Without Kevorda, a course on (de) carbonization: carbon economy in Russia and the world course on (de) carbonization: carbon economy in Russia and the world Text: Ekaterina Kinyakina, Nikita
Without Kevordo
The course on (de) carbonization:
economy Carbon in Russia and the world
Course on (de) carbonization: carbon economy in Russia and the world
Text: Ekaterina Kinyakina, Nikita Schurenkov
Illustrations: Lyubov Dronov
At the end of 2020, a calculator appeared on the Greenpeace website, which allows you to calculate a carbon trace or emission of greenhouse gases due to the activities of each individual person. It takes into account the emissions of CO2 from utilities, transport, travel, as well as food, without taking into account their storage and transportation. For example, I got 3.56 tons of CO2 for 2021: according to Greenpeace, this is on average 10% less than those who passed the survey. At the deputy head Inc. Russia Nikita Schurenkov for the same period is 7.56 tons of CO2, which is 92% more than those who used the calculator.
A carbon trace is the totality of all emissions of greenhouse gases made directly and indirectly by an individual, company or even a country. The cause of CO2 emissions may be trips by car, production or consumption of energy, water, food or digital content. This trace in conditional units, the so -called CO2 equivalents (to equate various types of greenhouse gases to carbon dioxide), is measured in tons.
According to Global Carbon Project, the carbon trace of the EU is 6.8 tons per person per year, the USA – 16.4, and China – 7.4. The average indicator for the world is 5 tons per person. At the same time, in order to stop global warming, the carbon trace of the planet Earth should not exceed two to three tons of CO2 per year, otherwise the average temperature will increase by critical 1.5 degrees Celsius.
But, of course, the carbon trace of each individual person is not comparable to the volume of greenhouse gases that generate companies around the world.
What motivates them to reduce emissions? Are there any effective tools to regulate this process? Is it possible to compensate for the carbon load on the ecology and achieve absolute neutrality? And can each of us contribute to reduce the damage caused to the planet?
According to the McKinsey study, a global energy transition to carbon neutrality (that is, reducing the negative load on the ecology due to the transition to alternative energy sources, the rejection of plastic and compensation for the remaining loading of water, planting trees, etc.) by 2050) by 2050) It will cost the global economy $ 275 trillion, or 7.5% of the global GDP. Russia was in the list of countries to which it will cost more – 21% of GDP.
The first attempt to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases was the Kyoto Protocol-an agreement signed by the UN member countries in 1992 and entered into force in 2005.The agreement was ratified by 191 states and the European Union and was valid until 2012, and then, with amendments and changes in composition, until 2020. The agreement provided for the distribution of quotas for greenhouse gas emissions between countries, and if any country managed to reduce the volume of emissions, then this quota could be resold to another state.
In 2015, UN members signed a new document – the so-called Paris Agreement, which entered into force in 2020 to replace the Kyoto Protocol. The treaty was supposed to be a historic turning point on the path to slowing the pace of global warming, but already in 2017, US President Donald Trump announced the country's withdrawal from the agreement. The measure was meant to help US companies and workers, especially in the mining industry. Under the terms of the agreement, the United States could not withdraw from the treaty before November 4, 2020. In January 2021, new President Biden, on his first day in office, announced the return of the United States to the list of participants.
What types of carbon emissions are there?
The first scope (Scope 1) is the direct emissions of the enterprise during production. This is the easiest to do, since the company has all the data on its activities. Companies can capture the resulting carbon and, for example, pump it into wells for enhanced oil recovery, or absorb it with the help of algae, which most actively convert CO2 into oxygen.
The second scope (Scope 2) concerns energy consumption. It is important to understand from what sources the company receives energy: coal-fired power plants, nuclear power plants, hydroelectric power plants and more. There is no way to influence this, only if you conclude an agreement directly with some green energy producer.
The third scope (Scope 3) includes the entire chain of the product life cycle: the purchase of raw materials, delivery, sale, use, disposal, etc., that is, emissions not directly related to the manufacturer or company. It includes up to 15 emission sources: emissions from transporting raw materials to production, emissions from transportation to your customer, emissions for disposal, etc.
To date, only the European Union has effective regulation of CO2 emissions. However, many companies around the world have already begun to implement programs to reduce the negative impact on the environment. For some, this is marketing and an opportunity to maintain the loyalty of investors and consumers, for some it is a complete reorientation of the business to more environmentally friendly tools.
