Carbone 4 is bringing together leading experts to continue the methodological work of the Net Zero Initiative

Press Release

The Net Zero Initiative, launched in June 2018 and led by Carbone 4 in collaboration with about ten pioneering companies, and supported by a high-level scientific advisory board, published its framework for organizations’ contributions to carbon neutrality in April 2020. This framework provides organizations with a way to describe and organize their climate action in order to maximize their contribution to global and French carbon neutrality.

To continue this major methodological development, Carbone 4 is bringing together leading experts and establishing two working groups, which will help define the objectives by the end of 2020 emissions avoided and CO2 absorption that organizations must set for themselves in order to contribute their “fair share” to global carbon neutrality.

The Net Zero Initiative framework states that a company committed to carbon neutrality must implement three strategies to combat climate change:

• Reducing its emissions across its entire scope, both direct and indirect (induced emissions),
• The contribution to reducing emissions outside its scope (emissions avoided), either through the impact of its products or through carbon finance
• And its contribution to developing carbon sinks (negative emissions), both within and outside its value chain.

Starting in September and continuing through the end of the year, about 40 climate experts from major French and international institutions, universities, NGOs, think tanks, companies, and grassroots project leaders will come together in two working groups to validate the Net Zero Initiative’s guidelines on the rules to be defined regarding the emissions avoided and the negative emissions. The goal of this work is to define realistic and pragmatic objectives that will enable all types of organizations to guide their climate action in a way that is ambitious, transparent, and consistent with the global goal of carbon neutrality.

This methodological work will be followed by a publication in early 2021, summarizing the recommendations adopted by the working groups and thereby updating the Net Zero Initiative framework released in April 2020.

Find the Summary of the Net Zero Initiative Framework.

About Carbone 4

Led by Alain Grandjean, Jean-Marc Jancovici, and Laurent Morel, Carbone 4 is an independent consulting firm and a leader in climate strategy, energy transition, and climate change adaptation. Our team supports public and private sector stakeholders in the transition to a low-carbon economy that is resilient to climate change.

Press contacts: Alexia Soyeux – alexia.soyeux@carbone4.com