The Net Zero Initiative methodolgy is now available in English. Developped by Carbone 4 with a large set of corporate partners, NZI describes how to act on three different “pillars” that are not to be added up - or substracted - one with another:
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induced emissions along the value chain, e. g. emissions that are necessary in the present world for the processes of the value chain to physically take place,
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avoided emissions along the value chain or outside it, e. g. benefits that are brought, as the case may be, by the company’s products or services (for example a company that sells bikes that will replace - and not add up to - cars contributes to the decrease of the emissions of its clients)
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sequestrated carbon, or sinks, along the value chain or outside it.
Developping sinks does not “compensate” with emissions, for it does not suppress the dependancy of the value chain to emissions on one side, and rules regarding benefits associated with “credits” often allow to count as a flow down something which actually does not belong to that category, or not in the proper time frame.
We are still in the early stage of carbon accounting. So it is normal that, with time, we are able to do better, and we do hope that NZI, available for all companies, will contribute to such a move!