Introduction Of Scope 4 And Why It Matters to The Net-Zero Economy

The discourse on climate change continues to take on different angles and dimensions as there are new trends, updates and advancements of policies targeted at improving the nature of the climate and securing better environmental conditions for the inhabitants of the Earth. There are mentioned concept of Scope 4 and why it matters to net-zero economy.

The discussions continue to foster the development of strategies and novel ideas that, when implemented, are liable to improve the continent’s situation. Often, they might need to upgrade, envies these policies, and reassess their contribution to the green and Sustainability goals. 

The net-zero initiative is a major project that has been shown commitment by several countries through the national government, local government and even business leaders. Net Zero goal is targeted as the reduction in the production of greenhouse gas emissions from several operations. 

Essentially it is a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions through the elimination of actions that cause emissions or through the use of initiatives and actions which can counterbalance by removing the greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. The net-zero mission has come a long way and covers three different scopes. 

Recently there was a discussion about introducing a fourth scope for the net zero-emission targets. What is this scope 4, and how does it benefit the goal of attaining net-zero emissions? This is discussed in detail in this article.

Scope 4 and Net-Zero Emissions Project and Its Role

A special report on global warming delivered by the intergovernmental panel on climate change revealed that if the world could attain zero-emission by 2024, there is a good chance of limiting global warming. Therefore, the onus is on the government of nations and business operatives and all significant stakeholders to employ several policies technologies that need to help attain these goals.

The net-zero struggle to attain a situation where there is a balance between the number of greenhouse gasses included in the atmosphere and the one being removed in the atmosphere is a valid and pressing one.

While the Paris agreement put in motion global objectives, the efforts required and the specific actions to performance come down to a national level, with each country setting their policies and guidelines to achieve this Net Zero climate.

The Scopes of Net Zero

There are already established scopes of the net-zero climate. 

This scope is generally the highlights of greenhouse gasses and the activities covered under the Kyoto protocol. The emissions in different sectors are captured under the greenhouse gas protocol scopes. All parties and relevant contributors to the net-zero initiative should cover these scopes.   

Scope 1: Scope 1 entails the direct company-owned or controlled emissions attributable to a particular source.

Scope 2: This encompasses omissions related to the production of energy utilized by a company.

Scope 3: This reflects indirect emissions, which can be attributed to the company’s actions from a source that is not directly owned or controlled by the organization.  

The Introduction Of Scope 4

All the schools mentioned above have enabled stakeholders and concerned parties to work towards attaining the net-zero climate. Still, this scope 4 has just been recently introduced, and several debates are going on about the need and the significance of the Net Zero Pursuit. 

A backstory, in 2013, the GHG protocol highlighted avoided emission, emission reduction which can happen without being related to the product life cycle or value chain and the emission savings a result of the use of the product. Thus, this fourth scope is introduced to capture these avoided emissions. 

The relevance of scope 4 is to aid several organizations in having a good framework that can clearly state the outcomes of developing a sustainable product. In addition, it is a great means of improving stakeholder transparency.

Unarguably, it is difficult to quantify avoided emissions but incorporating it in an organization reporting is a great way to fully encompass the greenhouse gas inventory. The need to report avoided emissions stems from the fact that a lot of the development processes and manufacturing of new products can increase the company’s emissions. Still, reductions in the emissions that will be attained after using such products are needed to be revealed. 

This way, there is better accountability for every stage of the product life cycle. There are also the highlights of the emission savings obtained from developing a more efficient product.

It is commendable that the efforts on limiting greenhouse-gas emissions and attaining a net-zero climate are dynamic as we continue to see updates and modifications in the various policies and scope to help engender a better course of action. While this is fairly new, it has been envisaged that it would significantly affect attaining a net-zero economy.