Step 4: Define decarbonisation levers for your organisation
Decarbonisation levers are aggregated types of mitigation actions such as energy efficiency, increasing circularity, fuel switching, improving efficiency for resource use, reducing waste, using renewable energy, product change, and supply-chain decarbonisation that fit the undertakings' specific actions.
Decarbonisation levers categorise the company's options to reduce emissions. Decarbonisation levers' importance heavily depends on the sector the company is operating in, and company specifics such as size, ownership structure, and geographic location. However, on a high level, some decarbonisation levers can be applied to almost any company, such as improvement of product efficiency, improvement of energy efficiency, electrification of buildings and the fleet and the use of renewable energy.
When choosing which decarbonisation levers to focus on, it is essential to tackle the main emission drivers first. For example, a company working in transport should focus on electrifying its fleet and planning more efficient routes before considering the change of energy efficiency measures in its offices. Whereas decarbonization levers are on a strategic level, detailed action plans define the changes that need to happen on an operational level.