For example, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos promised that the company would be carbon neutral by 2040; Microsoft has committed to being carbon negative by 2030; Starbucks plans to become resource-healthy within ten years by reducing carbon emissions, water intake and landfill by 50%; Unilever, producing 70,000types of products, announced its goal by 2039 carbon-neutral and what will indicate the volume of carbon formed during the production of goods on labels.
In March 2021, Netflix announced the plan “Carbon neutral + environmental protection”. In it, the company determined the goal for itself-by the end of 2022, to reach zero net-indicators by emissions. This means that the company will fully compensate for that emission of greenhouse gases that are associated with the production and distribution of content. In particular, Netflix promised to reduce electricity consumption both during the filming and in his offices, to gradually abandon diesel and gasoline fuel in favor of electricity, connect to renewable energy sources, and where it is still impossible to use fuel with low or zero emissions of carbon .
In the countries of the European Union to regulate negative loads, there is already a market for mandatory and voluntary carbon units. That is, companies are required to buy such mandatory units, in fact, giving them the right to engage in their activities and produce CO2 in an acceptable volume.
“The entire market in Europe is based on the distribution of quotas,” Oleg Pertsovsky, director of the Energy Efficient Technologies Clustees, explains the director of the cluster of energy -efficient technologies. – Those companies that do not fit into the allocated quotas are forced to buy them. At the same time, now far from all market sectors in Europe are covered with these quotas – the system is introduced gradually. For example, in the near future it is planned to introduce such limits for air transport. ”
1 quota = 1 ton of CO2-evivalent. The quota can be purchased on the centralized exchange EU ETS (European Union Emissions Trading System). As of February 1, 2022, one quota cost € 88.93. For four years, the cost of quotas increased 10 times – in February 2018, one unit could be bought for € 9.27. According to TaskForce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (the initiative supports the unifying major financial organizations Institute of International Finance), the demand for carbon loans will grow 15 times already by 2030, and by 2050-more than 100 times. The market volume in 10 years can amount to $ 50 billion.
In addition, a cross -border carbon regulation is being prepared in Europe, Oleg Pertsovsky says: “It will be relevant for those who supply their products to Europe, in particular aluminum, steel, cement, fertilizers or electricity. In conditions of limited Russian electricity supplies to Europe, for this sector the topic is not so relevant yet, but still. It is likely that oilmen and gas workers may be the following in line. The introduction of this mechanism can change the alignment of forces in the market, since not all companies of the listed industries will be able to transfer to the consumer or compensate for the cost of a carbon trace during cross -border trade and at the same time maintain competitiveness, although it must be said that many Russian companies are quite at the level their European competitors.
So far, there is no market in Russia and no regulation of carbon emissions. In August 2021, the Ministry of Economy adopted a draft strategy for low-carbon development of the Russian Federation until 2050. In the baseline scenario adopted as a basis, the volume of greenhouse gases in the country will not only not decrease, but will slightly increase and reach 2.29 billion tons of CO2 by 2050.
This scenario does not provide for the introduction of mandatory emission charges, and the accounting system will remain voluntary. The ministry expects that with this scenario, a market for the circulation and cost of carbon units issued as a result of the implementation of voluntary climate projects will emerge in the country.
Another scenario of Russia's low-carbon development strategy – intensive – involves the introduction of mandatory emission charges in the most carbon-intensive sectors of the economy. In addition, it follows from the text of the document that the state will have to create programs to support renewable energy sources (RES), as well as capture and store carbon dioxide. Such measures could lead to a 17% reduction in total emissions, to 1.76 billion tons of CO2 by 2050.
However, for large companies in the oil and gas and other industries, especially those that operate outside of Russia, it becomes impossible to ignore the problem.
Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 equivalent emissions in 2020
tons – VK (former Mail.ru Group)
tons — M.Video-Eldorado group (including Scope 3)
tons – X5 Group (including Scope 3)
tons – Russia (data from British Petroleum)
Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 equivalent emissions in 2020
Sources: company data
tons – VK (former Mail.ru Group)
tons — M.Video-Eldorado group (including Scope 3)
tons – X5 Group (including Scope 3)
tons – Russia (data from British Petroleum)
“Companies, one might say, are under pressure from all sides,” says Maria Kalinovskaya, Deputy Director of Operational Risk and Sustainability at KPMG. On the one hand, these are legal requirements.
