Don’t be afraid to take lead on road to Net Zero
IS there a need for a different approach to carbon offsetting as outlined recently by the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market? The actions of some Net Zero advocates in Yorkshire and globally – including members of the Betterworld Solutions campaign – suggest that perhaps there is.
Even if businesses buy green electricity or generate most of their own energy via renewables there will always be a remaining carbon footprint. To achieve the Net Zero goal on direct and indirect (Scope 1 and Scope 2) emissions they must buy offsets, which are essentially a tax meant to fund schemes with a positive environmental impact.
However, criticism of the low ‘real world’ impact of existing offsetting schemes, however valid, is frequently used to support allegations that industry is simply ‘greenwashing’. This is at least unhelpful and may be counter-productive.
What action are business leaders meant to take if they are genuinely concerned about climate change? Official guidance is sparse and often contradictory, and political pressure in favour of doing nothing is vocal and growing.
AES Engineering Ltd group, including the AESSEAL and AVT Reliability businesses, is a global group dedicated to making industry work more cleanly and with more reliability. As part of the Betterworld campaign we encourage businesses to prioritise investments that are environmentally friendly and are dedicating £29m group-wide towards this aim by 2029.
We have achieved Net Zero, as audited by BSI in our direct and indirect emissions for several years. In 2021, once again validated by detailed BSI audits, we showed that our supply chain (Scope 3) emissions were significantly lower than the benefits in terms of reducing the carbon footprint of our customer base.
We are proud to be a Net Zero pioneer, but also respect the widespread concerns in the business community about what this process means. Is it widely understood? Are there reliable, universally acknowledged standards to aim for, which can motivate industry to clean up its act?
As a group, we have cut energy use and continue to audit and reduce every possible aspect of our own carbon footprint. We are pressurising suppliers and encouraging customers to do likewise. This is often neither easy nor popular.
We have invested millions in solar panels and battery storage, are directly preserving forest land (neither of which gets any Net Zero credit), and have invested over £1m to date in a solar farm in India, as our own – arguably more reliable – source of offsetting.
While the AES Engineering group remains a strong advocate of Net Zero for the planet, we acknowledge the dilemma for individual businesses trying to navigate this landscape.
It may be that some offsetting schemes, set up with official sanction, are guilty of poor science and lax regulatory oversight. Offsetting should never be seen as either an easy or cheap ‘get out of jail’ card and clearly we can’t afford to wait for the perfect, officially sanctioned solutions.
What should business leaders do? We need to lead. Take the climate crisis seriously, don’t let doubters paralyse you and concentrate on doing the right thing for your businesses, your communities and the planet.