Companies must contribute to national and global net zero.

Offering an alternative to corporate net zero and carbon neutrality claims, Net Zero Initiative focuses on giving companies the tools to contribute fairly to the only carbon neutrality target that makes sense: net zero at a global scale.

our SPONSORS

They support us

Net Zero Initiative is a project led by consulting company Carbone 4. It is supported by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME), the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, and twenty-one major companies.

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The 10 NZI PRINCIPLES

They follow the 10 principles of the Net Zero Initiative

In 2021-2022, Net Zero Initiative collaborated with over 50 climate change organisations to build together the "10 Net Zero Initiative Principles for Ambitious Corporate Climate Strategy".

The signatories call on their own clients, companies of all sizes and sectors, to adopt these principles in order to build a climate strategy that meets the global net zero challenge.

Institutions
Consulting firms and engineering offices specialized in climate change
Project developers
Cooperatives
Softwares and platforms
Climate professional networks
Read the 10 NZI principles
NZI framework

"Net zero" must be a collective target

In order to limit the temperature increase to +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period, climate science calls for a balance between global anthropogenic CO2 emissions and removals by 2050 at the latest. This balance is called global carbon neutrality, or "zero net emissions".

In France, the National Low Carbon Strategy (SNBC) aims to achieve the same balance between emissions and removals in the country by 2050.

IPCC SR 1.5ADEME's notice on neutralityNational Low Carbon Strategy (France)

To achieve net zero, societies need both to reduce emissions and increase carbon sinks.

The three pillars for contribution

Companies must maximize their contribution to reducing global emissions and increasing global carbon sinks by acting on three levers in parallel:

  • A : Reducing their direct and indirect emissions by following a 1.5°C compatible pathway
  • B : Helping others to reduce their emissions, through the sales of solutions that decarbonize their customers and through the financing of emissions avoidance projects outside their value chain
  • C : Removing carbon from the atmosphere through the development of carbon sinks, both in and out of their value chain
  • A : La réduction de leur empreinte directe et indirecte

  • B : L'évitement d'émissions grâce à leurs produits / services et leurs financements

  • C : L'absorption de CO2 dans et en-dehors de leur chaîne de valeur

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OUR Advisory board

They contributed to the project

The NZI approach is firmly rooted in the latest advances in climate science and the latest work of academia, think tanks and international institutions. The project can rely on a panel of high-level experts since its creation.

They contributed to the development of the original framework in 2019-2020

Richard Baron
European Climate Foundation / 2050 Pathways
Olivier Boucher
Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace
Anne Bringault
Réseau Action Climat France
Michel Colombier
IDDRI
Alain Grandjean
Fondation pour la Nature et l'Homme
Jean-Marc Jancovici
The Shift Project
Benoît Leguet
I4CE
Minh Cuong Le Quan
Staterre
Dimitar Nikov
Ministère de la Transition Écologique et Solidaire
Marion Verles
SustainCERT / The Gold Standard

They contributed to the Net Zero Initiative from 2021

Clément Bultheel
Ministère de la Transition Écologique
Fanny Fleuriot
ADEME
Gajanana Hegde
UNFCCC
Emmanuelle Huet
Ministère de la Transition Écologique
Miguel Naranjo Gonzalez
UNFCCC
Panna Siyag
UNFCCC
Yann Briand
IDDRI
Derik Broekhoff
SEI
Annette Cowie
NSW Dept of Primary Industries
Thomas Day
NewClimate Institute
Gilles Dufrasne
Carbon Market Watch
Claudine Foucherot
I4CE
Augustin Fragnière
IDDRI
Claire Fyson
ClimateAnalytics
Julia Grimault
I4CE
Thomas Hale
Oxford University
Eli Mitchell-Larson
Oxford University
Alexandre Rambaud
AgroParis Tech
Matt Ramlow
WRI
David Rich
WRI
Johannes Svensson
IDDRI
Carsten Warnecke
NewClimate Institute
Manon Castagné
CCFD Terre Solidaire
Adeline Favrel
France Nature Environnement
Damien Huet
Association Bilan Carbone
Jean-Marc Jancovici
The Shift Project
David Laurent
EpE
Aurélien Cartal
PUR Projet
Cécile Goube
Alliance Forêt Bois
Jonathan Guyot
All4Trees
Stéphane Hallaire
Reforest'Action
Matthieu Jousset
Fondation GoodPlanet
Minh Cuong Le Quan
Staterre
Daniele Pernigotti
Aequilibria
testimonials

What they say about us

« Giving everyone the keys to building a robust carbon neutrality approach is essential. In addition to the drastic reduction of its emissions, this also requires clear, transparent and separate communication on all the action levers implemented in its approach. NZI is working in this direction: clarifying the fair contribution of each company on each of its action pillars to achieve global carbon neutrality. »

ADEME

« The fight against climate change will require electricity, a vector for energy efficiency and decarbonization, to play a central role. Our climate trajectory, with its short- and medium-term objectives, will make EDF a decisive player in a carbon-neutral society by 2050: it is proof of our determination to act. The work carried out with NZI on the notion of avoided emissions is an essential link to ensure that all players speak the same language. »

EDF

« At Mobivia, we decided a year ago to structure our low-carbon trajectory using the "NZI" methodology, which is particularly relevant and adapted to the automotive and mobility sectors. It is therefore quite natural that we wanted to join the NZI 2021 work, in order to contribute to the co-construction of robust, objective, standardized and shared reference systems »

Bénédicte Barbry

« As a global leader in sustainable mobility solutions, the energy transition and decarbonization of transport are at the heart of everything we do at Alstom. We are committed to carbon neutrality and support the NZI initiative to accelerate joint action in the transport sector and address the challenges of global warming. »

Alstom

« Making our contribution to the fight against climate change is one of Somfy Group's strategic priorities.
In addition to reducing our own emissions, one of our action levers focuses on the emissions avoided in buildings thanks to our solutions.
We feel it is necessary to be involved in NZI in order to share a rigorous and objective methodology. »

Somfy

« The mobility startups we support on a daily basis provide answers to the fight against climate change. Participating to NZI is essential for us in order to collectively establish reference methods concerning avoided emissions. This will allow us to objectively assess the impact of the solutions we support. »

Léa Degardin

« In 2016, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Group became the first listed real estate company to take into account the expanded scope of indirect carbon emissions related to construction, visitor and employee transportation, and tenant energy consumption. Today, our GHG reduction targets have been approved by SBTi and are aligned with a 1.5°C trajectory. With the NZI 2021 work, we want to go further in our fight against climate change by working on both our avoided emissions and carbon sinks. »

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield
committed companies

They are implementing the Net Zero Initiative framework

Some companies have already started to implement a full Net Zero Initiative strategy, by adopting a clear distinction between reductions, avoidances and removals, by setting targets and monitoring the three pillars in parallel, by choosing to claim their "contribution" rather than "offsetting", or by refusing to claim individual "carbon neutrality".

Implement NZI in your company

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NZI is an initiative developed by Carbone 4, a consulting firm specialized in low-carbon strategies and adaptation to climate change. Carbone 4 assists its clients in developing robust and reliable climate strategies, based on the recommendations of the Net Zero Initiative and the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME).

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