Why do a carbon assessment?
In 2015, the governments of the world's nations decided to set a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. This goal is necessary if we want to fight against global warming and its associated impacts. It is a question of limiting our impact on the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems sensitive to the rise in temperature that has been observed for several years.
If this objective is only planned for 2050, we must act now if we want to reach it. It is therefore important that everyone acts at their level and with their means. Following this international agreement, a roadmap has been published by the SNBC to help French public and private organizations to participate in this collective effort.
In order to fight against global warming, it is necessary to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. But before reducing, it is necessary to account for them and to do it in a correct and complete way.
The carbon footprint is the tool that reports on the carbon footprint of an organization. It quantifies all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated directly or indirectly by an organization. Following an analysis of the emission items, it enables the implementation of an action plan and a carbon strategy to reduce these emissions as much as possible. Finally, it proposes solutions for offsetting the emissions that are inevitably produced.
Mandatory for companies employing more than 50 employees and benefiting from the stimulus plan (Finance Law 2021, art. 244), for those employing more than 500 employees or 250 employees for overseas departments as well as for local authorities with more than 50,000 inhabitants (Grenelle II Law, July 12, 2010), it remains however a good commercial and eco-responsible argument for all other organizations. More and more companies are deciding to carry out their own carbon footprint for a variety of reasons and beyond the regulatory GHG assessment.
The main reason used by the companies is the will to be part of an ecological approach.
The fight against global warming is of increasing interest to our society. So-called "green" companies are on the rise and the desire to work with or for eco-responsible companies or products is being felt. This is why we observe an increase in the demand of companies to carry out a greenhouse gas assessment to evaluate their impact on the environment and act to help in the fight against climate change.
Calculating the carbon impact of an organization on our environment often starts with an intention to work in an environmentally responsible way. Business leaders wishing to "do their part" in the fight against climate change will choose to perform a carbon assessment simply to understand how to reduce their impact on the environment.
The eco-friendly aspect may not echo your aspirations and priorities as a business leader, however, the realization of a carbon footprint allows much more than that! It can be done for economic reasons or used as a commercial argument.
A carbon footprint not only allows for an analysis of CO2 emissions, it also provides the ability to track GHG emissions in real time.
It is then possible to identify ways to reduce GHG emissions. An action plan aimed at reducing the impact of the company's activities on all three scopes, by reducing its energy consumption for example, will inevitably result in substantial savings well above the cost of the assessment.
From a communication point of view, the realization of such a report and its dissemination internally within the company or externally to its customers, partners or authorities demonstrates a change in the company's eco-responsible posture. This will also raise the awareness of the company's employees and make them full-fledged actors in the sustainable turn taken by the company. This change in attitude can be used as a strong commercial argument in calls for tender, for example.
Finally, a decisive point is the implementation of the future carbon tax. The carbon tax is an environmental tax on carbon dioxide emissions. The levy is direct and proportional to the quantities emitted, which means that the higher the emission, the higher the tax. Not yet in force, it will be soon and concerns all sectors.
When this tax is applicable, all players will have to calculate their emissions in order to pay it. So yes, we could say that we will calculate our emissions when this tax is applicable. However, if you think about it, in order to reduce its cost as much as possible, you have to reduce your emissions as much as possible before the tax comes into force. The realization of a first carbon assessment quickly will allow to set up solutions of reduction and thus to anticipate this future tax.
The realization of a carbon footprint, although paying, represents a definite advantage for a company, an organization or a community.
It provides an economically and commercially interesting solution, but above all it allows us to participate in achieving the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
A greenhouse gas balance sheet makes it possible to account for an organization's emissions. Once this accounting is done, an analysis must be carried out. This analysis allows to highlight the most emitting items of greenhouse gases and to identify the points on which the organization must act.
This analysis allows the implementation of an action plan to reduce emissions. This plan also allows to define the low-carbon strategy that the company wishes to follow and thus reach the objective of carbon neutrality by 2050 as requested by the government.
How do you perform your GHG assessment online?
Once convinced to carry out a GHG assessment, it remains however to ask how and with whom to carry out such an assessment.
Usually done using an Excel spreadsheet, platforms have been developed to simplify the process of completing a carbon footprint. Global Climate Initiatives is one of these platforms. GCI offers a platform that is adapted to each company's sector of activity in order to make it easy and quick to carry out an assessment.
In addition to the realization of a balance sheet, the platform allows to define action plans and helps companies to fight against global warming by developing tools always more advanced to meet the expectations of users. You will be able to account for, reduce and offset your emissions in a simple and effective way.
With the GCI platform, you can carry out your carbon assessment by sector of activity independently or with the help of a carbon assessment expert, so are you ready to carry out your carbon assessment?
