Avoidable greenhouse gas emissions in the context of corporate carbon neutrality strategies

• Discussion of different approaches for the definition and quantification of avoidable GHGE. • Application of methods to American and German datasets. • Derivation of best practices through the determination of reduction targets. • Transfer of insights from company to industry level. The lack of a standardised definition for “unavoidable” greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) in corporate carbon neutrality strategies undermines transparency and may lead to excessive reliance on offsets. This study introduces two complementary, data-driven approaches to quantify avoidable GHGE. The first approach benchmarks companies using the U.S. Industrial Assessment Centers dataset, identifying best-practice firms – defined as the top 5 % in market potential (≥18.7 %) – as pioneers. These companies demonstrate an average technical GHGE reduction potential of 31 % and implement 70 % of proposed measures, compared to 45 % in the general sample. The second approach evaluates the economic feasibility of 78 mitigation measures across eight German companies. Results show that 51 measures are cost-negative, 55 fall below the EU Emissions Trading System price, and 68 are below the German Environment Agency’s damage cost threshold (300 €/tCO 2 ). These findings support two operational definitions: GHGE are avoidable if (1) they have been mitigated by best-practice peers, or (2) they can be reduced through economically viable measures.