10 Steps to Becoming a Carbon Neutral Business

Page 7 STEP 01: DEFINE YOUR AMBITION / Allocating resources One thing is for sure, carbon neutrality does not come for free. Even though you may well save money in the long-run, you need the budget and manpower to implement the measures that will deliver those savings. You will need people to determine and deliver the measures that will reduce emissions; you will need dedicated resource for supporting activities such as taking on external partners or engaging stakeholders; and you will need either internal or external help to acquire Renewable Energy Certificates and carbon offsets. Give your organization a good, hard look. The skills and competences in your team may not match what is required to achieve your pledge and you will most likely need to commission external help for some parts of your program. You need to be realistic and transparent from the outset, as you do not want to be stuck in a situation where you cannot promote your pledge or, worse, not fund the measures that will make your company carbon neutral. Some companies may attach such value to going carbon neutral that they will invest considerable resources upfront and continuously to claim climate action leadership. Most companies, however, will have to work with limited resources perhaps from an existing Sustainability team and the initiatives you want to launch will have to stand normal commercial scrutiny. Regardless of the level of resources invested, there is a task to engage the organization to determine where carbon neutrality investments and savings are accounted for. Get your Finance team involved early on to see what works best for your organization and its reporting requirements. LM WIND POWER’S APPROACH TO ALLOCATING RESOURCES Like most companies, we had to work with limited resources. The core team leading and having the oversight over our program consisted of two full-time equivalents. On all the four key workstreams - greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting, internal reductions, renewable energy and carbon credits - we relied on internal resources in various functions but were supported by external partners specializing in these different areas. For the energy efficiency drive, we had significant technical help from our maintenance managers to establish our energy baseline, identify the reduction potential and implement the measures. For our 100 percent renewable energy drive, we had one full-time equivalent for six months to identify opportunities for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) and on-site installations. In terms of budgeting, fees for external expertise and the cost of internal and external engagement fell under the Communications and Sustainability budget. Investments needed to reduce our emissions, however, were treated like any other large capital investment our company would make. A business case was presented to our Capital Expenditure Board and the investment was assessed on its merits.