The quick win that most Net Zero plans miss – preventing the introduction of new emission sources.

When developing carbon reduction plans companies often consider only how to reduce their current emission sources. Whilst of course, this is important, companies should give equal importance to preventing the introduction of new emission sources, which can have almost the same scale of impact. Why? Because of business growth. 

For example, take a company with scope 1 & 2 emissions coming solely from their offices. They plan modest business growth of 5% per annum. If they have 100 employees now, with the effect of compounding that will be 171 employees by 2035. These new employees will need additional space to work in, likely a new building (or two). If these new buildings have gas heating, then this introduces a new, difficult to remove emission source, with significant emissions impact. 

This is an example of the effect of unabated emissions growth – the growth in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that occur from normal business growth if mitigations are not put into place. It’s impact is considerable and can virtually double the challenge of emissions reduction targets. Setting a near-term Science-Based Target (SBT) for 2035 will require a 63% emission reduction against the baseline but if that business grows at 5% per annum, the reduction required against the unabated emissions by 2035 will be 78%. 

It's crucial to plan for and mitigate these impacts. For scope 1 and 2 emissions, there are some quick wins here: 

1. Introduce an office premise policy so that no new offices, or serviced offices can be powered by anything other than renewable energy or electricity. Ideally, the latter will be on a renewable energy tariff, but failing that, decarbonisation of the National Grid over time should minimise emission increases. 

2. Introduce a policy to limit future emissions growth from car travel. Even if your company currently has no company vehicles, introduce a policy stating that any company vehicles must be electric to mitigate the impact of any future company vehicles.  

Unfortunately for scope 3 emissions, there aren’t equivalent quick-wins. Instead, you need to double down efforts on supply chain emission reductions which are likely the company’s most significant source of emissions and are challenging enough to reduce. Read more about reducing these emissions here. 

For help with your company’s GHG reduction plans, contact us here. 

Authored by Caroline Johnstone.