March 1, 2022
Emissions abatement means curbing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to reduce the amount of GHGs contaminating the atmosphere.
If you want to learn how your business can start abating emissions in different areas and what the costs of emissions abatement are, then this is for you. We'll tell you about GHG abatement, what gases should be in the atmosphere, why the planet is overheating, and give you some practical tips and examples of emissions abatement.
Approximately 78% of the earth's atmosphere is nitrogen, 21% is oxygen, and 1% is made up of other gases like neon, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. Imbalances in substances can harm the environment. Too many of certain elements can intoxicate the environment while not enough of the ones needed in the atmosphere can lead to deprivation of food supply and more.
The sources of GHGs go beyond just CO2, which makes up 76% of all GHG emissions globally, which is the reason we are concentrating on eradicating CO2 emissions in the atmosphere.
Almost all global warming since 1850 is the result of human activities. And still, global emissions haven't yet peaked in most places. While nations are striving to achieve policies that combat pollution in many forms, CO2 has its own sphere of acts attempting to control quantities produced per year with carbon credits.
Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere and hence global warming. Heat, electricity, and transportation are the main reasons for most fossil fuel burning by human beings. We'll look at some United States 2020 statistics from the US EPA to show the main sources of carbon emissions.
Related content
Please check out our other free resources from our academy to learn more about GHGs and how to reduce them:
• Article: GHG Reporting: Everything You Need to Know
• Article: Carbon Emissions and Mitigation Strategies
• Article: Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the United States
Anytime burning fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) or biological materials like trees or waste happens, CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere and along with methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and water vapor, and traps heat from the sun causing global warming. Climate change is the result of this causing unnecessary warming to polar ice caps which kills entire ecosystems, affects food for wildlife, contributes to severe droughts, wildfires, and even tropical storms.
Some of the specific effects include but aren't limited to:
Every economic sector is adjusting to policies that are put in place to get to net zero by 2050 or earlier. Part of those policies is allowing carbon credits that decrease every year to abate emissions. Since each nation, company, and person is responsible for their CO2 abatement strategies, Net0 can be used by anyone to measure, track, analyze, reduce, offset, and report emissions. Net0 does it all with the data that is input by the reporting company's colleagues and vendors. Any sector can benefit from the platform because we use more than one type of emission on a day-to-day basis. Net0 is designed with that in mind so the data received is measured accurately and companies don't need to go out finding agencies in order to search for offsetting projects.
Net0 also gives insight as to emissions abatement in the future based on data you give, with its intuitive AI core. It goes beyond a system of record to be flexible as you go on the journey to net zero. Some of the things different sectors can do to achieve GHG abatement in the long term could be:
Carbon abatement costs will look like they cost more upfront, like when investing in anything, but will bring a return on investment in the long run.
Let's use a wind farm as an example:
The cost of setting up wind farms will look steep in the beginning. Since we can contribute to offsetting projects that build wind farms, we are already investing in the future as we remove carbon from the atmosphere. In turn, our CO2 abatement cost is lower in the long run because the wind project will already have been funded.
In the chart above, William Nordhaus, Environmental Economist, compares the abatement cost to the emissions control rate but of course, this will vary with emission abatement amounts and projects.
Reading a marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) isn't hard if you know how to do it. It is measured by dollars over metric tons (tonnes) of CO2 equivalents ($/tCO2-e).
Each different opportunity box is an action, sitting above or below the horizontal axis.
Boxes above the axis mean there is a cost to that action – the higher the box is, the higher the cost is.
Boxes below the axis mean there's savings from that action – the lower the box is, the greater the savings are.
Actions can be compared annually.
The box width indicates the action’s potential volume of abatement per year, expressed in tCO2-e.
The curve shape is made by ordering the actions from lowest cost (the most savings) to highest cost, left to right.
Knowing what your carbon footprint is, is the first step to creating an emissions abatement strategy. Net0 even has a simulation tool within the platform to show you what your carbon footprint would look like after making reductions to help you abate emissions more effectively.
Request a demo today with Net0 and see how simple it is to achieve carbon neutrality. We can help you measure, track, analyze, reduce, offset, certify, and report on emissions all in one accurate emissions management platform.
Again, net zero is coming to a balance between emissions and those which have been removed from the atmosphere. Gross zero means stopping all emissions, period.
You can usually start using the system within a week of contract signature. Book a call with us to start.
Yes, our team will help you set up the platform and provide you with guidance on how to use it.
We work with companies from different industries, from professional services and tech businesses to construction companies and manufacturing sites.
Net0 offers simplicity, automation, no-code integrations, and provides an activity-based approach meaning the calculations are done by co2e tonnage and not by how much money was spent on the activity that led to emissions.
Net0 is the most comprehensive solution to recording, measuring, tracking, offsetting, and certifying emissions all in one place and in minutes. Net0 also enables organizations to invite anyone they want to contribute to the dashboard, being all-inclusive and simple to use.