eBooks & Guides

LEVERS FOR DECARBONIZATION Deep Retrofitting In 2040, approximately 2/3 of the global building stock will be buildings that exist today, underscoring the importance of balancing the efforts made in sustainable new construction with upgrades and retrofits to existing buildings to meet zero carbon standards. Deep retrofitting goes significantly beyond current conventional practice by maximizing efficiency improvements and incorporating zero carbon tech. There is no denying that retrofitting for sustainability is a more expensive, complex, and time- intensive process than aligning new construction with sustainability measures. The viable options for technology upgrades and structural changes may also be limited depending on the age and location of buildings, compounding the complexity of deciding which retrofits are necessary across an entire commercial portfolio. Carbon Offsets Using carbon offsets and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) are also options to offset the balance of emissions that cannot be eliminated through operational changes. Carbon offsets are certificates representing quantities of greenhouse gases that are either prevented from being emitted into the atmosphere (emissions avoidance/reduction) or removed from the atmosphere as the result of a carbon-reduction project. They form what is known as the voluntary carbon market (VCM): a decentralized space where people and businesses can choose to buy credits to offset their emissions. The most common offsets are centered around forests: some projects plant trees, while others pay those who own trees not to cut them down, avoiding the carbon emissions that otherwise might have occurred in the process of deforestation. However, recent studies suggest that the actual effectiveness of these programs is complex and even counterproductive. Companies who want to make actionable, good-faith efforts towards reducing their carbon footprint should seriously consider their plans to make claims on reducing emissions using credits that represent questionable or even false emissions reductions, especially with regulated emissions reporting just on the horizon both in the EU, and the U.S., which will add a level of scrutiny to their carbon accounting that corporations do not want to be under fire for. Ultimately, carbon offsetting should be reserved for final unavoidable emissions or to demonstrate biodiversity protection on sustainability reports rather than used as a catch-all solution on decarbonization. Sustainability & Energy Management Simplified

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