Not sure where to start with measuring your carbon footprint? The reasons why companies are driven to measure and review their carbon footprint varies from reputational benefits and cost savings, to analysis of the emissions required to comply with scopes 1, 2 & 3.
What is Net Zero?
The UK has it signed into law, via the Climate Change Act, that the country will be net zero by 2050. Scotland has committed to becoming net zero by 2045. Once you know your carbon footprint, you can identify areas to reduce it and work towards net zero. Net zero is the situation where your carbon footprint is zero. Net zero can be reached by reducing and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and, if necessary, offsetting whatever is left.
What are Scopes 1,2,3
The term first appeared in the Green House Gas Protocol of 2001 and today, Scopes are the basis for mandatory Green House Gas (GHG) reporting in the UK.
Scope 1, 2 and 3 is a way of categorising the different kinds of carbon emissions a company creates in its own operations, and in its wider value chain.
Scope 1 is direct emissions caused by any process or activity by the company that causes greenhouse gas emission. This can often be in the form of fuels burnt on-site or by company-owned vehicles. Other forms are leaks of refrigerant gases (for example from refrigerators or air conditioning) or any emissions from industrial processes (for example from making cement).
Scope 2 is indirect emissions caused by your company purchasing energy (from sources you do not own or control). This is usually in the form of electricity, heat, or steam.
Calculating your scope 1 and scope 2 emissions should be relatively straightforward for most companies if you have all your fuel expenses and utility bills for the period you are calculating your carbon footprint for (usually 1 year).
Scope 3 emissions are all the indirect emissions that occur because of your business activity. All the emissions associated, not with the company itself, but that the organisation is indirectly responsible for, up and down its value chain.
Why does it matter?
1. Mandatory: Scope 1 and 2 emissions are a mandatory part of reporting for many organisations across the world and relate to systems that are within the reasonable control of an entity, such as onsite and purchased energy.
2. Reputational gain
3. Savings
4. Access to large bids/contracts. The UK government already requires a carbon management plan for any tenders over £1 million and large companies and banks are following their lead.
There are lots of considerations beyond emissions alone – such as cost and practicality of understanding, controlling emissions and reporting –we can choose whether our fleet is low or zero emissions, we can determine how our buildings are warmed and a manufacturer can look at ways to reduce the carbon cost of its production processes.
Where this becomes more complex is Scope 3, a toothpaste manufacturer can’t control how we will dispose of its containers, nor can an appliance manufacturer mandate use of eco-friendly settings on our laundry machines.
It’s somewhat easier to quantify emissions for scopes 1 and 2. For energy use, for example, companies can source the data needed to convert direct purchases of gas and electricity into a value for the associated greenhouse gases.
However, for many organisations, scope 3 emissions account for by far the highest proportion of total emissions. Unfortunately, these are also usually the hardest to measure and reduce. We will be exploring some of the challenges in future blogs.
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