Committing to reduce emissions within your own supply chain is a critical step in achieving The Climate Label. This page is full of resources and suggestions as you map out a reduction strategy that is right for your team and your company. In this guide we’ll walk you through how to approach building a comprehensive and action-oriented reduction strategy.

🚩 Ready to get started with setting your plans? Open the BEE’s Reduce page to begin.

Why are reduction actions important?

Climate experts are in agreement that we must limit global warming to 1.5°C in order to avoid the greatest climate impacts and irreversible tipping points. That’s why it’s so important that companies step up to reduce emissions in their own operations and supply chain. You may have heard these terms —

• Science aligned targets: These are longer-term targets set by a company for overall emissions reductions. Targets are typically for 2030 and beyond. They represent the amount of emissions reductions companies must achieve to contribute to the overall emissions reductions necessary to limit global warming to 1.5°C. For more information - check out our Science-Aligned Target Setting Guide.
• Reduction action plans: These are near-term actions implemented to make progress towards longer-term goals. Reduction action plans are the interim steps that companies must take to reduce emissions in their own operations — the hundreds (thousands!) of small steps that add up to real impact over time.

Setting long-term targets, such as achieving net zero by 2050 or halving emissions by 2030, has become increasingly common, but these ambitious goals can only be realized by establishing clear interim milestones and actionable steps. The Certification Standard requires companies to create two short-term Reduction Action Plans (RAPs) within the next 12–24 months. These RAPs hold companies accountable for immediate internal emissions reductions and serve as critical building blocks toward longer-term objectives.

Think of RAPs as the short-term steps that enable progress toward your overall goals. For example, if your company aims to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, what specific strategies will you implement to achieve 6-10% reductions each year to achieve your goal? These smaller, actionable steps ensure momentum and accountability on the journey to larger reductions.

The diagram below illustrates how reduction plans align with near-term and long-term targets. Each square represents a step or milestone in the reduction process. These steps collectively build toward future interim targets and the ultimate goal of reducing emissions by 90% by 2050 to achieve net zero.

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What is net zero?

According to the UN, net zero means cutting carbon emissions to a small amount of residual emissions (about 10% of today’s levels) that can be absorbed and durably stored by nature and other carbon dioxide removal measures, leaving zero in the atmosphere.

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There are many strategies you can implement to start making progress toward net-zero goals. Some reduction actions save you money. Some are just really easy. Maybe you’ve already implemented some of these solutions, but there might be some simple ways to reduce your footprint that you haven’t thought of yet.

🎥 Check out our Intro to Reduction Planning video below!

Intro to RAPs.mp4

• Learn more about our approach to reduction work (click the triangle toggle on the left to expand this section!)

What is the The Climate Label Certification’s Reduction Action Plan requirement?

The minimum requirements for reduction plans are the following:

• [ ] Regardless of size, every company must set two short-term reduction plans for certification.
• [ ] If you are a company with over $5M in annual revenue, one of the two reduction plans must focus on addressing scope 3 emissions. Table 1 is included below for easy reference on what is within and what is out of scope according to the Certification Standard’s measurement boundary requirements.