UNFCCC SCOPE 3

Ozone harming substances, or GHGs, are gases that trap heat or long wave radiation in the air. Their presence in the air makes the World’s surface hotter. Daylight or shortwave radiation effectively goes through these gases and the environment, is consumed by the outer layer of the earth and is delivered again as intensity or long wave radiation. The atomic construction of GHGs permits them to ingest this delivered intensity and yet again emanate it back to the earth. This intensity catching peculiarity is known as the nursery impact.

Of the three scopes under Green House Gas Emissions, Scope 3 being the most difficult to trace is being traced with Blockchain and AI. We find it easy to trace all other direct emissions in SCOPE 1 and SCOPE 2 which occurs in a company’s value chain. Scope 3 emissions can account for 90 to 95% of a manufacturer’s emissions and, if a company is serious about aligning its business with the UN’s climate goals, it’s clear these need to be tackled.

Both at worldwide/planetary level and at partner (individual, association, organization, country and so on) level, Net Zero is a state where a harmony between anthropocentric GHG discharges and evacuations is accomplished. This can be accomplished through lessening and staying away from discharges, and afterward carrying out answers for catch the leftover ones at the mark of age, or by eliminating them from the climate. Net zero is an express that partners might accomplish, yet additionally an express that we want to accomplish at worldwide/planetary level to meet the objectives of the Paris Understanding. To accomplish net zero, just carbon credits or balances produced by projects that catch CO2 in the long haul are acknowledged. See additionally Carbon Non partisanship and Environment Lack of bias.

The “Climate Neutral Now” initiative is one of several work-streams launched by the UNFCCC secretariat to increase climate action by engaging non-Party stakeholders (sub-national governments, companies, organizations, individuals). It was launched in 2015, based on a mandate to promote the voluntary use of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and its Certified Emissions Reductions (CERs), but its goals are much broader than these.

The UNFCCC secretariat has the mandate to support national governments in the implementation of the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement, including making efforts to increase engagement with non-Party stakeholders to meet the goals established in these agreements, particularly in relation to achieving the Paris Agreement goal of remaining under 2 degrees Celsius with the aim of a maximum of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, and adapting to the ongoing and predicted changes. Action by all stakeholders is urgently needed to meet this goal. Climate Neutral Now is one of the initiatives promoting such action by encouraging stakeholders to understand their impact on climate, to learn how it can be reduced and eventually compensated, and how they can collaborate with others to accelerate the change that is needed. Examples of non-Party stakeholders: sub national

For the purposes of Climate Neutral Now, climate neutrality and net zero are synonyms. It means reaching a balance between anthropocentric GHG emissions and their removals. This must be achieved by reducing GHG emissions to the maximum extent possible, and then capturing or removing the rest, avoiding any further increase of GHGs in the atmosphere. On the other hand, carbon neutrality is understood as action by stakeholders to reduce and avoid emissions, and then compensating those that were not avoided by using carbon credits or offsets.

Carbon neutrality is therefore a step on the way to climate neutrality
or net zero.

These guidelines will be updated as consensus evolves on these
definitions. For the purposes of Climate Neutral Now:

A balance between GHG emissions and removals. Achievable at global/planetary level, and at stakeholder (companies, organizations, sub national authorities, individuals) level. At stakeholder level, only
carbon credits from projects that capture GHGs in the long term can be used.
CARBON NEUTRALITY NET ZERO Action by a stakeholder (company, organization, sub national authority, individual) to reduce and avoid
emissions, and then compensate the remaining ones through the use of carbon credits. Use of carbon credits from projects that reduce, avoid and temporarily capture GHGs is possible. Not applicable at global/planetary level. Synonym with climate neutrality.
Therefore, climate neutrality and net-zero at the stakeholder level are
similar to carbon neutrality, but they differ in the types of projects/activities used to compensate for the remaining GHG emissions.

For this level, a self-declared GHG inventory will be completed, using any standard or methodology selected by the participant, with public communication about which one is used. Only scopes 1 and 2 must be included. Scope 3 is optional. No third-party verification of the GHG inventory is required to achieve this level. The goal of this level is to allow any organization, in particular SMEs, to start the process to understand and
reduce its GHG footprint, without the need for potentially expensive verification processes and deep technical knowledge.

verified GHG inventory, with incomplete scope 3 The participating organization must include scopes 1 and 2, and some of its scope 3 emissions and complete a third-party verification to achieve the Silver Level of the Measure step for the Climate Neutral Now initiative. The sources of scope 3 emissions are to be decided by the participant. However, they are encouraged to include all sources that are feasible to estimate, such as air and land transport, paper consumption, waste generation, water consumption, and others where the organization should have data available to make the calculations. A third-party verification must be conducted by an independent external organization accredited to produce GHG footprint verification’s. The final product of the verification should be aligned with recognized verification standards, according to the participant’s country, and must be contained in a verification statement.
Verifies shall be a national accreditation body, organizations recognized by national or local governments, sectoral organizations, entities accredited under UNFCCC-recognized carbon market mechanisms, CDP, or other entities accredited adequately by an official body. The verification promotes transparency, assurance, and integrity in the process. Other benefits from external verification include the know how of the measurement of emissions from an external perspective. The corroboration of the assumptions made leads to improved consistency and comparability in following years. The difference compared to the Silver Level is that the GHG inventory will include all material sources in the categories of scope 3 dictated by the GHG Protocol. For more information about the calculation of scope 3, organizations can use the GHG Protocol’s Technical Guidance for Calculating Scope 3 Emissions here.
The emission factors for the downstream emissions can either be specifically provided by each one of the suppliers or average emission factors (depending on the industry) from a secondary database such as those used in the Organizations Calculator provided by the Climate Neutral Now team.
For the achievement of this level, an assurance verification statement
must be provided. The results of the calculations must be sent to the
Climate Neutral Now team, through the Report document. This process should be repeated annually for each reporting period. Measure Gold Level: Third-party verified GHG Inventory, with full scope 3 A third-party (external) verification of a GHG inventory that includes all material sources in scope 3 is necessary to achieve the Gold Level of recognition in the Measure step.

