ACCELERATING
SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Climate Change is a threat that is posing great danger to all of us. And Carbon Emission is one of the main reasons behind climate change. As of now, India finds itself in the top five carbon emitters along with China, the US, Russia & Japan (Source - https://bit.ly/3BMK0sn). It's a collective responsibility to fight against Climate Change and Companies can play an important role in this regard.

We will tell you about the exact course of action companies can take to fight climate change at an organizational level.

1. Measure and analyze the emissions

It's crucial to know for a company that how much Greenhouse gas emissions are happening at their watch & how are their existence is affecting the climate. For this, many private agencies calculate the carbon footprint and measure the organization's various emissions. Upon analyzing the situation measures can be taken to reduce the overall impact.

2. Reduce energy consumption

Reducing what is already being spent is wise than waiting it out & chasing the after-effects while watching the damage being done in real-time.

Turning off the lights in the office when not in use, Turning off the ACs when not in use. Not engage live sockets when they are not needed, etc can be some of the daily routine actions companies can take to reduce energy consumption at their end to minimize the daily addition of impact on climate.

3. Opt for renewable sources

Renewable sources of energy are again one of the best options; the organization should switch on to. Renewable sources like Solar power, Hydro Power, Wind energy, etc can be used instead of oil, coal, natural gas, etc which are exhaustible & creates an inhabitable environment for all kinds of life forms.

4. Control & Reduce waste generation

Reducing waste generation can be the most effective first-hand job for any company which will directly add value to their initiative against climate change. What it can do is; avoid using disposable cups, the number of paper prints, reusing printed papers as drafts, adopt ways for recycling correctly so that it is properly neutralized, etc can be some of the steps that can be taken.

5. Optimize employees’ transportation

As we know transportation is one of the largest sectors of greenhouse gas emissions but we don't usually consider it as an organization's problem. Well, it counts, everyday travel can bring about successively collective damage which can not be put to rest factoring the comfortability of commute. Nevertheless, introduce new ways to minimize this big chunk of your carbon emission quota. Green Vehicles which runs on CNG can be introduced to cut the emission happening from this part

6. Raise awareness

Being a crucial part of this earth, we are also accountable & responsible for how this planet has come to be. As an individual or an organization; raise awareness amongst peers, friends, colleagues, superiors, and all the stakeholders, so that the ball sets rolling everywhere.

These are some of the best ways which companies can adopt to fight climate change and turn our planet into something much better than what it already is. Continuous efforts will help us get closer and closer to win over the adversities we were doomed to face in the future.

Connect with us if you want to make a change and reduce your carbon emissions as a company/organization.

Humans don’t realize the importance of saving the environment unless the effects of their doings dawn upon them to destroy their existence; It's not all their fault because the average human life is 79 years (give or take) & earth is so vastly big that the effects of what humans do, don’t reflect until the generation which actively got involved to do it, gets wiped off the face of the earth in a natural biological life course. The next generation then again takes time to get acquainted with the fact that there are ill effects of what is being done.

Talking about the health of our mother earth; here are 5 shocking facts to put things into perspective:

1. Witnessing irreversible effects by 2030

If global warming goes above the recommended limit; more than 70% of Earth's coastlines will have their sea-level rise greater than 0.66 feet (0.2 meters), resulting in excessive coastal flooding, beach-sand erosion, salinization of water supplies & other impacts on humans & ecological systems which will be very harmful to the human life on earth. (Source: https://climate.nasa.gov/)

According to the findings of the survey conducted by the UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), critically urgent action is needed to avoid the catastrophic effects of global warming over the world. Without the change in our actions towards our environment, we would see an increase in widespread flooding, extreme heat, drought & poverty.

2. Greenhouse gas levels are ever-peaking

Due to the rise in earth’s temperature, greenhouses gases accumulation is affecting nature’s natural processes more than ever. Fossil fuels combustion, Carbon-mono oxide emissions, & the environmental impact because of intensive farming has filled the atmosphere with CO2.

