Walking the Talk
How Companies Can Accelerate Their Transformation to Net Zero

Paul Polizzotto
Published 3 years ago. About a 3 minute read.
Image: Grid Alternatives
Sponsored Content / This article is sponsored by Givewith.

Net Zero Now™ helps companies strengthen customer relationships, drive sales growth, improve their procurement strategy, and deliver the transformation that is required to address the climate emergency.

In August, my home state of California reached heat levels that drastically exceeded prior generations. Since then, over 900 fires have incinerated the state, consuming six times as much land as the 2019 wildfires combined — creating 100,000 US climate refugees within just a few weeks. Unfortunately, what is happening in California is just the latest example of the potentially devastating impacts of climate change.

As impacts become clearer, more and more companies are committing on the responsibility to move towards net zero — becoming a powerful force for action on climate. This is an encouraging step and one that should be applauded, but making commitments and setting targets is the easy part. The hard part is how to achieve them in practice — more specifically, how to fund the various initiatives, how to identify and collaborate with the right partners, how to communicate and engage with various stakeholders; all while continuing to drive sustainable business growth and ideally deliver not just carbon reductions but co-benefits, such as workforce development and jobs skills training.

The level of ambition and speed at which we now need to act is so vast and so urgent that in order to achieve our net zero goals, the world needs new ways of doing business — new ideas that drive us forward together, at scale; new tools that leverage the power of modern science and technology. With this in mind, Givewith has launched Net Zero Now™ — a new model to help companies across all sectors achieve their climate commitments as part of their everyday business transactions. By combining cutting-edge technology with an innovative new way to do business, Givewith has “cracked the code” on how to help organizations effectively and efficiently scale action to meet their goals and commitments.

Net Zero Now™ allows companies to embed the funding of net-zero initiatives — such as on-site renewables, carbon offsets, carbon insetting projects, renewable energy certificates, and other climate-smart solutions within their everyday business transactions. Specifically, companies working with Givewith can do this two ways: Sales teams can offer to fund innovative environmental projects as an incentive within their sales proposals to win more deals, whereas procurement teams can ask their suppliers to fund these projects when issuing requests for proposals (RFPs).

To bring Net Zero Now™ to life, Givewith works with a variety of delivery partners, including Grid Alternatives, Indigo Agriculture and Arbor Day Foundation — organizations with a long history of delivering high-quality, tangible outcomes that bring the benefits of solar technology to communities that would not otherwise have access or carbon credits that remove carbon from the atmosphere.

The world’s largest, most innovative companies have already started to use the Net Zero Now™ model. Recently, IBM included carbon removals (via Givewith partner Indigo Ag) as part of providing its Hybrid Cloud Platform to Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As part of the deal, IBM expanded its relationship with BCG; BCG gains access to nature-based carbon credits to help meet its pledge of being net zero by 2030; and farmers participating in Indigo Ag’s Carbon program are provided with the financial incentive to transition to beneficial farming practices that sequester carbon and reduce on-farm emissions.

Now more than ever, companies build resiliency into their everyday business practices, which requires scaling climate solutions quickly. It’s time for companies to usher in market innovations that simultaneously help the planet and the economy.

The beauty of Net Zero Now™ is that this innovative model helps companies simultaneously strengthen customer relationships, drive sales growth, improve their procurement strategy, and deliver the transformation that is required to address the climate emergency. It’s designed with the needs of both businesses and the world in mind, so that business can do what they do best: drive innovation at scale.

We know What we need to do. We know by When. And we know Why. Net Zero Now™ helps with the How.

Givewith