QUICK SUMMARY
We call onto every living being on earth to take arms for the ongoing climate change battle and the one ahead. The goal is simply to be sustainable both in business and as individuals. Together we stand divide we fall. This article includes the following:
- The IPCC report
- Carbon emission tracking
- Renewable energy as a KPI
- Heating and cooling
- Transport sector
- Decarbonizing the supply chain
ARTICLE
The IPCC report
Surely you have heard of the IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) report which is actually the six one released. It was quite a damming report. The report clearly highlighted that the situation is not getting any better. The reason is that we are not taking enough action in reducing the rate of temperature increase. We all say that we would like the temperature to stay below two degrees centigrade. We don’t even talk about two degrees now, how do we make sure we stay below one point five compared to industrial level.
The report clearly showed the urgency of taking action. If we talk about taking action, it means that each of us, at government, company and even citizen level need to do something about it. We are aware that there are many companies out there that would be interested to do their best because they have a social responsibility that they need to act upon towards society. They however not have a great deal of understanding on how they can make it happen.
Renewables in Africa is here for you. We are a clean Energy Engineering and Media Company. We spread awareness about clean energy via our media platform and also work as a developer working with international businesses that are looking to go green. Although one of the reasons these businesses are looking to go green is to reduce their energy costs, they are also looking to obtain sustainable power and contribute to the fight against climate change.
If you are looking into turning your business into a sustainable one, we could involve 5 steps that are interesting for you to take. to kick start your journey:
1.Track your amount of carbon emissions
If we are all looking to reduce the amount of carbon emissions on planet earth, it means that individually whether we are a government, company or individuals, it means that we should be able to reduce the amount of carbon emissions we are ejecting into the atmosphere.
If you are a business, you need to be aware of the levels of carbon emissions they are producing or ejecting into the atmosphere. You might not be a production company and you maybe just an office kind of business but still you could be using power in your business to run the devices or equipment that you use. For example, if you are using multiple computers in the offices, the more energy you consume and as a result you are ejecting more carbon emissions into the atmosphere. We’d argue that’s the starting point for businesses. Once you know your emission rate, you could work on coming reducing the amount of emissions. The emissions come from three main divisions.
Some of the ways of reducing your carbon foot print significantly may include:
- decarbonizing your power supply as much as possible
- reducing heating and cooling
- using green transportation methods
2. Renewable Energy as a KPI
Let your power be from renewable energy as much as possible. It may be difficult to get your 100% of your energy from renewable energy but still, renewable energy target needs to be a key performance indicator as a power supply. The ultimate goal is to try and see how you can become carbon neutral in the shortest period of time. To do this there’s need for a structural shift to move away from fossil fuels over time.
3. Sustainable Heating and Cooling
In the whole power sector, renewable energy is about 27%. When it comes to heating and cooling, the share of renewable energy is still very low. It’s about only 10%. Majority of it is still coming from fossil fuels. If your business is involved in heating or cooling, try to shift to renewable energy for that over time.
4.Transport Sector
The transport sector is actually the sector with the lowest share of renewable energy. It is heavily dependent on fossil fuels at the moment. It accounts for 32% of the global energy demand. Companies can avoid the use of motorized travel when going for work. Sharing a bus while going to work to avoid using a person car can be another way of reducing carbon emission. If the work place is close, can you walk or use a bicycle? COVID – 19 hit the world by storm but actually, one of its benefits was that many people were able to work from home. Less emissions were being emitted into the atmosphere from motor transport. In some parts of the world, electric vehicles maybe a solution. For example, in west Africa, there is a significant increase in adoption of electric bikes.
5. A sustainable supply chain
Passing on the above four points into the supply chain will help reduce the carbon foot print for your business. For example, for multinationals with vast supply chain can adoption of electric vehicles and trucks to move products.
Conclusions
In summary, if you want to start the transformation into sustainability, track your amount of carbon emission and start reducing it. Secondly, set renewable energy as a KPI for the business allowing the business to progressively move from a carbon emissive position to a carbon neutral position. Third, what methods is your business using for heating and cooling? You need to ask yourself how can you do that in the cleanest way possible. Lastly, the transportation methods that the business uses needs to be green. This involves both the supply chain (distribution of business products) and personnel movement.
At renewables in Africa, we walk the talk. Most of the staff work from home. This helps reduce our contribution to the transport carbon emissions into the atmosphere. We rely on green energy to power office equipment and have renewable energy set as one of the KPI’s and our supply chain is as green as grass.
Authors
Tony Tiyou is the Founder and CEO of Renewables in Africa (RiA).
Brian Kolek is an economist, data analyst and an aspiring programmer with interests in the Renewable energy sector, Information Technology and Innovation. He possesses certifications for data analysis and data driven decision making from reputable organizations such as IBM and PWC.
