Carbon Neutral economy

 CARBON NEUTRAL ECONOMY  

Economies and businesses must grow for people to prosper. But growth does not have to be at the expense of the environment, or society. I have quoted many places “ In today’s contest the Growth is measured in the scale of economy, But economy should not be at the cost of Ecosystem”.  Growth, sustainability, and inclusivity are not mutually exclusive—in fact they are mutually reinforcing. Globally, business has a fundamental role to play in creating a prosperous future, one that benefits society and protects the planet. 

 

Greenhouse gases are the gases in the atmosphere that produce the “greenhouse effect” and contribute to global warming and climate change.Carbon footprint has a negative impact on the environment in multiple ways: It is the main cause of human-induced climate change, it contributes to urban air pollution, it leads to toxic acid rain, it adds to coastal and ocean acidification, and it worsens the melting of glaciers and polar ice.

 

A country is carbon neutral if they balance the carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere through their everyday activities with the amount they absorb or remove from the atmosphere.

 

Business processes or any manufacturing process become carbon neutral when they calculate their carbon 

emissions and compensate for what they have produced via carbo offsetting projects. Offsetting carbon emissions, in addition to avoidance and reduction, is an important step in holistic climate action. Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions.

 

Every country, city, financial institution and company should adopt plans for net zero -- and act now to get on the right path to that goal, which means cutting global emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.  

Reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 requires a significant increase in spending on physical assets. power, industry, mobility, buildings, agriculture, forestry and other land use, and waste—will all need to be transformed to achieve net-zero emissions. Effective actions to accelerate decarbonisation include shifting the energy mix away from fossil fuels and toward zero-emissions electricity and other low-emissions energy sources such as hydrogen; adapting industrial and agricultural processes; increasing energy efficiency and managing demand for energy; utilizing the circular economy; consuming fewer emissions-intensive goods; deploying carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology; and enhancing sinks of both long-lived and short-lived greenhouse gases.

 

We need to align global finance with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, the world’s blueprint for a better future. 

Beyond just the employees and the customers, I think business has to create value for the community, for the country, and for the society at large.

It is time to put a price on carbon; end fossil fuel subsidies and finance; stop building new coal power plants; shift the tax burden from income to carbon, from taxpayers to polluters; make climate-related financial risk disclosures mandatory; and integrate the goal of carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal decision-making.  Banks must align their lending with the net zero objective, and asset owners and managers must decarbonize their portfolios.