SUSTAINABILITY: ZERO CARBON EMISSIONS
The route to zero carbon
Volvo Trucks: Heavy-duty electric concept trucks
How supply chain organizations can make the journey Climate change affects us all; and when looking at the causes of climate change, supply chains and supply chain organizations are far from blameless, writes Dr. Omera Khan in a recent Whitepaper.
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The 10 point plan
the World Resources Institute, in 2016, limate Change is real, and it has now the transport sector for the first time turned into a severe global threat surpassed the electric power industry as as we experience aggravated and the single greatest source of greenhouse frequent droughts, heat-waves, forest GREEN PUBLIC TRANSPORT, OFFSHORE WIND AND WALKING gases in the United States. fires, hurricanes, floods,CYCLING and storms in In Europe, where most other sectors of every corner of the globe.
the economy have reduced their carbon This white paper focuses on the central dioxide emissions since 1990, emissions role of Supply Chain Organizations in NUCLEAR POWER HYDROGEN from transport have risen—and continue climate change and the rise of the issue to climb. due to emissions of carbon dioxide as a result of their business operations and what motivates them to dealJETwith toGREEN SHIPS GREENER BUILDINGS ZERO it AND Slashing emissions reduce their impact effectively. Dr. Omera Khan has carried out in-depth Cutting those emissions is a major global research on the topic and has carefully priority. As consumers, many of us are ZERO EMISSION VEHICLES CARBON CAPTURE, USAGE formulated the white paper, covering every already making a difference—I know that & STORAGE (CCUS) relevant aspect of the relationship between I am. You probably are too. But it is the Supply Chain Organizations and the world’s businesses and industries which ongoing climate crisis. collectively contribute a major proportion PROTECTING OUR NATURAL GREEN FINANCE AND In 2018, 24% of global greenhouse ofINNOVATION the carbon dioxide emissions that are ENVIRONMENT gas carbon dioxide emissions came warming the atmosphere. about from transportation. According to Factories, offices, data centres,
NET ZERO INNOVATION PORTFOLIO - PRIORITY AREAS
Advanced Modular Reactors
Floating offshore wind
Hydrogen
Bioenergy
Industrial fuel switching
Advanced CCUS
Homes
Disruptive technologies
Direct air capture
Energy storage and flexibility
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warehouses, various transportation modes—collectively, they are significant consumers of energy, and significant emitters of carbon dioxide. And it isn’t enough for businesses to simply reduce their emissions: that will merely slow the pace of climate change. For atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations to stabilise, and then actually reduce, net new emissions of carbon dioxide need to be zero. Hence the goal of ‘zero carbon’, a mantra that is increasingly being heard within supply chain organizations
Zero carbon ‘Zero carbon’? Is that even possible, I hear you exclaim? Well, maybe not immediately, for sure. However, there’s nothing wrong with having audacious goals. There is nothing wrong with being encouraged by progress that is already being made towards zero-carbon around the world. Look at the United Kingdom: in the first three months of 2020, renewable energy made up an impressive 47% of the country’s electricity generation. Here in Denmark, where I’m living right now, the use of renewable energy is even higher, with over half the country’s energy usage in 2019 already being met from renewable sources, chiefly wind power. And in terms of transport, the authoritative Energy Transitions Commission concluded in a
