"New Guidelines for Avoided Emissions Offer Companies a Reliable Method to Evaluate the Decarbonization Impact of Their Solutions."

On March 22, 2023, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and 19 of its member companies partnered with Carbone4 and its Net Zero Initiative (NZI) to release new guidance on Avoided Emissions. Their main goal was to find reliable ways to assess avoided emissions and support businesses in innovating and scaling solutions that reduce their carbon footprint. By providing clear guidelines for accounting avoided emissions and distinguishing them from a company's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this guidance aims to ensure credibility in carbon accounting.

Reduced emissions occurring beyond a company's value chain are referred to as avoided emissions. They can serve as an extra approach to hasten the process of decarbonization. The concept of avoided emissions takes into account a more comprehensive perspective, which can support the creation and implementation of products and services necessary to accomplish the goal of Net Zero.

Moving towards a Net Zero future is heading into a fresh phase that concentrates on ensuring corporations take responsibility for their emission reduction commitments. It's also about figuring out how all sectors can collaborate to come up with the most effective methods to reach our global Net Zero target. To make this a reality, corporations, regulatory authorities and financial institutions require accurate instruments to grasp the extent of their actions that help mitigate global warming.

The authorities and rule-makers are now putting more emphasis on responsibility and the requirement for businesses to establish a Net Zero goal for all of their value chain pollution. However, if firms are just motivated to cut down on inventory carbon emissions without transitioning into producing low and zero-emission solutions, the universal objective of reaching a Net Zero around the world before 2050 won't be achieved.

The first important step in incorporating avoided emissions into carbon accounting standards worldwide is provided by this guidance. It is the result of a ground-breaking consultation process involving many stakeholders, such as multinational corporations, NGOs and academia, and based on existing research. The aim of this document is to provide clear and consistent guidance on how companies can evaluate and document the decarbonization effects of their solutions.

According to Dominic Waughray, who is the Executive Vice President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, it is essential to comprehend the amount of emissions saved by both current and forthcoming solutions. This understanding forms a significant basis for the crucial decisions that are necessary to promote the efforts aimed at reducing carbon emissions in corporate sectors. Waughray encourages everyone to adopt this guidance as a means of motivating, inspiring and promoting the deployment of impactful solutions. He also encourages working together to pave the way towards a society that has achieved a Net Zero target.

Jean-Marc Jancovici, a partner at Carbone4, expressed satisfaction with the collaboration between NZI and WBSCD aimed at promoting the notion of avoided emissions. According to Jancovici, it is imperative that pivotal criteria are established to direct trailblazing firms in navigating the appropriate course of action. Failure to do so would result in idle time, something that is not feasible in light of the countdown to achieving global net zero.