New Verified Carbon Reduction Plan Certification Stand
7th February 2025
Net Zero Eyecare has released a new Verified Carbon Reduction Plan certification standard, which presents some of the most actionable carbon reduction opportunities available to optical businesses to date.
Net Zero Eyecare Founder and lead author of the standard, Andrew Clark, said
“This standard is a huge step in making carbon reductions more accessible to optical businesses. If you’ve wondered what it looks like to do your bit for the climate… this is it!”
The timing of the release of this standard, mid-2025, is poignant. Scientists have long warned that, in order to avoid a catastrophic runaway in global heating, global greenhouse gas emissions must peak in 2025 before making rapid reductions of around 50% by 2030.
While the importance of reducing one’s carbon footprint has been well-known for years, what that concept actually looks like in practice has remained elusive for many businesses, and actually managing to reduce one’s emissions has remained a challenge at best. As a result, global emissions have continued to rise and do not seem likely to peak this year.
When that “peak emissions” date of 2025 was first recommended by scientists, their models included at least a gentle reduction in emissions and projected that Earth would likely exceed 1.5º heating (a critical climate threshold) in the mid 2040’s. Based on current heating trends, the Earth is now due to exceed 1.5º before 2030.
“With our first record-breaking stint above 1.5º now behind us [13 months over 2023-2024] and the permanent breach of 1.5º rapidly approaching, it has never been more important to do everything we can to cut our emissions and with them, our negative contributions to this crisis.” Clark added.
“Unfortunately we are no longer playing for keeping global heating below 1.5º. The fight now is to keep global heating as close to 1.5º as possible, because with every fraction of a degree that we exceed 1.5º the threat of catastrophic climate breakdown increases exponentially.”
The new standard from Net Zero Eyecare gives optical businesses of all sizes a comprehensive introduction to the methodology of developing a Carbon Reduction Plan – fit for compliance with both the NHS’s procurement strategy and the internationally-renowned Science Based Targets Initiative. Beyond that, it provides clear actions, from things like switching to renewable energy to implementing a climate-aligned procurement policy, and clear deadlines within which to apply them.
Clark concluded, “The Optical industry may not be the biggest contributor to global emissions, but it is the area over which we have the greatest influence, so we have a moral obligation to do our bit starting with what’s most within our reach. We are also an industry with a very global supply chain, firmly rooted in fossil fuels, so there is scope for optics and eyecare to be much more sustainable that it currently is.
The accessibility of the VCRP is critical. By mobilising practices and SMEs, and influencing the big players to follow in the trends of their global peers, we can collectively catalyse profound positive change.”
The full Verified Carbon Reduction Plan standard is available to download from www.netzeroeyecare.org/reductions.