Fjordkraft, the second largest electric power company in Norway, is asking all the companies in its supply chain to go climate neutral in support of the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the UN's Climate Neutral Now initiative.

Climate neutrality involves a reduction of a company's or organization's carbon footprint, making use of clean, renewable energy and offsetting all emissions that cannot be reduced.

Under the Paris Agreement, countries have agreed to deploy low carbon technologies to limit the global average temperature rise to well below two degrees Celsius in order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, which include severe droughts, flooding and storms.

Fjordkraft became climate neutral as early as 2007. Arnstein Flaskerud, Head of Strategy of Fjordkraft, believes that by encouraging its suppliers to make the same transition to low carbon, it will create a major domino effect, with the suppliers of suppliers deploying cleaner technologies and making use carbon offsets.

“We believe climate neutrality will become a competitive advantage: for ourselves, for our suppliers, and for everyone who has the courage to make the same demands,” he says.

Fjordkraft has 120 service providers who will need to be climate neutral by January 1, 2019, making use of the "three steps" of the Climate Neutral Now initiative of the United Nations Climate Change secretariat. These are to:

• Measure the climate footprint
• Reduce emissions as much as possible
• Offset what cannot be reduced with UN-certified emission reductions

Fjordkraft is asking its suppliers to sign a declaration of intent, in which they commit to actively work toward reaching this goal. If they do not sign, the company will use its market power and look for suppliers elsewhere.

The company offers electricity with guarantees of origin, as well as climate quotas, and says that businesses have a responsibility beyond maximizing profits.

"Our goal is to create a market in which climate neutrality is not just an ideal, but the new standard," says Arnstein Flaskerud.

Fjordkraft's climate initiative is based on the United Nations’ definition of climate neutral businesses. The company applies the recognized standards of the World Resources Institute and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to calculate the suppliers’ direct and indirect emissions.

Read the relevant Fjordkraft news article here.