Net-zero and sustainability: The what, the why, and the how

Despite ambitious statements from their leaders, going Net-Zero remains an ambiguous project for most organizations today. But this is not without a reason. Defining Net-Zero targets and taking an evidence and data-driven approach to goals remains a universal challenge for businesses. That’s why defining a sustainability strategy is not enough – what’s needed is a state-of-the-art solution that will set your Net-Zero plans into motion. Understand how leading solutions complement a well-defined sustainability strategy, and how technology leaders like Xebia leverage them to get you to your Net-Zero targets on time.

What is Net-Zero?

Net-Zero is a state in which an organization cuts its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to zero, or balances its emissions with the removal of equivalent amounts from the atmosphere. Net-Zero is a critical component of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (PCA), a legally-binding international treaty that aims to limit the global increase in temperatures to 1.5°C by 2050. PCA was signed by nearly every state across the globe in recognition of the urgency to limit global warming to keep the planet habitable.

What it implies for businesses
Because of its global scope, the PCA implicates every business entity in existence. To this effect, regulations are being rolled out across most geographies to ensure that businesses:

Monitor and reduce their GHG emissions in accordance
Get audited by the authorities for their emissions reduction claims
Ensure that they are meeting their reduction targets

Why is it important?
As Net-Zero becomes a regulatory necessity, businesses that fail to comply are expected to face massive fines. In some regions, businesses have already paid multimillion-dollar fines for failing to meet their targets.

Because Net-Zero is strongly tied to the question of the planet’s habitability, it has a significant bearing on any organization’s ESG strategy. But more importantly, Net-Zero commitments make organizations lucrative to investors, climate-conscious customers, and employees alike – and have a strong impact on the fundamentals.

Going Net-Zero: What stands in the way?

While Net-Zero commitments have been made by numerous organizations, many are failing to meet their targets. There are a number of factors that make it difficult to set and achieve Net-Zero targets. These include:

Inability to understand the scope of the undertaking, because of a lack of insight into the organization’s carbon footprint.
Inability to understand how, and how much each business process contributes to the overall GHG emissions.
Not knowing what a reasonable Net-Zero target would be, and inability to define actionable Net-Zero targets.
Difficulty implementing processes to collect and calculate emissions data, and building trust in those mechanisms if they exist.
Bringing your value chain (partners, suppliers, and downstream entities) on board with your Net-Zero targets.

Beyond these challenges, building auditability into a Net-Zero framework requires trust, provenance, and granularity – all of which are impossible to achieve without a 360-degree digital solution that complements a sustainability strategy.

Walking the path to Net-Zero: a practical approach

Xebia’s Net-Zero solution is an industry-leading, 360-degree solution that enables organizations to define and implement their Net-Zero strategy in a practical, science-based fashion. Take a look at how it enables organizations to set and achieve their Net-Zero targets.

One of the first steps towards activating a Net-Zero strategy is the ability to measure the carbon footprint of the organization in a granular fashion. This involves the following steps:

Identifying all the business processes that are carried out on a day-to-day basis, across all business units and groups.
Calculating the emission factor (how much GHG emissions a process causes) for all types of processes.
Tracking business processes in real-time to accurately estimate the GHG emissions of the organization accurately.

Xebia’s Net-Zero solution enables businesses to easily calculate their carbon footprint. It is able to automatically identify business processes that contribute to the organization’s emissions. With support for all processes across all industries, it is able to factor every process into the equation. It leverages widely accepted emission factor benchmarks to calculate the emissions caused by each process. These include emissions caused by business travel, third parties, IT resources, electricity consumption, manufacturing plants, and more.

Xebia’s Net-Zero solution also enables organizations to set their Net-Zero commitments in terms of Science-based targets, which are defined by the Science-based targets initiative (SBTi) as being aligned with the PCA. These targets are then used by the solution to evaluate the emissions data for an organization, and continuously monitor progress toward the defined targets. The solution is also able to translate qualitative targets into quantitative and measurable ones and offers actionable insights into processes that represent the most lucrative GHG emission reduction opportunities.

Finally, Xebia’s Net-Zero solution also delivers high-fidelity emissions forecasts that keep businesses ahead of their targets. By connecting with trusted carbon markets, it enables businesses to offset their emissions through the purchase of verified carbon credits.

Xebia’s Net-Zero solution is also able to contextualize Net-Zero with the organization’s larger ESG strategy. In addition, it eases compliance by bringing support for proactive audits from certified bodies.

About Xebia’s commitment to Net-Zero

Xebia has always been an advocate of building a greener planet and recognizes the urgency of going Net-Zero. With a global presence that spans 24 offices spread across five continents, Xebia sees its Net-Zero target as an opportunity to make a significant contribution to a sustainable planet. At the same time, staying compliant with regulations across each country of operations is also a key driver of our Net-Zero commitments.

At Xebia, sustainability is strongly tied to the purpose of making its employees happier, and the world more habitable. With its Net-Zero solution, Xebia is making meaningful and accelerated progress toward its Net-Zero targets.

Why Xebia for Net-Zero

Net-Zero commitments are a significant undertaking for any organization, and point solutions can only take them so far in their efforts. Xebia’s Net-Zero solution is currently a one-of-a-kind solution in the market, that complements every aspect of an organization’s sustainability strategy, from definition to execution.

As of now, Xebia Net-Zero is the only solution in the market that can measure Scope I, II, and III emissions with granularity and precision, leveraging widely-accepted benchmarks. With an in-built ESG monitoring framework, it is able to track organizational efforts toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Next Steps

As Net-Zero becomes a regulatory necessity, implementing a single source of truth for GHG emissions will become the key to staying compliant across geographies. Now is the time to move the needle and gain an early mover advantage, with the leading Net-Zero solution in the industry.