Feature article: With ZETA on the Road to Net-Zero

21. March 2023 by Andreas Pompenig Building Services, Feature article, Green Energy Solutions

Sustainability in the spotlight

Worldwide, businesses are recognizing their responsibilities and increasingly committing themselves to reducing and preventing harmful social and environmental impacts. The United Nations defined the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their 2030 Agenda, and thereby provided a global framework to achieve true sustainability.

Each of the 17 SDGs is essential and pharmaceutical companies can contribute considerably to many of them. In view of the climate emergency, developing a future-proof decarbonization strategy is becoming vital for every business or company.

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The 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations (source: United Nations)

ZETA provides an holistic approach to decarbonization

Developing the roadmap to net-zero

In the development of decarbonization concepts, the challenge is to reconcile the expectations of external stakeholders ("top-down" perspective) with an internal ("bottom-up") perspective based on detailed technological assessments that show how much the carbon footprint can be reduced under the given technological and economic conditions.

A holistic view includes all relevant areas and business activities. For these analyses, ZETA evaluates current and future climate protection measures from a climate-specific and an economic perspective, using simulations and sensitivity analyses.

This results in structured cost-benefit calculations showing how much CO₂ is saved by the implementation of the measures and what costs are entailed.

Elements of a corporate climate strategy

What are the elements of a corporate climate strategy that lead from mitigation of GHG emissions to climate neutrality? Very influential turnkeys in a net-zero roadmap are the energy efficiency of the company’s buildings, processes and vehicles, and a switch from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources. Self-production – for example through photovoltaics – or procurement of green power is also a successful means of avoiding emissions.