Charles Dubouix

Carbon Neutrality (2/2): Corporate Carbone Neutrality Let’s be carbon neutral… or maybe not

How can we apply the concept of Carbon Neutrality to businesses?

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Before we begin, let's ask ourselves two questions:

• Can a company be carbon neutral?
• Can a large petroleum company be considered carbon neutral if it finances reforestation projects?

A company or a product cannot be Carbon Neutral!

⚠️ The term carbon neutrality is only applicable on a global scale or to a state signatory to the Paris Agreement, since it is a common global objective. According to the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), it does not make sense to apply it at a company or product level (Source: ADEME).

Why should a company avoid trying to claim Carbon Neutrality?

First, the concept of corporate neutrality is not scalable.

Carbon neutrality can only be claimed if others do not, since carbon sinks are physically, technologically, and economically limited.

Then, it creates confusion.

Claiming and displaying a “zero” occults both the CO2 emissions and the emission trend of a company. The same stamp ("Net Zero") is applied to initiatives with very different ambitions, making it hard to judge and compare corporate climate strategies.

Are the following strategies equally sustainable?

Is the world sustainable with only B-like companies?

Let’s play a game :

Lastly, it levels down ambitions and projects.

Declaring oneself net zero immediately, at a low cost, may not be the most effective way to motivate employees and the industry to act towards a collective ambitious "net zero" objective.

Then, how can businesses contribute to Carbon Neutrality?

Carbon neutrality is a concept of rupture.

Given the effort required to reduce emissions and increase removals, achieving global carbon neutrality will require profound and radical socio-technical transformations.

Companies can no longer be “neutral” as they contribute to global neutrality. This semantic shift implies:

• The process is now dynamic rather than static.
• The objective is now collective instead of individual.