A Net Zero Strategy That Works For You, Not Against You

In an ideal world, your Net Zero Strategy would be delivering annual carbon reductions exactly as planned, taking you on a controlled trajectory towards zero emissions by 2050.  Can you picture the graph, with its graceful downward swoop towards zero?  It could have come straight from the SBTi website.  It’s beautiful.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?  But if it doesn’t sound like your experience of Net Zero, you are not alone.  Even the best strategies don’t automatically translate directly into results.  

What’s going wrong?

It is all too tempting to commit to an overly ambitious strategy that slashes your emissions on an accelerated timeline.  After all, we’re seeing impacts of climate change in this summer’s heatwaves and wildfires, and it’s a rational response to want to act.  The problem is that while it’s easy to write down, it’s not as easy to deliver.

You probably have a roadmap, with a timeline and interim targets.  An action plan for this year, and maybe next.  But despite that, your carbon numbers aren’t coming down.  In fact… are they going up?  And you have already been adjusting milestone dates for actions that have been missed.  Despite all your efforts, you are still seeing a disconnect between strategy and results. 

But why?

Because none of it is as easy as it sounds!

It’s not a lack of commitment that’s the problem.  You know how important it is, and so do all of your colleagues.  Everyone is behind Net Zero in principle.  But they also all have day jobs with their own priorities, budgets and pressures that already take up all of their time and energy.

Is there another way to think about this?

From my experience, organisations making the most progress are not necessarily those with huge sustainability teams or flashy reporting platforms.  They are the ones with buy-in (real buy-in) from across the whole organisation.  

For your strategy to work, it needs to be woven into your operations, taking account of conflicting priorities and budget constraints.  Ideally it will adapt standard operations to accommodate measures that will save carbon.  Some recent examples I’ve seen of carbon reduction initiatives that work with, not against, organisations include:

• Decarbonisation measures being incorporated into long-term estates plans based on a timeline driven by asset condition 

• FM teams being consulted during the design process to understand the impacts of plant room layouts on repairs and maintenance  

• Adoption of standard wording in all contracts and appointments to actively make carbon part of the procurement process

Where the actions required to reach Net Zero can be integrated into BAU across your whole organisation, real progress starts to be made.  The key thing is to build a strategy that works with your organisation structure and builds collaboration between departments.  Because if Ghostbusters taught us anything, it’s that you can’t solve the biggest problems without crossing the streams.

……Plot Twist!

Your strategy will never deliver in a vacuum.  Before you change it, try changing its relationship with your organisation.