and this is done as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is very rarely or practically feasible in one push so by reducing these emissions over time it becomes a lot more feasible um changes o may happen within the company which will affect the greenhouse gas emissions which then affect the targets such as new employees or additional assets uh by making continuous improvements this can help counteract this so the company is still moving forwards towards their emissions targets so final note about uh continuous improvements if our example company MC manufacturing have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 95% of their base year and they’ve used some carbon offsets to to reduce the or neutralize the remaining emissions then they can say they’ve reached that zero um if they then stop monitoring these emissions after they have achieved this and the company doubles in size and so does their energy consumption and their greenhouse gas emissions um will also be expected to increase and because they haven’t made continuous improvements to mitigate for the fact that they’ve increased in size um they will no long be able to say that they’re Net Zero and they’ll lose their s spti certification so uh a quick little quiz uh we will send some polls polls over if you could answer them that’ll be great um so it’s a few questions about uh about the presentation for you before we get on to the questions for any questions you have for me so first question is uh what is a short-term admissions Target okay so the answer to that is C which the emission reduction Target is has a time frame between 5 to 10 years so answer the next question uh what is the first step to take on your Net Zero journey is a in stalling Energy Efficiency energy reducing measures such as LED lighting could be B uh creating a carbon reduction plan or C conducting a basier assessment y the answer is C which is conduct a base your assessment um you’ll be unable to create a carbon reduction plan unless you already know what you’re emitting so so you’ll need to con the basic assessment first so you know what you’re missing and the areas where you can approve on and then then you can Implement your carbon reduction plan of how to reduce those emissions so final question uh when should carbon offsets be used according to sbti uh can be to neutralize emissions that cannot be eliminated by other means to immediately reduce emissions for implementing any energy saving measures or to eliminate all scope three emissions okay so the answers is to neutralize emissions that cannot be eliminated by other means so as as previous said offsets should only be used as a last result and to get rid of those emissions that you can’t uh get rid of or can’t reduce um by other means um so it is mostly mostly important to reduce your emissions first uh before then offsetting anything that you can’t uh reduce so that’s the end of the questions I have for you so if you have any questions you like to ask me uh feel free to go ahead well if there’s uh no further questions uh thank you for attending uh if you’d like to have further conversations about Net Zero you’re able to sign sign up for the Net Zero surgery sessions that we offer which are a oneto one session which we’ll be happy to have more of a conversation about Net Zero and any questions you have um also please check out our other webinars that we offer um and they will help you uh again more thresh out uh more areas towards net zero and more reduction methods