Carbon Footprint Tracking and Sustainability Planning Go Hand in Hand
Europeans are all over the carbon footprint tracking issue, requiring a certificate showing the carbon footprint for each new and existing building, based on estimated and/or actual energy use. Yudelson Associates is launching a new carbon footprint analysis as part of its sustainability planning services. Getting your carbon footprint to fit into a smaller “earth shoe” will likely become de rigueur in few short years. Here’s how to understand what a carbon footprint represents.
More than 80 percent of the “Global 250” corporations are tracking greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2008 study by KPMG. Many smaller corporations are also are beginning to account for and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Many expect that they will be subject to “cap and trade” regulatory requirements within a half-decade.
Why are they doing this? It may be due to a sense of corporate responsibility. It may be due to increased interest from their stakeholders, customers and/or investors. It may be part of long-term risk analysis and strategic planning. And certainly the new political climate in the U.S. makes it ever more likely that GHG emission reporting and reduction will be required within a few years.
Carbon Footprint Calculations
There are three “scopes” of GHG emissions that are generally reported. The first two are generally required by most reporting programs, while the third is optional.
Scope 1 - Emissions from company-owned or controlled equipment (e.g. power generation, boilers, furnaces, vehicles. Emissions from Physical or chemical processing.
Scope 2 - Emissions from the generation of purchased electricity (emissions from both transmission and distribution), gas and fuel in company operations.
Scope 3 - Indirect emissions, excluding those already included in Scope 2 (e.g. employee commuting/travel, leased assets, waste disposal, etc.). The variability of considerations in this scope is the reason that it is optional. Nevertheless, a good rationale for reporting on such activities is that this scope might provide the low-hanging fruit from which to start emission reductions (some possible scenarios include a reducing consulting firm’s employee travel-related emission and possibly those resulting from a mall owner’s waste disposal activities).
To find out more of what Yudelson Associates can do for you, take a quick look at what we can offer.
Posted by on 11/10/2008 at 08:44 PM
