What is your business’s carbon footprint? This guide outlines what you need to know about carbon footprint reduction and measuring your carbon impact.
Climate change is playing a large role in consumer agendas. In a 2021 Ipsos polling, 70% say they are more worried about the environmental impacts than before. For companies, it’s becoming increasingly imperative to determine their carbon footprint and undertake carbon footprint reduction. The only question you’re likely asking yourself is: How?
Carbon footprint reduction: overview
Carbon footprint is the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions companies produce due to their operations. You can learn how to determine your business’s carbon footprint by measuring it in an annual quantity. This total amount will take into account the impact of your company’s operations over the course of the year. However, it’s becoming more common for manufacturers to communicate their footprints on a per-product basis.
The unit for a carbon footprint is tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). Carbon dioxide is the most common type of greenhouse gas emitted by human activities, as detailing in the COP 27 lead-up. Yet, CO2e takes into account all other greenhouse gases as well.
Accounting for carbon footprint and emissions is a standard practice among large corporations with the assistance of a specialist sustainable consultant. However, you can calculate it in-house using online tools and a spreadsheet to help you with carbon footprint reduction.
The total of your calculations will help you identify the areas of your business with the most emissions for carbon footprint reduction. By learning more about your company’s carbon footprint, you can take the opportunity to reduce it and purchase enough offsets to cover your impact.
Why It’s Important
Calculating your carbon footprint is necessary to understand your company’s contribution to climate change. Identifying carbon sources will give you further insight into how to reduce them. In addition to lowering your carbon, consumers will be interested in the sustainable practices your business initiates. According to the EY Future Consumer Index, 43% of consumers worldwide want to buy more from sustainable organizations.
How to measure your carbon footprint
Depending on your company’s goals, the carbon footprint levels fall under Scope 1, 2, or 3. Since the carbon footprint measurements are on an annual basis, you will need to gather data from various sources. Measurements should be 100% for Scope 1 direct and Scope 2 indirect emissions in addition to all material Scope 3 indirect emissions.
Gathering data for Scope 3 emissions involves multiple stakeholders and data sources. The measurements for Scope 3 emissions are more challenging to obtain – but are important in accounting for a significant portion of your company’s carbon footprint.
1. Identify the Sources of Emissions
Fossil fuels such as electricity and gas are the main source of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions. So, gathering information about how your business burns fossil fuels will be important for carbon footprint reduction. Consider these examples to include in your calculations:
- The powering of your office building and facilities
- Vehicles used to transport goods
- Machines used to manufacture goods
- Servers used to power a hosting platform and website
- Raw materials extraction processes from supply chains
2. Collect Data on Energy Consumption
Once you gather the key energy sources your business utilizes, you’ll need to quantify the amount of energy used. Data collection for carbon footprint reductionrequires these essentials:
- Energy, gas, and water consumption: The facilities and your finance department will possess this information through invoices.
- Business expedition: This data includes the commute of your staff. Businesses can collect air travel information from travel agents or the team responsible for booking travel.
To calculate travel, add up the mileage your team produces or the products transported. Next, work out the total qualities and weights of products. You can break these down by the primary component materials. Finally, you can keep this information organized in a spreadsheet and carefully note the quantities of units.
3. Calculate Your Carbon Footprint
Now that you’ve collected your data, you can convert it into carbon emissions. You’ll compare this data to known benchmarks using a carbon calculator spreadsheet. If you decide against using a spreadsheet, consider online tools to help you do the converting. Here is a list of calculators to determine your business’s carbon footprint:
- 2030 Calculator: Best for physical products.
- Climate Care Carbon Calculator: Best for office operations and transportation.
- Website Carbon Calculator: Best for website footprint calculations.
4. Look for Carbon Footprint Reduction Opportunities
Once you have your footprint calculations, the results will help you identify the most significant emission sources. When looking at these areas, you can look for potential methods for carbon footprint reduction.
Companies that work with physical products can consider working with the freight carriers of their products. For businesses operating in many locations, decreasing energy consumption using renewables may be the most effective way.
5. Purchase Offsets
When looking for opportunities to reduce your carbon footprint, it’s unlikely you’ll reach net-zero quickly or all by yourself. Some critics will say purchasing carbon offsets acquits companies of environmental guilt without the force of serious sustainable changes. Offsets may be cheap and readily available. However, these can be fundamental when focusing on reductions first. One offset is equal to reducing one tonne of carbon emissions.
Next steps
Understanding how to determine your business’s carbon footprint is a great first step in looking at your environmental impact. After calculating your footprint, you can start choosing your next steps by establishing a framework. That way, you can understand the limitations of your current business model and use these benchmarks over time as a comparison. These are just some of the reasons why going greener is good for business.
Finally, these calculations should not be the end goal of reducing carbon footprints. Consider encouraging your suppliers to calculate their own footprints and update their policies regarding carbon in the process.