First of all, the introduction in Russia of the federal law On Limiting Greenhouse Gas Emissions, which establishes a list of measures aimed at reducing GHG emissions. At the level of the European Union, this is the Green Deal or Transcarbon Regulation. The regulation assumes that from 2023, exporters of goods in the EU will be required to report on the size of the carbon footprint of products, and from 2026, a payment will be levied on imported goods in accordance with the amount of emissions, Kalinovskaya explains.
In addition, there is pressure from investors and other stakeholders, the KMPG expert continues. There is a decarbonization of the investment portfolios of large banks, says Kalinovskaya: in particular, in 2021, large investors owning $11 trillion in assets turned to banks with a request to refuse to finance companies operating on fossil fuels.
So far, it is economically profitable for companies in Russia to reduce CO2 emissions only if they work in international markets, supply their products there, their shares are traded on exchanges, foreign financing is involved, Pertsovsky continues: “For example, many international investors are not They are ready to invest in companies that are not included in ESG ratings or occupy the last places in them. Some banks offer such “non -etcological” companies more stringent loans or, conversely, offer more profitable “environmentally friendly” ones. Such companies are pressure by local communities and even promising applicants can refuse to go to work. ”
Companies can no longer ignore the expectations of consumers and the requirements of their customers in supplies chains, Kalinovskaya agrees with him: “When deciding on the choice of suppliers of the company, they now look at those who, all other things below, are the emissions of CO2. And consumers want to buy “green” goods from which a carbon mark is minimized as minimized. ”
For example, the X5 Group retailer commented that he had an obligation to reduce the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions along Scope 1 and Scope 2 by 30% when calculating a square meter of retail space by 2030. To implement the plan, X5 transfers distribution centers and large outlets to renewable energy sources, and also considers the possibility of installing renewables or purchasing I-REC certificates from third parties. About 19% of the transport have already switched to gas -detergent fuel, retail facilities are equipped with a smart store technology, and until 2023, the share of solid waste processed in their own operating processes should reach 95%. In the group M. Video-Eldorado, by 2030, the volume of hydrocarbon emissions by 30%is also calculated by 2030.
In December, the Kofemania network announced that it compensates for the carbon trace of each coffee cup sold. According to the results of 2020, a carbon mark from coffee drinks amounted to 1.38 tons of CO2, says a representative of Coffeekia, they used the “Life Cycle Evaluation” methodology, which is one of the international standards. In order to compensate for the trace, the restaurant network in 2022 purchases I-REC-certificates from one of the largest operators of solar power plants of the Solar Systems Group of Companies. In addition, the company is engaged in the purchase of so -called voluntary carbon units – a quota for emissions of greenhouse gases, which Kofemania purchases from the Grinvest project. He, in turn, receives quotas due to secondary flooding of peat bogs in the territory of the Vladimir and Pskov regions.
The Greenvest Project is engaged in the register of broken peat swamps, the restoration and landing of forests, and also cooperates with specialized and certified international companies, for example Wetlands International, Unique Forestry and Land Use GmbH, follows from its own data on the site.This allows them to sell the so -called carbon units to corporations. In addition to Kofemania, among the project customers – the State Museum of the Hermitage, the site is indicated. Grinvest LLC was created in April 2021. 50% of the company belong to the publisher of The Art Newspaper Inna Bazhenova through Gazenergoteh LLC and the development of projects in the field of renewable energy Igor Akhmerov through VNK LLC. Bazhenova refused to comment, contact Akhmerov Inc. failed.
First of all, companies look at the growth of the effectiveness of their own operations: they switch to renewable energy sources, optimize their consumption, use electric vehicles, the source explains Inc. From the federal retailers. Compensation projects at the current stage of development are not a focus, it continues: projects to reduce emissions have a reasonable economic component and reduce costs. The purchase of certificates and quotas is always a new load, it indicates, it can be relevant for production, where internal efficiency is already exhausted or economically impossible.
Companion Inc. In another trading company, he adds that they are not yet considering projects offering quotas on CO2: “These are still very subtle topics in Russia, and no one wants to be in the center of the scandal because of the pidema-resistant project.”
