Carbon neutrality: what if the first step to achieving it is closer than you think?

Last weekend in La Presse, Hélène Baril wrote an article about the challenges the industrial sector is facing in terms of decarbonization. Of course, achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 won’t be easy; however, within our industry, solutions are emerging, and many professionals are making this challenge their priority. We can take concrete actions now, and why not become major agents of change while we’re at it?

And with rising carbon prices, more and more decarbonization projects are becoming viable. Interested industrial companies have everything to gain as financial levers emerge, making it easier to transition to greener operations.

One of the first steps they can take to achieve this is to quantify their GHG emissions by assessing their carbon footprint, and they can use many existing standardized methods. In particular, this helps identify:

• The operations that emit the most GHGs.
• The equipment that consumes the most fossil fuels.
• Where the most energy is spent.
• The elements likely to influence the carbon footprint in coming years.

After the assessment is performed, the next step is to strategically plan their industrial decarbonization. Companies have several options, namely:

• Maximize energy efficiency.
• Adopt green and renewable energy.
• Electrify operations.
• Opt for alternative fuels with low GHG emissions.
• Capture and store carbon.
• Offset remaining GHG emissions.

“If you can’t transform your business in one shot, you definitely need to focus on where the most significant emissions are coming from, set achievable targets and work quickly,” states Dave Olsthoorn, ing, M.Sc.A., an energy and air quality engineer at BBA.