Scientists say that this is the fastest & the largest increase in CO2 emissions; the world has ever seen.

3. Species headed straight towards early extinction

One of the environmental deterioration signs is the extinction of various species from earth, be it animals, birds, reptiles etc. Most of other species' existence are endangered too

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which involved more than 1000 experts, says that about 24 species a day get wiped out from the earth which comes to about 8700s species, per year (Source: e360.yale.edu).

4. Climate change is creating a refugee crisis

As global temperature sees a rise, millions of people living in areas that are very much prone to sudden collapse due to any natural adversity are fleeing their homes to avoid the impacts of potential droughts and foreseeable extreme storms. These numbers are only set to rise in the coming future. The International Organisation on Migration gauges that up to 200 million people would be displaced by the effects of climatic changes by 2050.

(Source: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/09/13/climate-change-could-force-216-million-people-to-migrate-within-their-own-countries-by-2050)

5. Our oceans are dying

Our planet is only as healthy as its oceans. The UN has warned that marine life faces irrecoverable damage from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste that ends up in the oceans, every year. More than half of the world’s coral reefs have died in the last 30 years, and 2/3 of the Great Barrier Reef has been damaged by coral bleaching; due to sea temperature going too high up.

(Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scientists-work-to-save-coral-reefs-climate-change-marine-parks)

The earth itself indeed acts like a living organism; it restores what is being destroyed. But we are causing more damage than the earth can repair. The natural flooding, timely earthquakes, the occasional droughts don’t affect the earth one bit but it destroys human, animal and plant life as we know it.

The Earth will stay alive and kicking much longer after the last traces of the human race could be found on its land. So, it is our decision to challenge the natural course of action or to get aligned with it.

It's high time we take control and make positive changes otherwise doomsday is just around the corner waiting for us

It all started in the 90s when international conferences took up a crucial issue of sustainable development. Decades after discussing climate-related challenges, now governments, people and corporations are actually assessing and contributing to the sustainability journey of the planet. The target set to lower the global temperatures is one such step. Such initiatives have turned people’s heads towards ever-pressing issues of global warming and associated challenges.

Here, often we are stormed with a sea of information that we focus majorly on the context rather than the significance of terms on an individual basis. Sustainability, climate change, net-zero, carbon emissions are the buzzwords. The context remains the same as that of climate change but fundamentally they are different. Everyone, including companies, tend to understand the climate lingo but hardly they are clear about the goals. Read on further and know the difference among the concepts of carbon-neutral, net-zero and climate positive.

Carbon neutral:

As the name suggests, carbon-neutral is the balancing out of carbon emissions from your firm. It is more like owning a complete responsibility for one’s own carbon emissions. Corporates and companies need to assess and analyse their carbon emissions. Such analysis gives an idea about the number of carbon emissions that need to be balanced out. It is then that firms plan to come out carbon neutral by saving an equivalent amount of carbon emissions somewhere else in the world.

Net-zero:

The Net-zero concept is a simple concept of balancing out the net emissions created. Here emissions are of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide. These levels are reached when anthropogenic emissions balance out with the help of pre-determined activities.

Climate Positive:

It lies in that much-awaited stage in the sustainability journey, wherein companies or entities tend to remove an additional amount of carbon from the atmosphere. It has reached the level of achieving net-zero emissions and now stands beyond the same. This term is often used interchangeably with climate negative.

Is your company carbon neutral or climate positive or has net-zero emissions?

Well, after knowing these are different and important concepts, a firm needs to introspect about these. Raising these questions can help us achieve our environmental goals faster. Prior to that, your company needs to analyse emissions. Accordingly, you can set realistic goals and plan a roadmap. For the same, consult a team of professionals dealing in the same.

Hopefully, tech giants and corporates are taking steps towards assessing their goals and contributions. However, a lot needs to be done collectively on this pressing issue, until we balance out our needs with our climate’s needs.