Organisations are beginning to truly comprehend the climate emergency at hand and are wanting to act. However, in order to take steps that work towards combating this issue, you must first understand the nature and extent of your impact.
Understanding the impact of your business begins with an accurate measurement of your carbon emissions. This article outlines the measurement process and why it is so important.
What is measuring your carbon footprint?
Measuring your company's carbon footprint involves calculating the amount of greenhouse gases it emits during a specified timeframe. This process quantifies the emissions as tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2-e), which can be utilised for various business practices such as sustainability reporting and analytics.
The measured emissions serve as a benchmark for your company to begin reducing its carbon footprint and offsetting emissions. A carbon footprint is a measure of your company's total emissions from all sources, classified into three internationally recognized categories called scopes.
A carbon footprint is the total measurement of greenhouse gas emissions that a business produces from all sources, categorised into three internationally recognised scopes.
Scope 1: These refer to direct emissions that result from the activities that are owned or controlled by a company, including fuel combustion from vehicles and facilities that are owned or controlled by the company.
Scope 2: These are indirect emissions that are owned or controlled by your company and have been produced off-site, such as fuel combustion and electricity generation.
Scope 3: This encompasses all indirect emissions (outside of Scope 2), that occur upstream or downstream in the supply chain. The majority of a businesses emissions lie here and includes things like purchased raw goods and commuting emissions from employees.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of your business's environmental impact and identify the main emission sources, it is crucial to conduct a complete scope measurement that encompasses all three emission categories (scope 1, 2, and 3).
The exact emissions that your business must measure and report depend on your operations, industry, and geographic location. The NetNada measurement module can streamline this process by constructing an emissions inventory that includes all relevant emission sources for your industry, guaranteeing accuracy and completeness.
Why measure your impact
Gaining an understanding of the size of your carbon footprint provides your organisation with an accurate assessment of your environmental impact. Whether your aim is to improve your carbon accounting or to lower your business's carbon emissions, taking proactive steps begins with knowing the extent of your impact.
Improve business efficiency
Organisations face challenges in mitigating their impact on the environment due to a lack of understanding of their emissions inventory. Reporting your carbon inventory allows your organisation to share data with key stakeholders, promoting transparency. Carbon reporting also creates a clear picture for investors and stakeholders, facilitating better decision-making and efficient business practices.
Thorough carbon reporting also identifies inefficiencies across your supply chain, serving as a risk and opportunity assessment. By identifying emissions hotspots, your organisation can undertake reduction opportunities, reduce emissions, save costs, and achieve sustainability targets.
Measurement doesn't have to be complicated
Measuring your carbon emissions is no longer a costly or complicated process. NetNada simplifies the measurement process by combining the precision and flexibility of an environmental consultant with the efficiency and technological capacity of an ERP system.
The NetNada software is accurate, reliable, and affordable, meeting GHG Protocol compliance standards, and can be easily accessed by companies of any size and structure.
The software takes the burden of measuring off your shoulders, creating a comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory that includes all the relevant emission scopes for your industry.
Start your journey to Carbon Neutrality
You need to measure your emissions, before you can improve them. By calculating your carbon footprint, you can implement reduction solutions that target carbon hotspots, and decrease your emissions as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Understanding your emissions inventory is the first step towards taking climate action and embarking on the journey towards zero emissions.
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