Carbon offset for business is huge current news. Environmental impacts are important to C-suites across all industries; consequently, companies are looking for ways to decrease their carbon footprint.
The problem is huge the number of net-zero commitments increase and companies will be pressured to keep their commitments.
Carbon offsets for businesses are one of the options you might be thinking about but you may be left with a few questions like:
What is carbon offset?
What are the reasons why companies choose to make use of carbon offsets?
How much does it cost to operate? Does it really help in moving your company towards becoming carbon neutrality?
We will explore these questions and many more.
What is Business Carbon Offsetting?
What is carbon offset in the business world? Carbon offsetting (sometimes called “carbon credits”) is the method of neutralizing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that an individual or business emits in the course of a particular activity or during its business. Corporate carbon offset addresses the organization aspect of this.
The trend is gaining traction. at the time of writing 163 companies of within the Fortune Global 500 had publicly committed to meeting climate-related targets Carbon neutrality was the most popular of these, as cited by the 91 companies.
Some carbon offsets are used in order to fulfill obligations related to emission as well as environmental efficiency. Certain carbon offset markets are created by the voluntary purchase of carbon credits. This is vital as McKinsey observes, not only because carbon credits purchased by voluntary buyers boost the amount offset by carbon and offset, but also because:
“Voluntary carbon credits provide private funding to climate action projects that otherwise would not be able to get off the ground. They alsoaid in the investment and innovations needed to lower the costs of developing technologies for climate change.” Additionally, they assist in aiding in “facilitate the transfer of capital towards in the Global South, where there is the highest opportunities for economically viable nature-based emissions reduction projects.”
Carbon offset for business appears to meet a variety of criteria and then. However, it’s not an easy fix, also, the framework isn’t created to help it be successful. Bloomberg estimates that of the 18 major oil companies with the current net-zero targets, 3.3 billion metric tons of annual emissions would need to be eliminated to achieve their goals, which is nearly 18 times more than the total quantity of offsets for carbon they will issue in 2020.
Although your goals may not be identically challenging, they might seem equally daunting.
How does Corporate Carbon Offsetting work?
If carbon offset is something that your company is thinking about, you’ll need to know the way it works and what it will mean in the real world. What is the process for carbon offsets in companies actually perform? Can a company truly reduce the carbon emissions of its operations?
Carbon offsetting for businesses (and in fact any carbon offset) program is based by assuming that carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the atmosphere will offset carbon dioxide emissions elsewhere.
Based on this, companies can offset carbon emissions with the help of investing into and setting up initiatives that can reduce carbon emissions or even store it in order to offset the carbon dioxide they generate elsewhere. A term like carbon credit, used to refer to carbon offset can be described as an exchange of carbon emissions.
What is this like in actuality? The kinds of projects that are utilized for carbon offsets in business are:
Tree planting
Forest preservation
Renewable energy sources, like solar or wind farms
Energy efficiency initiatives, such as insulation of the premises of a business and introducing an electrical vehicle fleet
What is the reason companies choose to use Carbon Offset?
What are the main reasons for corporate carbon offset? There are many compelling motives:
Increasingly, organizations in all sectors recognize that environmentally-focused strategies are the “right thing to do” as part of a broader ethical and ESG-oriented culture.
They also face public pressure to increase the quality of their ESG performance. 2022 is expected to be the “golden period” of shareholder activism, with the poor ESG performance being one of the key factors used to “mark the companies as potential targets” for activists.
This is not all, however, ESG performance is now more transparent as disclosure requirements become more stringent and the use of reporting results to assess and judge the capabilities of your business as an investor, business partner, and supplier.
Imagine that your company produces substantial amounts of carbon. In this case corporate carbon offsets can be the only viable option to reduce significant carbon emissions at least in the short-term.
What is the cost To offset carbon?
The shift to a more natural-positive approach could become one of the Holy Grail for many organizations however, within the ethical aspects companies still have financial obligations. The CFO as well as the his team the next natural concern is what costs will this be? What are the costs companies pay on carbon offsets?
At present, offsetting corporate carbon emissions is about $3-5 per tCO2e (that is the equivalent of $3-5 per ton carbon dioxide equivalent).
However the report from June 2021 from University College London (UCL) suggests that this figure could increase to $20-50/tCO2e by 2030 , and over $50/tCO2e by 2050, the people responsible for carbon neutralizing projects are properly paid and incentivized.
Does corporate carbon offset work?
Another important aspect to consider. If the method is proven as inefficient, businesses won’t be able to achieve anything with carbon offset. As with all new processes there’s been an element of doubt regarding carbon offset. However, the evidence that offset emissions can be beneficial but not completely resolve the issue in greenhouse gases is undisputed.
The BBC is an British broadcasting and news corporation and broadcaster, says that even though “numerous skeptical people” have claimed that carbon offset is “ineffective or even unmoral” and also agrees that “they are a completely flawed instrument,” it also concludes that “they definitely have a positive impact.”
To determine if carbon offset can be effective, it’s crucial to understand that it’s not the perfect solution for climate change. However, experts are in agreement that it’s an essential step towards the journey towards net zero. No matter how well-meaning or thorough the strategies of an organization to reduce emissions nearly all companies will have an environmental footprint that they have to reduce which can be done through the trade carbon credits.
Therefore, while carbon offsets for corporations isn’t the only solution however it is an essential element of the solution. Companies no longer have to ask what they should do, but rather how to reduce their carbon emission.
The Next Step to carbon-neutral operations
Climate change is hugely important to everyone not just to support “optics,” or reporting or the balance sheet but to ensure our existence as a species -that businesses must make use of every tool they have in their arsenals to combat the issue.
While carbon offsetting for businesses isn’t an all-purpose solution for companies seeking to enhance the quality of their ESG standing, it’s an effective and well-tested tool to add to your toolbox. It will have an impact on the carbon footprint of your business.
Carbon offsets for businesses can result in tangible improvements to your ESG performance when it is part of an organized approach that focuses on:
Understanding and measuring the drivers of your company’s carbon footprint
Making steps to limit carbon emissions
Completing any emissions you are unable to reduce by yourself
We hope that this article has provided you with a better understanding of the theories behind carbon offset for businesses and the practical aspects of the implementation of a carbon offset for business strategy.