Zero carbon solutions
Our five-step Climate Action for Industry programme will guide the way.
We’ll help you implement practical zero carbon solutions
Don’t know where to start?
Companies EM3 is working with
What is zero carbon?
Confusingly, ‘zero carbon’ is sometimes called ‘net zero’, ‘carbon neutral’ and ‘climate positive’. What all these terms mean is that any carbon emissions created are effectively cancelled out by removing the same amount from the earth’s atmosphere. So we’ll achieve net zero when the carbon emissions we create are no more than the amount taken away.
What are zero carbon solutions?
A zero carbon solution is the term for schemes that emit low levels of CO2, or none at all. These often involve renewable technologies such as:
- Solar power
- Air source heat pumps
- Ground source heat pumps
- CHP (Combined Heat and Power)
- Biomass energy
- Wind turbines
- Hydroelectricity
Businesses can reduce their emissions by eliminating energy waste, using electric vehicles or renewable forms of energy such as solar, biomass, wind and hydroelectric power.
Unavoidable emissions can be ‘offset’ (or compensated for) by paying for an equivalent amount to be reduced or removed elsewhere. This often takes the form of environmental projects such as reforestation or the installation of solar panels.
Why is net zero carbon important?
Net zero carbon is important because reducing harmful emissions is the best way we can tackle climate change.
It’s being talked about a lot now because action is urgently needed. Almost every country in the world has signed the Paris Agreement on climate change, which aims to keep the global temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial era levels. This means we can’t keep pumping out the emissions that cause climate change. If we don’t achieve net zero carbon by 2050, temperatures will continue to rise well beyond 1.5°C to levels that threaten the lives and livelihoods of people worldwide.
We’ve all seen the devastating floods and heatwaves in India and Pakistan, raging forest fires in Australia and typhoons in Asia. The number of climate-related disasters has tripled in the last 30 years.
Between 2006 and 2016, global sea-levels rose 2.5 times faster than throughout the whole of the 20th century . Some low-lying islands, like the Maldives, are at risk of disappearing altogether!
Reducing our business carbon footprints and adding net zero carbon solutions makes commercial sense too. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the role of manufacturing in climate change. A recent study by IPSOS of adults across 28 countries showed more than two-thirds (69%) have made changes to their behaviour as a result.
This represents a risk to businesses that ignore this trend but an opportunity to those who embrace climate action.
Many industries are now making a deliberate decision to reduce their emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and limit their impact on the world’s climate. If you’d like to join them, talk to us about net zero carbon solutions.
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Benefits of zero carbon solutions for businesses
Lower energy costs
Switching your business energy from fossil fuels to renewable sources can result in lower utility bills. You can do this by installing solar panels, wind turbines or other types of renewable energy on your site to power operations. But the simplest way is to switch to your energy supplier’s green tariff.
Enhanced reputation
Research shows consumers increasingly expect businesses to make ethical decisions so sustainability has become a critical factor in choice of supplier. Businesses that ‘do the right thing’, including using net zero carbon solutions
are more appealing to prospective customers.
Greater resilience
Working towards net zero can help protect your business against spiralling energy prices and market disruption. Simple measures your business can take include switching to electric-powered vehicles, installing solar panels and choosing a green electricity tariff.
More appealing investment proposition
Having a long-term sustainable strategy with low or no dependence on fossil fuels makes businesses more attractive as they are at less risk of disruption in the event of supply chain problems.
Competitive edge
A recent survey found that only 11% of respondents measure their business’ carbon footprint. This suggests that knowing your environmental impact and doing something about it could give you a competitive advantage.
EM3 services to help you reduce your business carbon footprint
Greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting
GHG accounting is exactly what you think it is: counting carbon emissions. This is harder than it sounds – gases have to be reported in units of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) and emissions converted into ‘activity data’. But don’t worry, we can handle this for you, working to the internationally recognised standard ISO 14064.
Climate action service
So you’ve made a commitment to taking climate action and have a strategy – now what?
We’ll partner with you to provide an ongoing service including monthly performance reports, agnostic advice on carbon reduction projects and measurement and verification of the results to international standards. We’ll even help you communicate your carbon goals, strategy and performance from the boardroom to the production floor and from your local community to governments or even the United Nations!
Water auditing
Our ongoing water management service involves developing a meter and metric map for your water and analysing your consumption on an ongoing basis. We’ll also measure and verify the results of your water efficiency projects.
Carbon footprint calculation
From raw materials through to end-of-life, we can give you a full understanding of your business carbon footprint right down to product level and how this compares with industry peers. We’ll then develop a bespoke strategy to reduce the entire lifecycle emissions of each product using our data analytics and engineering experience.
We’ll help you make this a selling point with an EM3-verified product label giving a live link to your website. This will detail up-to-date progress on your emissions reduction strategy and location-based emissions for your product. Such transparency will help you build a relationship of openness and trust with your customers.
Benefits of choosing zero carbon solutions from EM3
Specialist expertise
Services to reduce your business carbon footprint include greenhouse gas accounting, development of climate action strategies, water auditing and management, and calculating your products’ carbon footprint as the starting point to reduce lifecycle emissions.
Scale
We have a team of more than 60 full-time energy experts at your disposal. Our team includes engineers, scientists, data analysts, researchers, business and finance specialists.
Experience
Our people have decades of hands-on experience working with industry, giving us a deep understanding of the industrial sector and its energy challenges.
Partnership
We collaborate closely with you, becoming an active player in your energy team, invested in achieving energy savings for your business.
Eliminating the guesswork in energy efficiency
We’ll develop innovative solutions to your energy challenges by combining cutting-edge data analytics with our engineering expertise.
If you’re looking for inventive and pragmatic zero carbon energy solutions that will work in your industry, contact us today.
Get in touch! Contact us
EM3’s Real Zero tool
Your journey to Real Zero starts here
You’ll want to track the impact of your zero carbon energy solutions on your progress towards net zero. If you’re serious about reducing your business’ carbon footprint, cutting costs and improving its long-term sustainability, we’ve developed this tool for you.
What is the Real Zero tool?
Our Real Zero interactive tool gives you a personalised roadmap to help you reach your emissions reduction target. Benefit from our expertise and years of experience to avoid wrong turns and save time getting where you want to be.
You’ll get summary charts, like the one below, and full guidance on the steps to take in each phase. Ready?
Let’s go! Or contact us to find out more.
Related solutions
Zero carbon solutions are just one of the energy-efficiency services EM3 offers to industrial businesses. Our extensive knowledge of industrial energy management means whichever service you need, you can rely on us to deliver sustainable projects that result in quantifiable energy savings.
Steps to achieve net zero carbon
Step 1 - Set targets
We will help you choose realistic targets based on your available resources
Step 2 - Define scope
We’ll help you define the scope of your emissions accounting to ensure it’s practical.
Step 3 - Measure
We will build a complete picture of your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and illustrate this in simple terms.
Step 4 - Strategy
Drawing on our extensive experience across the globe of energy auditing for large manufacturing facilities, we’ll develop practical solutions for climate action. These will be based on the energy efficiency first principle to prioritise energy efficiency and avoid energy waste.
Step 5 - Implementation
We will partner with your business to see your plans through and realise your long-term goals.
Talk to us about zero carbon solutions that will work for your business.
Related content
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