Carbon Accounting - Where Do I Start ?

Are you a business looking to measure your carbon emissions? Do you find yourself lost amongst numerous complex regulations, uncertain about where to start? You're not alone. This is a common feeling amongst most businesses beginning their carbon emissions journey. The first crucial step is knowing what data you need and where to find it.

Understanding the Three Scopes

Data sources in carbon accounting are divided into three "Scopes". The easiest way to remember them is using the three "B's":

• Scope 1: Anything you BURN in fossil fuels
• Scope 2: Any electricity you BUY from the grid
• Scope 3: Anything BEYOND Scopes 1 and 2

See? It doesn't have to be complicated. Let's explore each scope in more detail.

Scope 1: Direct Emissions

Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by your business. These emissions come from activities directly under your organisation's control, such as fuel combustion in company vehicles, heating systems, generators and any chemical processes you operate.

Examples include natural gas burned in boilers, diesel used in company lorries, petrol for company cars and any other fuels you burn directly in owned or controlled equipment. If your organisation operates a fleet of vehicles or has on-site fuel combustion for heating or power generation, you'll have Scope 1 emissions to account for.

Scope 2: Indirect Emissions from Purchased Energy

Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, heat, steam or cooling that you consume. Whilst you don't directly create these emissions, they result from your energy consumption.

When you purchase electricity from the grid, emissions occur at the power station generating that electricity. Similarly, if you purchase district heating or cooling, emissions occur where that thermal energy is generated. Even though these emissions happen elsewhere, they're attributed to your organisation because they result from your energy consumption.

Scope 3: All Other Indirect Emissions

Scope 3 emissions are all other indirect emissions that occur in your value chain. This is typically the largest and most complex scope, covering both upstream emissions (in your supply chain) and downstream emissions (from your products or services).

Scope 3 includes business travel in vehicles you don't own, employee commuting, purchased goods and services, waste disposal, transportation and distribution by third parties, use of sold products and much more. Whilst Scope 3 can seem overwhelming, you can start with the categories most relevant to your business and expand over time.

Getting Started

Now that you understand the three scopes, you can begin identifying your emissions sources within each category. Start by listing all the activities in your business that might generate emissions, then organise them into the appropriate scope.

Don't worry about being perfect at first - carbon accounting is an iterative process. You'll refine your approach as you learn more about your emissions profile and become more familiar with the data available within your organisation.

Next Steps

Once you've identified your emissions sources and understand which scope they fall into, you're ready to start collecting activity data - the information you'll need to calculate your actual emissions. That's where tools like GreenFeet can help streamline the process.

To learn more about GreenFeet, calQrisk's carbon accounting solution, you can contact us today.