Many companies pay attention to the problem of climate change, however, it is likely to reduce emissions to zero, Oleg Pertsovsky believes: “Carbon neutrality is expensive and difficult to implement the task, for the near future, they still talk more about a decrease in a carbon trace, about the decarbonization. Well, zeroing out the emissions by an industrial enterprise is generally less realistic. Therefore, in addition to increasing the energy efficiency of their own production, the transition to captable energy sources and changing the parameters of the company's products in many countries, they actively use the term “carbon offset”, that is, compensation for their own carbon emissions through the implementation of emissions to reduce emissions somewhere else instead of reducing. a carbon trace, which, in principle, is justified, since the climate problem is not tied directly to the place of emissions. ”
The “green” agenda has created new niches for business in the field of solutions to evaluate and compensate for a carbon trace. “The companies faced the inability to become 100% carbon neutral, the lack of practical tools to involve employees and customers in environmental initiatives, as well as with the difficulty in assessing the return of investment in these initiatives,” says Daria Lipatova, co-founder of the Russian Climate-Tech, Daria Lipatova.
Together with the future co -founder and SEO startup, Alexander Lazarenko, Daria Lipatova have been engaged in the theme of sustainable development since the end of 2017, and at the end of 2020 they created Offsetted.Lazarenko is the only software engineer in Russia with a degree in environmental science. Daria Lipatova has worked at the Skolkovo Foundation almost from its inception. Since 2015, she has been involved in partnership projects with Singapore and the direction of international acceleration, that is, building bridges between Russian projects and international companies. Another partner of the company was Anton Kondrashov, who took the position of a service station. He knew Lazarenko from his studies at the Higher School of Economics at the Faculty of Software Engineering.
Offsetted is now headquartered in Hamburg: the main investor of the startup and the Next commerce accelerator, which is supported by 20 of the largest German businesses from various industries, from FMCG, such as Nivea and Tchibo, to heavy metal companies, and is engaged in projects in the field of ecology, is located there.
Offsetted's business model is based on the sale of software by subscription. It is a platform for processing big data collected through digital twins. Based on them, the platform calculates the carbon footprint and subsequent compensation of the equivalent amount of funds to green energy projects.
Three Steps to Offsetted Compensation:
- measuring the ecological footprint through the creation of a digital twin;
- monitoring the footprint in real time using dashboards;
- reducing the environmental burden by reinvesting part of the funds in green energy projects + reducing the footprint due to the transformation of business processes.
There are a large number of databases used to calculate the carbon footprint. For example, the global standard for accounting for carbon dioxide emissions is the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. To calculate the footprint, the Offsetted platform automatically uploads emission standards from such databases and data received from the company. According to Alexander Lazarenko, the formula can take into account from several tens to several thousand of such operational factors for different types of businesses and industries.
The main clients of Offsetted today are fashion companies, banks and financial services and retail, says Lipatova. “Small and medium-sized businesses that work directly with the client are interested in such solutions no less than large ones. They do not experience pressure from the regulator, but due to this they are trying to attract a new audience, including from the younger, “conscious” generation, ”says Lipatova.
For the B2B2C segment, Offsetted has custom products: for example, an impact plugin that allows you to evaluate the carbon footprint of goods sent by the buyer to the cart. Such a service is connected, for example, to the Russian clothing brand Plain. According to Lipatova, more than half of Plain's buyers pay trace compensation upon purchase (for example, for the purchase of a shirt of this brand, the green commission would be 82 rubles). The amount of compensation consists of an estimate of the cost of electricity and water for the production of one kilogram of textiles and gasoline for the transportation of goods to the consumer.
The cost of such a decision depends on the size of the company, explains Lipatov, and consists of the cost of subscription and a one -time payment for integrating the decision.
Deviation of trees can be an effective tool for decarbonization, says Nikolai Shmatkov, director of the Russian Forest StewardShip Council, FSC). However, this process should occur in compliance with the necessary norms and standards, otherwise at best it will be simply landing of new trees.
The company cannot plant coniferous in the place of deciduous forest and say that he does this to achieve carbon neutrality, argues the shmatkov: “The deciduous breeds of wood in the horizon of 30–40 years absorb much more CO2 than spruce or pine, while from an economic point of view, value The latter is more significant, since lumber from these species of trees is more expensive. If we are talking about a decrease in a carbon trace – it should be deciduous rocks, and they need to be planted where the natural forest does not grow independently. First of all, these are abandoned agricultural lands. ” The total area of agricultural land in Russia, according to Rosreestr, reaches 382.5 million hectares, of which unused – from 40 to 80 million hectares.
