Carbon neutrality and net-zero: stepping into a better future

“Climate change is no longer some far-off problem; it is happening here, it is happening now.”- Barack Obama

Imagine if someone told you this – “Every time you exhale and waste food, go to work on your superb bike and use your laptop, purchase clothes and sip on your flavoured coffee, you are pushing someone into havoc.¹”

This is precisely what is happening. Since intense industrialisation and globalisation, the situation has become dire. There is a cost that comes with each activity of ours – we generate emissions – which are responsible for not only climate change but also the cascade of effects it has on the planet and its inhabitants. Our carbon footprint is a way of measuring how much greenhouse gases we are producing and this can be estimated accurately using a carbon footprint calculator. In other words, this is a measure of the amount of climate change we are responsible for; although as an individual or single company or one simple event, this amount of anthropologically emitted greenhouse gases may seem tolerable and even harmless, this is far from the truth. Our reality at the moment and for a few decades to come with mathematical certainty is that we are way past the number of carbon dioxide molecules in the atmosphere that is tolerable. What we have sealed our fate as for the next few decades and even a couple of centuries, is excruciatingly painful consequences. Although climate change is not reversible², there is something we can do to slow down the process and give ourselves more time to fix the problem at hand – going carbon neutral or in broader terms, going net-zero.

What does going carbon neutral or net-mean?

By going carbon neutral or net-zero, the person, company, or government understands their accountability and responsibility for their carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and balances it by sequestration. This, essentially, is taking carbon (carbon dioxide) out of the atmosphere and putting elsewhere – by storing it in living organism or putting it underground. One method of doing so is by putting this carbon in trees via offsetting. Another method of taking carbon emissions out of the atmosphere is by filter units that give a solid product at the end.

How does one go net-zero or carbon neutral?

Let’s break this into doable steps! 

1. The first thing to do, just as with any challenge at hand, is to fully understand and analyse it. This is made simple with a carbon footprint calculator. This is a calculator built to take input and account for the kind of emissions that will be involved with the kind of activity, also including the number of individuals involved. 
2. Finally, the output will give you the carbon footprint. 
3. Once you have that, you can go ahead with offsetting options, or filter units or put it underground after taking it out of the atmosphere. 
4. Multiple options are available. Offsets not only take carbon out of the atmosphere but also improve the weather of the place they are put in along with the bonus of improved soil quality and ecosystem revival. 

Fundamentally, this breaks down into two activities- understanding how much emissions you are responsible for and sequestering or offsetting as much is being emitted, if not more which in turn is going carbon negative. 

To decide about your journey on going carbon neutral, you may use our carbon footprint calculator for assistance and check out our blogs ongoing carbon-neutral and sustainable living.