Broadband ISP Zen Internet Adopts Science Based Net Zero Target
Rochdale-based UK ISP Zen Internet, which is certified as a B Corporation, has officially commitment to the new Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) with an ambition to achieve Net-Zero by 2040 (i.e. removing as many carbon emissions as they produce).
At this point it’s worth noting that Zen previously set their Net Zero target for 2028 (here), but the move to align with the recently introduced SBTi required a different approach and hence a different target through the Business Ambition for 1.5C campaign.
The internet provider’s path to net-zero will now cover not only its own emissions, but also those that the company is indirectly responsible for, such as those created throughout its supply chain. The telecoms business has committed to set near- and long-term company-wide emission reductions in line with science-based net-zero with the SBTi to reduce:
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Absolute scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 50% by FY2028 from a FY2021 base year
Absolute scope 3 GHG emissions 50% by FY2030 from a FY2021 base year
Absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions 90% by 2040 from a 2021 base year
Paul Stobart, Zen’s CEO, said: “The Race to Zero is something I am not only professionally, but personally passionate about. It is therefore of the utmost importance to us, that while we run our business at Zen, we strive to make a positive difference to the world. Achieving B Corp certification in 2020 was a big milestone for us and today having our commitments validated by SBTi is another demonstration that we are not just paying lip service to the sustainability agenda, but have transparent objectives that we are determined to meet. We’re under no illusions that this involves a huge amount of work within the business, but it’s something that is non-negotiable for us.”
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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This is laughable. The IT industry depends on stuff sourced from countries such as China which take no notice of carbon targets, indeed their emissions of CO2 increase every year. Fortunately for us, there is no climate emergency and the world is cooler now than during the Holocene Optimum when there was far less CO2 in the atmosphere than today.
“removing as many carbon emissions as they produce”
– by planting trees, which (a) would have grown naturally if left alone, (b) are replacing forest that has already been cut down, (c) will probably get cut down and/or burnt in the future – so someone else will then count replanting them as “offsetting” their emissions.
– by installing paraffin burners in developing countries, which may produce lower carbon emissions than previous solutions (e.g. wood burners), but release it from fossil fuels rather than renewable wood
It’s all greenwash.
“also those that the company is indirectly responsible for”
– including the carbon emissions of their employees?
Zen are a joke, they need to sort out the many issues on their network first.
What issues are they? I’m with Zen, just curious what issues exist?
My contract finished a few months ago and have been looking for a replacement, but as I can only get 43Mbit fttc I’m limited in my options.
1) Random gateway selection causing slowness
2) Download throughput issues on FTTP (when forced to migrate to Zen backhaul) with continuous daily disconnects (been going on for more than 7 months)
No solution for either
The carbon they want to remove is you
Anyone talking about carbon reduction is either ignorant that carbon is essential to life or knows exactly the disgusting process involved. Especially insane that an internet company is saying this
I went through their website which plasters this bcorp thing all over, then visited the bcorp website and to my non surprise the whole thing is a branch of the World Economic Forum, promoting their version of communism through “stakeholder governance” and through DEI which is forced poverty agenda, conforming thought (or else) and depopulation agenda
Vote with your wallets and stay away from such companies or you will soon be eating the bugs, owning nothing, living in the pods and “being happy” according to Klaus Schwab
Yes the world is warming, but not at the predicted catastrophic rates, the models use a too high CO2 sensitivity rate. There are 200 peer reviewed papers and growing telling us this. What we really have is another climate optimum which will delay the next ice age. The temp rise from CO2 will flatten off as its effect is logarithmic, you get the same temp rise from 1120 to 2240 as 280 to 560 and there is not enough reachable fossil fuels to ever get that far.
Another company to add to my nono list.
The title of this article is an oxymoron: netzero is not science based, it is political drivel
We should have a referendum on what sort of climate we want.
Warmer, cooler, or about the same?
Wetter, drier, or about the same?
Stormier, calmer, or about the same?
I have recently been considering going back to zen, I was a very happy adsl customer of many years (right up to the Unlimited Fiasco kicking off) and me leaving, however I am now looking for a reasonable isp with English support and that can offer FTTC/FTTP, but given this frankly idiotic announcement I will not be going anywhere near zen and their WEF worship idea’s, this also goes for any other companies with a similar stance
Hoodwinked by the Swedish brat. What of India and China? Yeah lets just ignore that bit.
Sounds like virtue signalling to me.
Wow look at the state of these comments. I thought the people who visited here would be intelligent and care about the world and environment. It’s not just about carbon is it? It’s bigger than that. 49 years of oil left in the ground, fresh water crisis all over the world (not in Rochdale though!), too soul, food, biodiversity, rare metal and mineral crisis. Shall we just all sit on our phones and say “it’s not as bad as it was during the xxxxx period” . What a bunch of ignorant dinosaurs tou lot are, show some responsibility and put your phones down.
Glad you mentioned food, Nobbly Bobbly. The fact is that over the last half a century crop yields have increased, there’s more tree cover, because of the fertilising effect of more CO2, which is plant food. Here’s something you might find informative https://www.thegwpf.org/publications/matt-ridley-global-warming-versus-global-greening/
Intelligence is understanding that a broadband company exists to deliver broadband, not spread communism, which by virtue of making people poor would actually make them not care about the environment
I’m not buying the 49 years left bit. This doesn’t include shale oil for one, and colorado for example has more shale oil than the Qatar does regular oil. But anyway, back to the matter at hand. It’s perfectly possible to be a good citizen, care for the environment etc, work out how to reduce your carbon footprint but *without* being a nob about it like the stop oil lot who try to destroy invaluable irreplaceable paintings, or try to stop you going to work in the morning etc.
Global warming is a scam. Wait.. read.. it’s a scam in so far as it uses computer models which are wrong, and then you end up with OMG doom and gloom predictions that don’t occur. It’s a scam in that enormous amounts of funding are given to study it in relation to something else. Want to study the endangered red squirrel? sorry mate, no money for that. Want to study the effects of climate change on the habitat of the red squirrel and thus it’s decline ? CHING CHING, have £1m , actually make it £10m.
Then there’s people like Greta. Yes great, got a solution? no of course you don’t now don’t forget to dance for the cameras and look sad. Also why is it that the boomers who lived the worst polluting lives are now the sudden heros that demand you take the train while they drive their luxury Diesel Mercedes?
Read the IPCC scientific chapters instead of the political summary. As an example of the distortion in the summary there is a scientific study comparing the effect of different CO2 increases. One of these is based on CO2 emissions not being regulated, no technological improvements and full development of the 3rd world. The paper puts the chance of this scenario taking place at 1%, somehow the effects it could cause make up 39% of the summaries expected effects of CO2.
Zen are so yesterday……