You may have heard the terms ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ mentioned in relation to emissions. In particular, you may have heard various world governments pledge to achieve ‘net zero emissions’ by 2050, like the UK, New Zealand and Denmark. But what do ‘net zero’ and ‘carbon neutral’ actually mean? They have definitions, but the problem is that they are often misunderstood and can leave room for cheating or fiddling with numbers, as I’ll go on to explain. These are two terms that we can expect to hear a lot more about as time goes on, especially as we get closer and closer to those ever looming climate targets.
Net Zero
‘Net zero’ does not really have a solid definition. Broadly, it means reducing our impact on the planet, whilst also balancing out the damage that we have already done. For example, a country might reduce the amount of carbon that they produce, whilst also planting more trees to balance out any remaining carbon emissions. That’s essentially it, however this isn’t a particularly solid term, so it tends to get used a lot without real understanding. This is particularly important to consider when it gets used in politics!
Net zero sounds very exciting and it implies powerful change and action, but we are yet to see any governments really put this term into practice. There is also a concern that governments and companies will not reduce their carbon emissions, but will simply pass off the responsibility to other people. The argument is that we cannot solve all our problems by continuing to live unsustainably and planting lots of trees to balance out our emissions. This is something that activists like Greta Thunberg have mentioned. If you are carbon neutral, then essentially you have achieved net zero, so the carbon that you produce is balanced out.
Does that make sense? Sort of. In my opinion it sounds like a good idea, the problem is the interpretation and empty promises that can follow. It’s very easy to say that we want to commit to net zero, it is far harder to put it into practice.
Hopefully this has cleared some stuff up for you! Please let me know what kind of thing you would be interested in seeing from me, whether it’s more like this or less heavy topics, or a mixture.
Waste Makes Waste 