Zero is Everything

The earth’s climate has already changed as the result of human-generated emissions. Global temperatures have been rising since the Industrial Revolution, thanks to the layer of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere that allows in more of the sun’s heat than it allows to escape. The planet is now roughly 1°C warmer than in pre-industrial times.

The World Health Organisation estimates that between 2030 and 2050, climate change will cause roughly a quarter of a million additional deaths per year, but this may be an underestimate.

We can’t remove the existing blanket of emissions, but we can stop making it too much thicker. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that to avoid the most disastrous impacts of climate change, we should aim to keep global warming at below 1.5°C on pre-industrial levels. To do this, we need to reach Net Zero emissions by 2050.

There will undoubtedly be many challenges along the journey but here are some of the major blockers to getting your Net Zero strategy off the ground.

Gaining buy in – a common question is “How do I get the rest of the business on board?” The good news is that getting buy is getting a little easier! We are witnessing a growing ambition to tackle climate through all levels of a business, which is helping to drive forward change. There is plenty of compelling evidence that investors, employees and customers want businesses to take action on climate change, that inaction is a huge business risk and that there is great opportunity in action – what is good for the planet is good for business. Team engagement is so important. Inspire a green cultural shift, strengthening your employer brand and helping attract and retain the best talent.

Competing with other business priorities – It can be hard to compete with other business priorities that could have really clear revenue driving outputs compared to some of your sustainability actions. Again, this is going to be about making the business case for the long-term resilience of the company and reputational return.  There are multiple business and commercial benefits to having a Net Zero strategy, including decreased costs and increased profits, attracting and retaining the best talent and winning new work.

Data collection and reporting – a sustainability manager or person responsible for your Net Zero strategy could end up spending most of their time collecting data and reporting on it.  The Flotilla Net Zero Platform reduces the data collection and reporting burden significantly by seamlessly connecting with your internal business systems. This enables you to have the right systems and processes in place to lighten the load and ensure the main focus is on delivering the strategy.

A carbon footprint is an estimate of the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by a business or person in a given year, as a result of their activities. Different greenhouse gases have different potency levels, but as the most common greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, we often refer to emissions as ‘carbon’ for short, abbreviated as ‘Co2e’ (carbon dioxide equivalents). Climate change refers to the long-term shift in temperatures and weather patterns, brought on my human activities, predominantly the burning of fossil fuels which releases greenhouse gases in excess of pre-industrial levels. By measuring Co2e, we are able to advise where your business is having its greatest impact, which helps us to guide you to create your Net Zero Plan.

Yes, our Net Zero Platform will seamlessly connect with your existing business systems to measure and understand your carbon footprint. Then we can develop an authentic, actionable and tailored Net Zero Plan for you to follow. And we’ll support you every step of the way, providing the ongoing support and training for you and your teams to help you deliver your plan with confidence. No matter what stage in your net zero journey you are on, from committing to a target to creating the action plan needed to get there, we can help. The Flotilla Net Zero Platform is aligned with science based targets so you can be assured that you are meeting credible and robust targets that are internationally recognised.