As our society becomes increasingly eco-literate and alert to greenwashing, labels like 'carbon positive' and 'climate neutral company' are under increasing scrutiny—and that's a good thing! We need to make sure organisations aren't just talking the talk, but walking the walk when it comes to meeting our net zero targets.

Luckily, in recent years, the Science Based Targets Initiative has tightened the definition of what 'net zero' actually means. Under their Net Zero Standard, a company can only claim to be net zero if they've reduced their emissions by at least 90%. The last 10%—and only the last 10%—can be offset.

So while the definition of what it means to be a 'climate neutral' company isn't as regulated as 'net zero', this blog will be taking a leaf out of the SBTi's book and suggesting ways for companies to take a reduction-first approach when it comes to their carbon emissions—thus becoming a truly climate neutral company.‍

Changing our behaviour(s)

Currently, the only tried-and-true solution to reducing emissions is through behavioural change.

Emerging green technologies, such as carbon capture, will play a role in getting us to net zero. However, plenty of experts are also warning us against relying too heavily on them—most of these shiny new bits of tech are in very early stages of development, remain unreliable and are untested. We still don't know for sure the scale of the impact they'll be able to have on the climate crisis.

While the idea of shifting gears away from 'business as usual' might seem more daunting and complex than just paying someone to suck carbon out of our atmosphere (trust us: it's not), there are plenty of small steps that businesses can implement which prioritise people and planet, as well as profit.

For example, let's look at the issue of energy usage. Currently, every national energy grid is run off a mix of renewables and fossil fuels. By using less energy more efficiently, we're reducing demand on the grid, and causing less fossil fuels to be added to the energy mix. Steps that businesses can take to help with that include:

• Insulating offices
• Making sure all electronic devices, like computers and monitors, are completely turned off at the end of the day
• Using printers and copiers more mindfully
• Instituting a (tongue-in-cheek) ban on 'thank you' emails

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From there, it might be worth exploring some bigger, more wide-reaching strategies. Since the majority of a business' carbon footprint comes from their scope 3 emissions, influencing behavioural change in these related areas will have a massive impact. Emissions that fall into the scope 3 category are famously difficult to measure, however, which is why we designed our survey to help our customers gather information on their employee-related scope 3 emissions.

Using our data, our customers have been able to measure the viability and effectiveness of new policies, such as:

• Helping employees transition to renewable energy at home
• Install EV chargers at the office and/or subsidise public transportation options to reduce commuting emissions
• Implement a new business travel policy that incentivises low-carbon travel
  

Building a green culture

If a business is to reach its net zero goals, getting their entire workforce aligned behind their targets is critical.

‘Companies that are winning the sustainability battle have created the conditions for their stakeholders to own sustainability. In these companies, sustainability is not someone else’s problem.’ -- Harvard Business Review, CB Bhattacharya

Research increasingly shows that sustainability cannot be siloed off into an ESG team; its ambitions must be baked into every job description in order for them to be realised.

But how might a company accomplish this? Again, let's think small first. How about:

• Making sustainability part of every new hire's onboarding process
• Finding and empowering the climate activists amongst your workforce
• Shouting about your company's environmental targets at every available opportunity
• Surveying your employees to find out where they're currently at, and what support they need
• Ensuring that conversations around sustainability form a part of an employee's regular review process

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Of course, every company is different—what works for some might not work for others, due to the unique needs, structures or demographics within their workforce.

This is why we advise all our customers to set up segments as part of their Pawprint onboarding process, so that we're able to map out the data they receive from their Scope 3 survey against relevant employee groupings. This allows us to gather richer, more detailed data; track trends; and deliver more insightful suggestions into how they can organically grow a green culture within their business.

And only then... offsetting

We've spoken at length about offsetting in a previous blog, but it always bears repeating that offsetting is not a replacement for reduction. Plenty of companies are offsetting while also taking steps to reduce their impact, however, which is great! Here are a few key things to keep in mind when looking into offsetting programmes.

• Consider the people involved; both their livelihoods and their wellbeing. Team Pawprint works on the principle that action on climate change shouldn’t come at a cost to people
• Look out for greenwashing! Ensure that the project you’re investing in is actually doing the good it says it’s doing
• Make sure the offsetting is permanent