Delivering your carbon roadmap through decisive action

Your carbon vision is set, and you’ve identified opportunities for reduction – so where next?

In the final instalment of our carbon roadmap series, Craig Needham and James Ashley show you how to be decisive on action areas, to bring your carbon roadmap to life.

Stage 3 - Decisiveness on action areas

Define the goals

By undertaking the previous two steps in our carbon roadmap series, you’ll have a clear picture of their direction, their risk and opportunity areas, along with any performance gaps. Collectively, this information is pivotal in defining target areas and creating quantitative targets.

According to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, carbon reduction business goals can fall into four areas:

• Identifying and understanding risks and opportunities across the value chain
• Identifying carbon reduction opportunities and setting reduction targets
• Engaging partners in reducing carbon emissions
• Enhancing information and corporate reputation

The types of risk and opportunities that organisations can mitigate or seize, respectively, by defining goals in these areas are as follows.

Risks:

• Regulatory
• Supply chain cost and reliability
• Reputation

Opportunities:

• Efficiency and cost savings
• Increased sales and customer loyalty
• Drive innovation

Any business strategy requires setting targets for revenues and other core indicators - carbon reduction is no different. To create these goals, standard goal templates, or more comprehensive tools available from sources such as SBTi for carbon reduction, can be used. However, most importantly, goals need to be based on the ‘understanding of current performance’. They should therefore be stretching but realistic, providing motivation, but remaining achievable.

When setting a carbon reduction target, considerations should be target type, completion date, and target level (i.e. the numerical value). Avoid falling into the trap of setting a target that is either not based on data or is out-of-reach. Net zero targets are an example, which for some companies and governments have needed to be changed, as they realise their existing targets are out of reach.

Examples of this are shown by Air New Zealand, and the Scottish Government. In 2024 both chose to abandon their 2030 carbon emission targets as they realised they were out of reach. Of course, this isn’t just based on goal setting, but also the quality of the roadmap, and the conviction of actions to get there. In the case of the Scottish Government’s net zero target, this is particularly pronounced as the Climate Change Committee (CCC) noted the absence of a credible roadmap toward achieving their Net Zero Target for 2045. How to avoid this misstep is covered in the next section.

Develop your roadmap

By successfully using data to set realistic goals, the next step is to create the roadmap or implementation plan. This must begin by identifying the reduction opportunities which are connected to the carbon emission hotspots. One method to do so is the strategic carbon opportunity framework from the GHG accounting standard. This model

enables an organisation to evaluate the impact, implementation timeline, and estimated expense of an initiative. If required, another additional step could be to prioritise these against operational impact (feasibility) and stakeholder requirements (desirability).

At this point, it’s again worth considering the benefits of external guidance which can be beneficial in advising and assuring your carbon reduction strategy. Places to seek advice are:

• Industry experts
• Net Zero operating partners
• Government agencies
• Energy auditors

Based on our experience as a net zero operating partner, we can validate the steps already proposed to provide assurance, or challenge and offer guidance on realistic actions to drive ROI. Furthermore, we can guide you through existing legislation, upcoming policy changes, and align with national and international standards to ensure confidence in your plan.

Based on this output, we’d work together to define your implementation plan, identifying the steps to convert identified solutions into actionable measures, as well as the definition of timelines and reporting mechanisms. One example output of this is creation of the net zero/carbon reduction roadmap, which publicly communicates your organisations unique pathway to net zero, as well as providing a high-level overview of which initiatives will be approached and when.

Take action

Concluding our approach is the requirement to take action. In many ways this begins when setting the vision and building commitment. It’s also a stage of utmost importance, as without action to back up the hard work undertaken in devising solutions, your organisation will remain mired in the business-as-usual scenario.

To take action there are three steps that we recommend:

1. Communicate publicly your vision, data, and roadmap
2. Track progress
3. Involve everyone

Communicating publicly your intentions and data supports two purposes. Firstly, externally it presents your commitment to reducing carbon, and begins to take advantage of reputational opportunity. Second, within the organisation it shows that the vision is backed-up with action, and continues to build credibility for the carbon reduction change. An important note at this point is that the communication should be both ways, with challenge and ideas from other sources also considered.

Tracking progress is an important step within the governance structure. It’s essential in informing the effectiveness of the chosen initiatives, and providing data insight that inform future actions. It’s only by using data that the progress against the performance gaps can be addressed, and the likelihood of achieving your goals understood.

Lastly, it’s critical to involve everyone, maintaining transparency in your communications, and seeking ideas from both within and outside the organisation. It’s only by following this step that organisational silos can be broken, and the collaboration and alignment required across the organisation to achieve carbon reduction goals can be achieved.

Based on this new understanding - Can you afford not to act now?

With UK net zero target of 2050 set in law, and the likelihood of legislation, policy and support changing over the next decade, can you afford not to get ahead of the curve? By getting started and putting in place the positive steps to reduce carbon, and benefit from the financial returns provided by risk mitigation and seizing opportunities, your organisation can remain competitive.

It all starts with the vision and mindset. As demonstrated in this series, we can help you bring it to life, making carbon reduction real for your asset or portfolio.

If you’re ready to get ahead of the curve, and capitalise on the opportunities for carbon reduction in Real Estate, contact Craig Needham.