Leadership

Four Places Businesses Can Look For Carbon Reduction Opportunities

May 17, 2021

SINAI

With more than half of the world’s population living in a city, cities contribute roughly three-quarters of the CO2 emissions from worldwide energy usage. 

A new report published recently by REN21 highlights some of the cities leading the way, taking on the role of decarbonization trailblazers as urbanization continues across the globe. 

How can businesses match the innovative efforts of these cities, stepping into the critical role of helping curb greenhouse gas emissions while reaching Paris Climate Agreement targets which aim to address global warming?


SINAI’s GHG emissions management experts explore the top four places companies can look for carbon reduction opportunities in 2021, from the business unit, facility, and process levels to value chain CO2 reduction. 

Carbon reduction at your business unit level  

Companies can look to dramatically reduce their carbon emissions with an emphasis on bringing their carbon strategy directly into their business model. 

What does bringing your carbon strategy into your business model look like in practice? We suggest establishing an internal carbon price to achieve CO2 reduction at your company’s business unit level.

This means putting a monetary amount on the carbon emissions your business produces and emits. The cost should be calculated based on your company’s environmental impact due to GHG emissions and any low-carbon or renewable energy solutions you use, together with other relevant indicators.

Placing a dollar sign in front of your business’s carbon emissions can act as a catalyst for identifying opportunities and organizing decarbonization budgets while also achieving its primary aim of proving a compelling and efficient way of incorporating climate risks into what it costs to do business.

In countries worldwide, emitting carbon costs a lot more due to carbon pricing, and it’s gaining popularity. At the same time, emerging products and technologies have become available that help corporations and individuals calculate, automate, price, and reach their CO2 reduction goals. Internal carbon pricing is vital for mitigating risk and inching ever closer towards achieving net-zero.


Facility level carbon reduction

Any business that’s serious about reducing their carbon emissions should tackle a forensic calculation of their CO2 output at a facility level.

A bottom-up, facility-level approach can lead to an increase in the level of economic and technical detail needed to identify optimal decarbonization strategies for individual operations. For example, at the facility level, an organization may better match its energy demand needs with alternative energy generation opportunities.

A comprehensive analysis of existing emissions sources at a facility level is key to providing your business with the framework necessary to successfully measure, monitor, report, and reduce emissions today and in the future, as well as empowering sustainability or operations leads at an individual facility to take action.

Additionally, scoping greenhouse gas emissions and opportunities at a facility level can help your company identify an overarching system for carbon strategy and accounting purposes, making it easier to join up existing business objectives in the process.


CO2 reduction at your process level 

Historically, process emission amounts have not been published by international carbon emission data sets and national emission inventories. 

Carbon emissions should be considered when designing a low carbon policy and development strategy at a process level. More importantly, more precise estimates based on bottom-up data sources should be prioritized by businesses with ambitious carbon reduction targets. 

What do we mean by process-level emissions? Examples of industrial process emissions include CO2 stripped from natural gas, the manufacture of cement, calcination of limestone and dolomite, soda ash manufacture and consumption, and the production of aluminum.

Tracking at the process level allows your business to compare and contrast marginal abatement costs of process-level mitigation options while helping your firm identify the most cost-effective, energy-saving, and carbon-reducing opportunities for adaptation. For example, process level GHG emissions tracking will help an organization identify emissions hot spots in their Coke plant operations, and at the MAC curve step, will allow the organization to weigh the cost and abatement of improving the quality of coal feed, or adding windbreaks to their process. 

Lastly, defining robust process level emissions baselines can help your business benchmark itself against its industry peers while providing critical insight and data that can strengthen climate risk disclosure frameworks for environmental reporting.

Your value chain and carbon reduction opportunities 


One of the overlooked ways for your business to reduce its carbon emissions is by organizing, comparing, and strategizing greenhouse gas emissions reduction opportunities across its supply chain. 

An emissions baseline captures your value chains greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trajectory. Developing robust emissions baselines from your across your scope 3 emission sources will make it a lot easier for your business and its partners to view and analyze complete and historical emissions data. Baselines will make it possible for your business to weigh the impact of decarbonization opportunities across suppliers and your value chain, and give you the information your organization needs to take action and mitigate.

It’s important to recognize not all GHG emissions management software is built the same. Look for a solution that makes it possible for your business to generate automatic Marginal Abatement Cost Curves (MAC Curves) and Levelized Cost Curves in an accessible and user-friendly way. This will make it as straightforward as possible for various business partners within your value chain to analyze emissions reduction costs and provide valuable data that can be easily interpreted by shareholders and directors alike. 


Automated greenhouse gas emissions tracking 

Through automation, businesses find it easier and more straightforward to reduce their carbon emissions by taking advantage of cutting-edge technology. This helps them accurately measure, scope, price, and reduce their carbon emissions with ease. SINAI has created the planet’s leading decarbonization platform to boost your business's financial performance and dramatically reduce your company’s carbon footprint. 

Our next-generation GHG emissions management software allows your business to utilize customizable and intuitive tools, no matter what stage of your emissions journey you are currently operating in. 

The SINAI solution makes carbon emissions management and reporting automated and hassle-free, giving your business the ability to mitigate risk quickly while unlocking new adaptation and decarbonization opportunities, all through a single easy-to-use online platform.

Let the GHG emissions management experts at SINAI help you create a decarbonization strategy with tools to track your process as you grow and change. Contact SINAI for a demo today and see how we can help you reduce your carbon emissions.

SINAI Decarbonization Platform

Inventories
Measure, consolidate and report on company impact
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Baselines    
Project future emissions and explore business scenarios
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Low-Carbon Scenarios
Model emissions reduction
opportunities
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Carbon
Pricing
Quantify targets, emissions gaps, prices, & budgets
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Value Chain Management
Work with your
supply chain to decarbonize
products
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