Six industry carbon neutral initiatives
Transportation, agri-food, industrial manufacturing, and construction, as high-emission infrastructure industries, together with digital information and financial services, play an important role in human life and play an important role in promoting the transition to carbon neutrality in other industries. play an important role.
Promoting carbon emission reduction in the transportation industry is one of the important links in the global carbon neutralization process. As a high-emission industry in modern society, the transportation industry has an extensive and far-reaching impact on all aspects of human life, and is the fundamental support of human society. Therefore, its carbon reduction will play a very positive role in driving mankind to a more sustainable way of life. To build a sustainable future, transportation companies that own or operate passenger and freight vehicles, aircraft and ships need to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and explore greener ways to transition.
Heavy-emitting activities of transportation companies mainly include self-vehicle transportation, operating facilities, and packaging. Scope 1 emissions from the transportation industry are usually high (40%-80% of total emissions), and the main source of emissions is fuel combustion in owned vehicles. Scope 2 emissions mainly cover emissions from purchased electricity, power centers, hub sites and other storage and service facilities, accounting for about 20% of total emissions. The magnitude of Scope 3 emissions from a transport company depends on the company’s specific business model. Emissions from a company’s non-owned vehicles or aircraft should be classified as Scope 3 emissions, so companies that work with a large number of contractors tend to have higher Scope 3 emissions. In addition to this, Scope 3 emissions also include emissions from purchased goods and services, of which emissions from packaging materials are particularly important, accounting for about 10% of total emissions.
Therefore, transportation companies should focus on the above-mentioned heavy-emitting activities, and strive to promote carbon reduction in transportation processes, develop more sustainable warehousing and service facilities, and promote the use of greener packaging materials.
Reduce carbon emissions in transportation process
· Adopt clean energy vehicles
· Improve the energy efficiency of vehicles
· Optimize vehicle scale and transportation routes:
Constructing sustainable factory facilities
· Using clean electricity
· Improve operational energy efficiency
Create green packaging
People rely on food as their heaven, and the agri-food industry is essential to maintaining human health and well-being. Before food is put on the table, it needs to go through layers of links from research and development, breeding, harvesting, processing, distribution, retailing to storage, and each link will produce greenhouse gas emissions that have a negative impact on the environment. In the food industry chain, agriculture-related links have laid the foundation for the entire food industry.
Forests and land use are a major source of emissions, and global food consumption is expected to grow by as much as 70% in the next few decades as population growth and diets shift towards meat, thus driving the carbon footprint of the agri-food industry while meeting basic human needs Emission reductions can be challenging.
Reduce carbon emissions from farming activities
Methane emissions from livestock are the main source of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Other major emissions from farming activities include direct and indirect emissions from feed production, as well as manure methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
· Improve herd management and animal health interventions
· Recovery and reuse of methane from manure
· Scientific and efficient use of fertilizers
· Improve soil health and prevent deforestation
Reduce carbon emissions in food processing and manufacturing
Reduce packaging complexity and switch to recyclable materials
Reduce carbon emissions in the transportation and distribution of raw materials and products
As the most polluting industry, industrial manufacturing is the main source of global greenhouse gas emissions. Manufacturing companies produce a lot of emissions from the production process. At the same time, the industrial manufacturing industry belongs to the infrastructure industry, which profoundly affects the upstream and downstream industries. Manufacturing companies are in high demand for upstream raw materials, while the downstream products they produce and sell—whether primary raw materials such as steel or end-user products such as household equipment and automobiles—are ubiquitous in our daily lives.
In this context, the industrial manufacturing industry should focus on carbon emission reduction in product manufacturing and raw material supply, and strive to create green products.
Reduce carbon emissions in product manufacturing
· Renewable energy
· Improve energy efficiency
· Energy recovery from waste
Reduce carbon emissions in the supply chain of raw materials
Produce green products
The construction industry is an important cornerstone of human life. It not only provides the buildings people live in and the infrastructure they use, but also plays a pivotal role in addressing the climate crisis. The construction industry is carbon-intensive and often requires the extraction, manufacture and transportation of large quantities of raw materials for final construction activities. The main product of the construction industry is buildings, and buildings are also one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 17.5% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the impact of the construction industry on the earth’s climate cannot be underestimated. We can create more sustainable working and living spaces and reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from the full life cycle of a building.
We need to focus on three high-emitting activities: the use of the products sold (buildings and infrastructure), the supply of raw materials, and construction on site.
Build green buildings and infrastructure
Choose green building materials suppliers
Reduce carbon emissions on construction sites
· Renewable energy
· Improve energy efficiency
The digital information industry, especially the Internet and technology companies among them, has brought earth-shaking changes to the world, affecting people’s communication, economic and trade activities and daily life. With the help of advanced technology, massive amounts of information are transmitted through the Internet every day, and this “electronic giant” has also become an indispensable infrastructure in today’s world. Although the carbon emission intensity of the digital information industry itself is relatively low, in view of the role of the Internet and related technologies in promoting the development of companies in all walks of life, the digital information industry still needs to assume corresponding responsibilities for carbon emissions upstream and downstream of the value chain.
Common emission reduction measures in the digital information industry mainly include: power consumption of data centers, carbon footprint of product life cycle, and related climate impacts brought by supply chain.
Leading Internet companies usually take multiple measures to promote the carbon reduction process of data centers. Improving energy efficiency through technological upgrading is one of the most powerful levers, while the adoption of renewable energy is another potential solution.
Improve energy efficiency
Using renewable energy
The climate impact of the product life cycle can be mitigated through the use of environmentally friendly materials, carbon-reducing production techniques and energy-efficient product design.
Using environmentally friendly materials
Reduce carbon emissions in production
Promoting energy-efficient designs and initiatives
The supply chain of product manufacturing is another major source of carbon emissions in the digital information industry. As key decision makers in the value chain, digital information companies can use their influence and industry resources to advise, support and implement climate-friendly industrial processes.
Monitoring and restraining carbon emissions in the supply chain
Provide assistance for suppliers to reduce emissions
The financial services industry plays a pivotal role in reducing carbon emissions in the economy, and has extensive and far-reaching impacts on other industries. While the financial sector is relatively emissions-intensive, the capital it manages is critical across industries. The financing mechanism of financial institutions can have a significant impact on the global transition to carbon neutrality, providing funding for carbon reduction projects such as renewable energy projects, energy efficiency improvement plans, and non-compliance with emission standards or the Paris Agreement carbon neutral. and target projects to impose financing restrictions.
Financial institutions should take a multi-pronged approach to reduce their own carbon emissions and strive to reduce the climate impact of their portfolio companies.
Reduce data center power consumption and carbon emissions
Mitigate the carbon emission impact of the invested companies
Finance institutions can help the carbon emission reduction of financing activities through three major measures
· Establish a low-carbon assessment framework applicable to different products
· Develop green financial products/green investment funds to encourage institutional clients to transition to more sustainable business models
· Participate in carbon trading
Development banks can take on more green financing obligations and explore sovereign financing and/or multilateral financing products
· Take on more green financing obligations
· Develop sovereign/multilateral green financial products to contribute to global climate action
· Provide trusted advisory services for policy and regional development planning
