How Low Can You Go?
The newsletter for professionals cautiously approaching the discussion about climate, but pretty sure they should.
Issue Number : 7
Think back to the last wedding reception you attended. About halfway through the evening, a guest that’s likely had too many trips to the punch bowl approaches the dance floor with a long stick while the music gets turned up and the DJ calls out "How Low Can You Go?” Suddenly, people start lining up for the limbo! It’s a game where the bar is incrementally lowered, ruling out dancers as each one must bend lower, and lower, and lower, prompting seemingly normal people to contort themselves silly to compete with their friends, strangers, and relatives to see just who can get the lowest. What do they win? Nothing, at least not at the receptions I’ve attended. But they certainly receive a lot of notice for all the back bending!
The climate conversation is in limbo right now. Recently, a friend asked me the DJ’s rhetorical question – "How low can they go?" about carbon emissions, that is. One might quickly say, "Well, zero, of course!” But, that’s not necessarily low enough. Even if it is, what does that mean? Let’s explore a few definitions.
Of note: As I’m not a technical blogger, you’ll naturally need to forgive the simplified nature of the following descriptions should you read on.
Carbon neutral or carbon neutrality is about absorbing more carbon than there are carbon emissions. It means a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. This is typically accomplished through carbon sinks, i.e., soil or forest where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere through sequestration. But, again, that’s only the beginning. There is much talk in the climate space about carbon negativity, a term that goes beyond neural to mean a set of activities that lock up more CO2 that is being emitted. As you begin to study this area, you’ll come across the term net zero. Net zero is similar in principle but goes beyond carbon. Achieving net zero refers to the removal of all greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere, such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and other hydrofluorocarbons. Once emitters strive for net zero, they can potentially become climate positive. When I first heard this phrase, I’ll admit to being confused; if reducing carbon is a goal, why would you ever aim to be positive? However, the idea here is about the potential for positive impacts that the reduction is GHG could achieve. So, that makes carbon negative and climate positive two similar terms: sort of like C Sharp and B Flat, maybe.
Anyway, if a company theoretically has a negative amount of carbon emissions that in turn can positively impact the climate.
Clearly, these definitions have been crudely simplified for this short-form article but when we start at the beginning, it is easiest to learn the basic vocabulary. As a reader of this commentary, you know I’m not here to be prescriptive, rather I’m here to raise questions, poke the bear a bit, and ultimately, encourage participation in the climate conversation. How low can – or should – your organization go? Now is the time to be proactive –before someone sets the bar for you.