By Kshitij Batra, Senior Vice President, International Hub, Power Products at Schneider Electric
A UN Climate Change Report revealed that the world is on track to miss its 2050 net zero targets, with temperatures expected to reach 2.4C+ by 2100. This is Part 1 of a two-part series.
Kshitij Batra, senior vice president, international hub, power products at Schneider Electric. Supplied by Schneider Electric
Overcoming this challenge is complex. At Schneider Electric, even though we’ve helped our customers reduce CO2 emissions by over 600MT to date, our partners and customers still frequently highlight misunderstandings that organisations hold at the start of their net-zero journey.
To help shift positive intent to concrete action, we’ve outlined three of the most common myths surrounding decarbonisation and how organisations can get started on their decarbonisation journey.
Decarbonisation myth #1 – We have the luxury of time to decarbonise
We’ve seen the effects, from severe heatwaves, droughts to devastating floods. The rise in emissions is wreaking havoc on our planet, and with global demand quadrupling, it is abundantly clear – we cannot continue as we are. But we know what we need to do to counterbalance this growing demand.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that limiting global warming to 1.5°C requires greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to peak before 2025 and be reduced by 43% by 2030. However, there’s currently a substantial gap between commitments and the necessary action, meaning the current pace of emissions reductions is too slow, and needs a more than threefold increase to align with the 1.5°C target.
Decarbonisation is not a one-and-done situation.
It is an ongoing process that requires integration into business operation with leadership buy-in, clear goal setting, and an actionable plan. We firmly advocate a three-step approach of digitisation, decarbonisation, and differentiation to help businesses stand out in the current landscape.
So, where do organisations start? Many companies say that the lack of data is the biggest barrier to implementing decarbonisation goals. It’s only by first understanding the scale of the organisation’s current carbon footprint and what the contributors are, can a business strategy be put in place to reduce emissions. By putting digital solutions in place, businesses can not only measure but also manage energy consumption and carbon emissions.
On average, 78% of industrial processes are not electrified today, but 50% of it could be. In South Africa, 74.31% of electrical energy is generated from coal powered thermal power plants. For South Africa to achieve its target of becoming net zero by 2050, the transition to renewable energy is crucial. And the goal as outlined by the South African Renewable Energy Master Plan (SAREM) of adding 3 to 5GW in renewables per year till 2030 is a good start to enabling the journey to cleaner and greener tomorrow.
By creating a single source of truth for energy and data in the business, businesses can start to digitise operations and monitor resource usage while identifying opportunities to save on an ongoing basis. Finally, through electrifying operations, reducing energy use, replacing energy sources, and engaging the value chain.
