Carbon Reduction Strategies

Strategies for achieving zero carbon fall in two main categories. These strategies involve specific actions targeting reductions and elimination of carbon emissions and/or achieving zero carbon by purchasing carbon offsets. Selecting the right balance will depend on individual business circumstances and general alignment with the business plan.

Strategies to reduce and eliminate carbon emissions

The main contributors to the carbon footprint for most businesses typically include the use of raw materials for production, energy for processing (such as electricity, solid, liquid and gaseous fuels) and transport. Once the relative contribution to the carbon footprint of each component is established, improvement strategies can be developed tailored to the specific case. This may include switching to renewable electricity, use of low carbon footprint fuels and raw materials, increased use of electric vehicles for transport. Carbon footprint reductions of around 60% can be achieved simply by switching to electric vehicles (based on current emissions for the electricity distribution grid in Queensland ). It should also be noted that the Australian government commitment to zero net carbon by 2050 will accelerate decarbonisation of electricity generation.

Carbon offsets strategy

While the above mentioned strategy will achieve zero carbon sometime in the medium term, the carbon offset strategy at a cost, can achieve net zero carbon virtually today. At current prices for carbon offsets in Australia (April 2022), becoming net zero carbon will cost the business around $30 per tonne of CO2 annually. The apparent volatility of the price of carbon offsets and very likely future increases should be taken into account.