- Flood Waters in Carlisle, England - Increases in extreme weather cases are closely linked to global temperatures rises (PA, 2015)
~5 minute read ~
Earlier this week, hidden amongst the array of extremely difficult global news, the world’s most important climate science organisation (the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change | IPCC) released their latest report on the state of the climate. It is a mammoth report, and even the well presented executive summary is a chunky document.
Thankfully, a number of organisations have written excellent short summaries and explainers, including:
- Carbon Brief’s 'In-depth Q&A'
- Edie’s 'Five ways businesses can respond...'
- Our partners at the Sustainable Restaurant Association have outlined their response in a great blog post here.
- An example of what the SRA is currently doing is the One Planet Plate campaign, which encourages sustainable diet shifts and will serve up to 5 million meals across the planet
One small part of the report managed to encourage us at Net Zero Now - our apathy buster - Every 0.1° Matters
“The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming” (SPM.B.4, IPCC, 2022)
The report reiterates that it is essential to limit temperature increases as much as possible and to fight against every small increment of temperature increase. We do this by reducing the quantity of greenhouse gases that we pump in to the atmosphere. Every tonne of greenhouse gas (CO2e) that is removed, or not added to the atmosphere will make a difference. UK businesses are responsible for 1000's tCO2e added to the atmosphere every day.
A business, whether large or small, has the potential to act as a beacon of change. Businesses are well positioned to influence large numbers of people, encouraging behaviour changes through society and systematic change across supply chains. Since every tonne of CO2e matters, every single business must play a role. At Net Zero Now, we are expertly positioned to support businesses who seek to take such a leadership position on the climate.
Take Action – Four Steps to go Net Zero Now
For businesses that want to take action on Climate, Net Zero Now has developed a sector specific approach to make the process as easy as possible. It has four key steps:
Calculate – Reduce – Compensate - Communicate
1. Take the first step – register at go.netzeronow.org and begin to calculate your impact on the climate. Your organisation will receive a tailored climate report and learn the hotspots of where your emissions are coming from.
2. Lead through example – reduce your emissions by taking actions to change your processes and behaviours. You will be helped to reduce emissions immediately and contribute to national 1.5° science based targets.
3. When requested, businesses may compensate for essential activities by supporting reputable projects which seek to remove CO2e from the atmosphere. Net Zero Now ensures that all compensation is carried out in line with the Oxford Principles.
4. Share your journey through savvy communication and encourage your stakeholders to join you. Net Zero Now has developed a range of useful content for businesses to utilise at every step of their journey.
a. Customers – Customers are increasingly aware of the climate impact of the businesses they visit. Savvy consumers will choose to support businesses with solid commitments to climate action. Businesses on their net zero journey will have a range of powerful material to present what stage of the process they are on.
b. Employees – Employees read the news, and want to contribute to climate action through their work. Businesses with commitments to ambitious climate strategies will attract and retain staff more efficiently.
c. Supply Chain - By engaging with your supply chain, even the smallest businesses can encourage huge multinationals to make changes. As businesses up and down supply chains become more aware of their Scope 3 climate impact, it will be increasingly expected that all businesses will report their footprints and what they are doing to reduce emissions. Net Zero Now provides your results formatted for external reporting as standard.
Net Zero Now exists to support businesses on every step of this journey. The process is both:
Practical – Designed to be easy to use for busy managers, so that excessive administration does not get in the way of climate action.
Robust – All actions are aligned with the latest science to ensure you will be confident that your actions are credible.
To take action, contact us now at go@netzeronow.org and we will help your business play its part in fighting the Climate Emergency.
Sources
Cover Image : PA / ITV News - Flooding in Carlisle, England
Figure 1 : https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg2/
Figures 2-5 : Net Zero Now
Figure 6 : unsplash.com