Step 2. Reduce

Organizations need to reduce their GHG footprint as much as possible to ensure the credibility of any other climate action. Once an organization has measured its GHG emissions and recognized significant GHG emissions sources associated with its activities, actions to reduce and avoid the GHG emissions from those activities as much as possible must be identified and implemented.
Although Climate Neutral Now recommends taking all possible actions to reduce GHG emissions upfront, strategies for reducing GHG emissions are often developed once the GHG emissions of an organization have been calculated.

ALL participants in Climate Neutral Now make the basic commitment of contributing to achieving global climate neutrality through their actions to Measure, Reduce and – optionally- Contribute. To achieve Reduce – Bronze Level, an organization needs to identify and implement actions to reduce its GHG footprint, even if it does not have a formal reduction target or plan in
place.

This level aims to allow all organizations to get started on their journey to climate neutrality by first learning about their GHG footprint and how they can reduce it and, once they have become familiar with these, increase their level of ambition to reach Silver and Gold Levels. To achieve Bronze level, the organization may have an incomplete or no reduction plan at all. It must only identify ways to reduce or avoid its emissions and implement them. The organization will then have to report annually on those implemented actions.

The requirement to achieve Silver Recognition Level is to ensure that a plan with intermediate, shorter-term targets is in place to achieve net-zero by 2050. To develop such plans and targets, the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) or other recognized approaches are recommended. At the end of the day, the requirement is that the plans and targets are science-based, meaning that they align with the best available science regarding how much and how fast we must reduce our GHG emissions. For example, that means reducing emissions to half of 2010 emissions (base year) by 2030 (target year). When an organization achieves net-zero, emissions will possibly continue to occur but will be balanced by capturing an equivalent amount from the atmosphere (carbon capture). The recommendations for the organizations while doing a reduction plan include: Define a “Base Year” which will be the basis for comparison for the reduction achievement each year, and a set of target years with their reduction goals; Establish processes to define, implement and report relevant practices, business policies, procedures, and activities to reduce GHG emissions; Determine if, even with the best efforts to reduce and avoid, there are remaining GHG emissions; and Review your performance and adjust the targets and plans to ensure continued alignment with science. A copy of your commitment to Net Zero with the target year and intermediate targets must be shared to seek recognition at this level of

Reduce Gold Level: At least 5% average yearly reduction

The highest level of recognition for Step 2 Reduce requires achieving at least a 5% reduction of the reported emissions year on year, or on average during a period of 5 years, with the overall goal to become a Net Zero organization by 2050 or earlier. Additionally, the organization must have a plan in place to achieve this, including intermediate targets.

Step 3. Contribute (OPTIONAL)

After emission reduction efforts have been undertaken, some activities are impossible, with today’s technologies, to carry out without any GHG emissions (e.g. travel by air or operating heavy vehicles). That is why offsetting/compensation has been a tool to take responsibility and encourage a further reduction in emissions globally, whilst also bringing other sustainable development benefits such as reduced pollution, increased health, access to energy, job generation, and others.

As we move towards 2050, this compensation of emissions needs to evolve towards long-term carbon capture projects. But it is expected that we will need to continue indefinitely “compensating” or “offsetting” unavoidable emissions through capture and storage technologies if we are going to achieve global net-zero emissions. In the meantime, and as a measure to accelerate this process, compensation or offsetting with carbon credits that come from projects that avoid, reduce or capture GHGs temporarily is a precious tool. Those projects need to be certified under a recognized standard that follows best international practice. In particular, standards recognized under the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement are recommended. One option to obtain carbon credits recognized under the UNFCCC is to use the UN Carbon Offset Platform. However, participants can procure their carbon credits through any channel of their choosing. All or part of the remaining non-avoided GHG emissions can be compensated through carbon credits.

Contribute Silver Level: Full contribution with partial Scope 3

To achieve the Silver Level of Step 3. Contribute, the organization’s contribution (offsetting) must be equal to 100% of their emissions in scope 1 and 2 and the emissions of scope 3 of the reported GHG inventory. This aligns with achieving Silver Level in Step 1. Measure. Proof of cancellation/retirement of the carbon credits must be provided.

Contribute Gold Level: Full contribution with full Scope 3

The highest level for Step 3. Contribute requires a contribution of 100% or more of the reported GHG inventory, where scopes 1, 2, and all material sources in scope 3 are included. This aligns with the Gold Level of Step 1. Measure. Proof of cancellation/retirement of the carbon credits must be provided.

The Article is taken from

https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/CNN%20Guidelines.pdf