“Cutting carbon in the supply chain is the next critical stage in the business contribution to reduce carbon
emissions to tackle climate change and represents a significant commercial opportunity.”
Tom DeLay
Increasing attention towards climate change:
The climatic conditions are undergoing unprecedented changes due to the activities of mankind on earth. Climate change is the outcome of a rapid rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere by humans. We can visibly notice the melting glaciers, sea level rising, global warming, occurrence of extreme weather fluctuations such as droughts, floods, windstorms etc.
Several countries ratified the Paris Agreement on climate change on December 12, 2015, at the COP21 conference in Paris. After less than a year, the Agreement became operative. All participating nations committed in the Agreement to reducing global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius and aiming for 1.5 degrees Celsius given the serious hazards. Business enterprises learned that they must lessen their influence on the environment. One of the most important methods to achieve this is to lessen their carbon footprint, which begins with carbon accounting through supply chain visibility.
What is the carbon footprint?
The term “carbon footprint” refers to an entity’s overall emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as a result of its operations. Agriculture and Deforestation are the important causes of greenhouse gas emissions. They make up a large share of the carbon footprint. Companies must classify their carbon footprint in three scopes as part of their carbon emissions management.
Need of Carbon footprint assessment:
Carbon footprints have become increasingly important as climate change has become a global issue, and countries around the world have taken steps to reduce their carbon emissions. Understanding your own carbon footprint and taking steps to reduce it can help to mitigate the effects of climate change. Accounting for the GHG emissions in farms, industries, and transportation is the need of the hour. Governments and businesses are working to reduce their carbon emissions and to build climate resilience as part of sustainable development goals.
How to reduce carbon emissions at the agricultural level?
With global warming and climate change becoming pressing issues, it is important to look for ways to reduce carbon emissions at the agricultural level. Agriculture is one of the major contributors to carbon emissions, so it is essential that we find ways to reduce them. Climate change affects agriculture, and it also causes it. On the one hand, the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and animal wastes in agriculture accounts for about 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. These greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane.
Farmers can use various techniques and technologies to reduce their carbon footprint. Following sustainable soil management techniques, regenerative agricultural practices, and carbon sequestration methods to monitor on-farm emissions such as fertilizer and crop protection emissions, land-use change emissions could help in carbon emission management.
What is traceability for carbon emissions?
Traceability is an essential tool for reducing environmental impact and carbon footprint. It allows us to track the origin of materials, identify potential risks and make informed decisions about how to reduce our environmental footprint.
To make a move to net zero, there are several factors you need to take into account. Traceability helps you to assess carbon emissions in your respective organization in the following ways:
- To set reduction targets, you must first accurately estimate the amount of carbon your business emits
- Second, carbon accounting is essential for assisting you in allocating accountability for the roles that various components of your business and value chain play in contributing to the company’s carbon emissions.
- You can monitor where in your various business divisions and value chain the most significant prospects for carbon reduction present.
Benefits of Carbon Tracing in achieving compliance:
The need for integrating carbon accounting into business firms to achieve compliance via monitoring emissions and keeping in check the environmental footprint is as follows:
- When it comes to your company’s carbon emissions, carbon accounting not only gives you the information you need to monitor and quantify them, but it also helps you decide on your carbon and mitigation methods.
- Corporations that integrate carbon accounting into their operational strategy can generate reports for compliance procedures and are seeing the competitive advantages of doing so.
- Helps to understand their position in relation to their greenhouse gas emissions in order to ensure long-term financial success in an economy that is actively undergoing an energy transition.
- The stakeholders hold companies accountable for their responsible sourcing practices.
How to reduce environmental impact and carbon footprint through traceability?
With traceability, we can understand the sources of materials used in production processes, companies can also identify opportunities to reduce waste, enhance product quality, and increase sustainability. Businesses require thorough carbon accounting, which provides details on where emissions are produced and where they are absorbed, to mitigate the effects of climate change. Traceability can also help businesses reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve customer satisfaction.