Calculate your Carbon Footprint
Calculate your Carbon Footprint
The carbon footprint is used as the first step in your carbon management processes. It is a tool to help you understand your carbon emissions, identifying the most significant emissions reduction opportunities.
There are recognised standards for calculating a carbon footprint, such as ISO 14064 or the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Your footprint, given in tonnes of carbon dioxide (tCO2e), shows your company’s emissions for a one-year period.
How to get started: First, from your objectives, identify the scope of the footprint.
Next gather your data for the previous 12 months:
- energy consumption (kWh of electricity or gas),
- company vehicles (miles or litres of diesel or petrol),
- business journeys (miles by air, car, train, bus or taxi),
- materials used (reams of paper or tonnes of raw material)
- and other activities (refrigerant gases, waste, water, hotel stays or deliveries).
Use the data gathered to monitor and manage the activity on an ongoing basis.
Calculating emissions for each activity shows where to focus your attention...