How to become a carbon neutral business

Delivering an effective carbon reduction plan that realises long-term sustainability requires expert, strategic advice and access to low-cost asset finance. This guide aims to support you in establishing a zero carbon business journey.

Net zero carbon, otherwise known as ‘carbon neutral’, refers to the process of balancing the amount of carbon (CO2) emitted with the equivalent amount of CO2 emissions cancelled from the atmosphere. For example, replacing petrol and diesel forms of transport with electric vehicles (EVs), or swapping high CO2 emitting practices such as oil, coal and gas-fired energy generation with renewable energy technologies like solar panels, wind farms, and battery storage.

Read more about our committment to becoming a carbon neutral business by 2030

There are two types of net-zero target: the first set by an entire country or region – like the UK’s 2050 goal – requiring the whole economy to reduce carbon emissions. The second type of net-zero target is set by progressive, individual organisations who wish to make a positive environmental impact and take a leading role in supporting wider national and global decarbonisation efforts. Here at SMS, for example, we have set our own 2030 net-zero target.

At the moment, the only legally-binding target in place for reaching net zero emissions in the UK is the Government’s Net Zero 2050 legislation set in 2019, which applies to the entire UK economy. There is currently no legal obligation on individual organisations to become carbon neutral by any given date. However, under proposed new treasury rules, most big UK firms and financial institutions will be forced to show how they intend to hit climate change targets. By 2023, they will have to set out detailed public plans for how they will move to a low-carbon future – in line with the UK’s 2050 net-zero target.

Besides this, there are already a number of compliance schemes in place for large organisations to report and reduce their energy consumption annually. These include:

Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)
Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)
Climate Change Agreements (CCA) Compliance Reporting
Energy Intensive Industries (EIIs) exemption

There are a great number of advantages available for business wishing to embark on a net zero carbon strategy. These include:

Reduce costs, improve productivity

By making a relatively short-term investment in sustainability measures, companies can experience long-term operational efficiencies, whilst reducing costs and improving profits. Don’t just take our word for it, read our case studies.

Reaching net-zero emissions may mean very different things for different organisations, depending upon their size and capacity for energy and carbon reduction, or the specific sectors which they operate in. For energy-intensive industries, realising lower carbon emissions might mean being heavily reliant upon grid decarbonisation or sourcing energy consumption through renewable self-generation. Equally, for organisations with large and complex supply chains, or those with substantial fleets, becoming a net-zero business may see you working much more closely with suppliers to address ‘Scope Three’ emissions.

Whilst there are many different paths to net-zero, SMS aims to make the potential journey as clear and transparent as possible for our customers. For that reason, we have developed a turnkey Net-Zero Framework. Our framework is designed to support any type of large business throughout the planning, implementation and review of long-term energy and carbon reduction programmes, making it easier and more cost effective to realise net-zero goals.

Segmented into four targeted workstreams, our approach identifies the drivers and critical levers existing within an organisation that influence energy and carbon performance, as well as the opportunities to align the strategy delivery across your business and its wider stakeholders.

Our Net Zero carbon strategy service

Adopting CaRe assets, or green energy technologies, across your business is an essential part of reaching net zero emissions. Here you can explore our summary of the foremost carbon reduction (CaRe) assets on the market today, which SMS can finance, design, procure, install, operate, and manage as part of a completely integrated delivery service.

Beyond these private finance options, SMS can also help you unlock access to government grants to support your investment in energy efficiency and low carbon technologies. Example grant mechanisms include:

We don’t just provide the finance, our experienced consultants and engineers advise on the most suitable CaRe assets to deploy at your sites and take your energy projects from concept to completion – helping you secure board-level buy-in, establish a project delivery model, and install, operate, and manage your assets.