NYT Opinion is exactly right in their take down video (see below) of the corporate world’s latest attempt to delay real action on climate change. First there was the green movement, then the path to sustainability, and today all we hear about is the Net Zero initiative. Net Zero offers the idea that if we remove the same amount of carbon as we emit into the atmosphere we could stop global warming. All of these pledges and promises follow the same script, and that’s too bad, because today we do have real tools to tackle the challenges ahead.
As a company that has been working for 20 years on tangible solutions to address the impact of the textile industry on our climate, we offer the following commentary on some of the flaws around Net Zero pledges. We also offer some alternative paths for companies working in textiles.
First Flaw – Setting Target Dates Far Into the Future
We hear the target dates 2030 or 2040 for achieving Net Zero goals. This is the old kick the can down the road strategy, and in the meantime it’s business as usual. We believe that this is primarily a fear driven issue. Big publicly traded companies follow the religion of continuously rising quarterly earnings and are afraid to take on the risk of one negative quarter – even if the overall economics of improving their efficiencies can add up to positive results for their bottom line.
Second Flaw – Not Counting The Impact of Entire Operation
As the NYT Opinion video points out, many of the largest carbon emission culprits include fine print in their pledges. The fine print reveals that their Net Zero goals only cover some portion of their operations. We believe that if we are to be successful as a species in surviving the climate crises, we must account for the complete lifecycle of every product and every process. We should be working on finding ways to make savings in every piece of the very complicated puzzle that makes our industrialized world move forward.
Third Flaw – Relying on Future (Not Mature) Technologies
Too many companies are talking about how they will address green gas emissions with technologies that are just about to come online. The fact is that there is no magic bullet. Although, there are some amazing technologies that are almost ready, companies are reluctant to make the investments necessary to accelerate their development and capitalize putting those technologies into practice. We believe the time to act is now, and just as with our industry, most other industries have ready to implement options to start making real progress today.
Visit us at www.ntx.global to learn about our market ready solutions to help save energy & water usage as well as eliminate water waste in the realm of textile coloration.