A Standard for Net Zero

In the last year, a wave of companies have committed to “net zero.” But what does being a net zero business mean in practice? There isn’t yet an agreed-upon standard; in the fervor to get going, some are misusing the term.

At Watershed, we think it’s important to maintain a high bar. In this piece, we share how companies can achieve true net zero: measure emissions across the entire value chain, reduce carbon as much as possible, and remove the rest. Net zero companies aim to achieve for their own business what the world must accomplish to beat climate change. Fundamentally, net zero is not an accounting exercise—it’s an imperative to think big on climate.