In December 2015, 196 countries signed the. Paris Agreementan international treaty on the climate change whose objective is to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
To this end, the countries set themselves the goal of achieving the maximum emissions of greenhouse gases as soon as possible to achieve a climate-neutral planet by 2050.
The carbon neutrality is achieved when the same amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere from which it is removed by various means, leaving a zero balance, also known as a zero carbon footprint.
There are different ways to achieve this balance: the healthiest is to emit no more CO2 than can be naturally absorbed by forests and plants, which function as carbon sinks through the process of photosynthesis.
It's a race against time in which not only governments are engaged, but also all industries, which is why global brands such as Apple have embraced this commitment by producing carbon neutral items.
But what does it mean for a product to be carbon neutral?
It does not mean that in the processes of production, use and disposal of a product, CO2 emissions into the atmosphere are eliminated, but that every effort has been made to reduce them and the company offsets the remaining amount in some way.
In Apple's case, it has managed to reduce emissions from its Apple Watches by 75% by using only clean energy in its production; ensuring that 30% of the material is recyclable or renewable; and shipping half of its products by means other than air. This reflects the fact that electricity, materials and transportation are the three largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions for the company.
To determine whether a product is carbon neutral, its manufacturer must conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) to calculate all emissions produced during the product's lifetime, from raw material extraction to manufacturing, transportation and finally disposal.
More and more products are made from or contain recycled materials, and companies are striving to eliminate plastic from their packaging. Innovations in charging technology, efficiency and battery power are also helping to reduce the carbon footprint.
But, for a company, curbing and offsetting its own emissions in the process of creating its products or providing its services is only the first step in achieving carbon neutrality. A much more difficult challenge is to offset carbon emissions generated by third parties along the supply chain or during product use. These emissions are Scope 3 emissions.
Companies have addressed this problem in a number of ways. For example, for its new watches, Apple is also matching customers' expected electricity consumption when charging them through investments in large-scale solar and wind projects.
On the other hand, Microsoft, which has made its Xbox carbon neutral, has launched "carbon-aware" PCs and Xboxs that attempt to run updates and maintenance at times when the highest proportion of electricity from lower carbon sources is available.
Once a company knows the emissions associated with its products or services, it can work to reduce them, but it is often impossible to eliminate them all. So, to achieve carbon neutrality, they can offset the remaining unavoidable emissions. This means investing in projects such as reforestation or renewable energies that actively remove CO2 from the atmosphere, offsetting the product's carbon footprint.
However, it is crucial that these offsets are of high quality and support measurable and verifiable projects that actually remove carbon from the atmosphere. It is also important to keep in mind that offsetting carbon is always going to be more difficult than avoiding its emission in the first place.
In this region, Sea of Cortez Forum, with the support of ClimateTrade y Spectrotec presented at the Summit 2022 the project Sea of Cortez Region Carbon Neutral Target 2030The aim is to become the world's first decarbonized economic region, thereby contributing its share to the global economic recovery. Sustainable Development Goals of the UN.
Source: World Economic Forum