Net Zero Commitments Are Only as Good as the Baseline They Are Built On.

A net zero commitment requires a starting point — a baseline that captures current energy consumption across the portfolio. Everything flows from that number: the gap to close, the capital required, the timeline to achieve it, the ROI of each efficiency measure.

Here is the problem: most baselines are built on utility bill data. And most utility bill data has never been audited for accuracy. An unaudited bill may overstate consumption due to a metering error, understate it due to an incomplete account list, or misclassify it due to a tariff error.

If your baseline is wrong, your capital program is wrong. You may be investing in efficiency measures to close a gap that does not actually exist at the scale you think it does. Or you may be under-investing because your actual consumption is higher than your baseline reflects.

Before you commit capital against a net zero target, audit the utility data that forms your baseline. It is the least expensive step in the entire process, and it is the one that determines whether all subsequent steps are meaningful. In fact, it is revenue positive, and those recovered funds can be used to offset the ESG investment to work at achieving a net-zero carbon footprint.