Many companies in Russia carry out shares to plant trees, but most of them do not bring any benefit, according to the media coordinator of the forest direction of Greenpeace Russia Julia Davydova. The process of landing occurs with a violation of technology, for example, in unsuitable soil, but the biggest problem, according to her, is the lack of subsequent care.
“In order for the trees to grow, they need to leave for several decades-first the territory must be plundered from high grass, then carry out cerebrores and at least somehow protect from seasonal fires,” says Davydova. “Usually, the forests are dying, never born,” small seedlings overgrown with high grass and die for two to three years. ”
For example, in 2019, the S7 airline became a partner of the campaign “Planting Forest”, within the framework of which the participants landed about 10 thousand pine seedlings and larch seedlings on the site of a forestry massive burned in 2003 in a Golousy forestry of the Irkutsk region, not far from Lake Baikal. This is a forest of high natural value, the UNESCO World Heritage Object. This was told by the head of the forest department of Greenpeace Alexei Yaroshenko.
“Territories where fires once took place are recorded in the funding fund,” explains Davydova. – Despite the fact that young trees always grow on the site of forest fires, according to documents – nothing grows on them. In 2019, it was decided to carry out recovery work in the Golousy Forestry and for this the soil was “prepared” there – bulldozers were brought to the place, who collected young forest vegetation in long shafts for 16 years and paved furrows for planting seedlings.In places, the pine has taken root well, in places – it ate a moose, and in places a fertile layer of the earth was so badly damaged by bulldozers that the seedlings did not take root at all. The same birch-axine sheet, which was destroyed in 2019, began to grow in them. ”
There is a certain misunderstanding: many, and companies and statesmen, are trying to issue ordinary forestry for the act of decarbonization, confirms Nikolai Shmatkov. “In addition, in Russia, the culture of caring for a young forest is still completely unable – with this we have very bad. In order for the planted trees to take root, it is necessary to monitor them for the next ten years, ”he states.
In 2012, Marina Dombrovskaya was engaged in landscape design for country houses in the suburbs. She was interested in the possibilities associated with new types of business, which she could use for the development of the project. In one of the books, she stumbled upon the history of the Pavlovia tree and a description of the possibilities of its cultivation for business wood: “This was an example of how to create a business that can improve the lives of millions of people,” the entrepreneur recalls.
Pavlovia is valuable with its wood, Dombrovskaya explains: “In Japan, for example, chests and caskets for storing valuable things were made from it, since Pavlovia has a high fire temperature and objects remained whole in a fire. In Paris, Pavlovia was planted along all boulevards, since the tree is especially beautiful during the flowering period. ”
Dombrovskaya was interested in commercial prospects for growing this breed: in the warm southern regions, the tree grows up to 5 meters, in the central lane – up to 3 meters, while the cultivation of Pavlovia allowed American scientists to get a tree with very even long trunks that are suitable for making boards and wood.
Dombrovskaya brought wood seedlings to Russia, but it was impossible to engage in its cultivation at once: for this it is necessary to undergo long examinations and get permission. “A plant that is imported into the territory and never grew on it before is called the intruder. Just like potatoes and corn at one time, ”she explains. “It was necessary to undergo an examination in the Ministry of Agriculture, to prove that this is not invasive, such as a hogger, to study Western experience.”
Detabrovskaya took permission from Dombrovskaya for about a year and a half. After the plant was registered, in 2016 a nursery was created, where several dozen seedlings were planted. The first nursery appeared in Moscow, in the Ostankino area, later the nursery moved to the Timiryazev Academy, the CO2 monitoring laboratory appeared there.
Dombrovskaya took up the cultivation of seedlings for sale. Since there are no agronomy of Pavlovia in Russia, basically seedlings are bought to “try” those who plan to grow plantations for wood, she explains.The cost of one seedling is from 2 thousand to 5 thousand rubles per meter.
However, in the summer of 2020, the green business of Marina Dombrovskaya appeared new prospects: in July, the European Commission included land use and forestry in the EU efforts to reduce emissions. Against this background, many projects began to arise abroad that began to engage in projects for landscaping Africa and other regions, says the entrepreneur.