Carbon neutral vs net zero

As conversation around climate change grows louder, we’ve had to become familiar with the language used to describe what it all means. With buzzwords like net zero and carbon neutral making their way into our vocabulary, we’re becoming more informed – and better equipped – to understand the steps needed to protect the environment. But do these two terms – carbon neutral and net zero – refer to the same thing? You would be forgiven for mistaking this, as they seem to be used interchangeably by the politicians, businesses, scientists and experts driving the climate conversation. In short, achieving net zero and carbon neutrality has the same end result – removing harmful emissions from the earth’s atmosphere – but the scale and kind of emissions removed are different. What’s the difference between carbon neutral and net zero? Net zero refers to the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) – such as carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane or sulphur dioxide – that are removed from the atmosphere being equal to those emitted by human activity. Emissions reductions would generally follow a certain trajectory, e.g. 1.5 ° C (34.7 ° F) . Any residual emissions would generally focus on GHG sequestration from the atmosphere. Carbon neutrality is similar in that GHG emissions are offset, although it generally includes a wider definition of offsetting residual emissions, including emissions avoidance activities, and wouldn’t prescribe a specific reduction trajectory. It's also less prescriptive regar...

Twenty years ago, everybody was talking about becoming 'Carbon Neutral', today 90% of the world's economy is covered by a 'Net Zero' target. So what's the difference between the two? Carbon Neutrality is achieved when a person, organisation, process or product makes no contribution to the increase in the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. While most campaigns on carbon neutrality followed waste-hierarchy-style 'avoid, reduce, offset' guidance, many organisations relied on carbon offsets (eg paying someone to plant trees) to get the badge. Carbon Neutrality faded from view when environmentalists attacked the concept of offsetting, most notably George Monbiot likening it to rich people buying indulgences from the church to absolve themselves of serious crimes in medieval Europe. While many (including me) reject this idea of offsetting as immoral, in practice many offsetting schemes have turned out to be ineffective, or even fraudulent. Net Zero is achieved when a person, organisation, process or product makes no contribution to the increase in the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Sound familiar? The difference between Net Zero and Carbon Neutrality is the former implies radical carbon reductions before reaching for the offsets. The problem is the lack of consensus as to the balance between actual reductions and offsets. Various minimum levels have been proposed, for example: • The UK Government's Net Zero target set out in the Climate ...

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol establishes a comprehensive framework for measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions from private and public sector operations, value chains and mitigation actions. They have produced the world’s most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standard. This includes three scopes of emissions. Scope 1 Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions are the emissions released into the atmosphere as a direct result of an activity, or series of activities, carried out by a business. These are often referred to as direct emissions such as heating an office or transporting goods by vehicle to a customer. Scope 2 Scope 2 is the energy your business purchases, in other words, the emissions created in the production of energy that is eventually used by the company. This can be zero if you are purchasing 100% renewable energy. Scope 3 Scope 3 covers a much wider remit and includes transportation and distribution, waste generated, leased assets, business travel, employee commuting and purchased goods and services through the supply chain, water consumption, and IT equipment and services. It covers all your indirect emissions. If you’d like to find out more about the methodology and principles behind The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, you can download the Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standards Carbon neutral Achieving carbon neutral status only covers scopes 1 and 2. To be carbon neutral, a business needs to offset the carbon they directly emit into the atmosphere and lo...

Independent of regulation, many businesses are compelled by traditional market drivers—investors, competitors, and customers—to What’s the difference between net-zero and carbon neutral? Although the terms “net-zero” and “carbon neutral” both refer to the balance of emitted GHGs with avoided or removed emissions, the distinguishing factor between the two claims hinges on compensated emissions (aka offsets). A business can claim carbon neutrality by measuring its emissions and then offsetting the balance through financed projects outside of its value chain, without actually reducing its own emissions. Net-zero, on the other hand, does not permit compensated emissions, which compels companies to more meaningfully reduce value chain emissions. Although similar in theory to carbon neutrality, net-zero emissions refers to all greenhouse gas emissions, not just carbon. But the distinction goes further. Net-zero was formally defined in late 2021 by the Science Based Targets initiative’s And then, of course, there is “zero emissions,” which is essentially a pipedream, because it’s an absolute elimination of all emissions from your operation. This ambitious goal does not allow for any financed removal and requires technology that has yet to exist at scale. What’s the difference between carbon neutral and carbon negative? Companies with How carbon offsetting works In nature, during photosynthesis, trees regulate and absorb the amount of carbon dioxide in the air and store it in thei...