It is more important than ever for businesses to understand their environmental impact. By finding out your carbon footprint, you can then begin to understand your impact and how to reduce it.
In this blog, we share some top tips from the Planet Mark Beginners Guide to Carbon Footprinting.
The UK’s target is to be Net Zero by 2050. Within this, there are also several regulatory schemes (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR), the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), Climate Change Agreements (CCAs), ESOS, EPCs, and industry-specific targets) that require companies to understand the environmental impact of their business.
Calculating your carbon footprint is the first step to understanding your impact and provides a fundamental baseline for effective carbon reduction and sustainability strategy.
Aside from the UK’s target, key stakeholders have put more pressure on companies to act sustainably. 66% of people are willing to spend more on products from a sustainable brand. Likewise, nearly 40% of millennials have chosen a particular job because of their employer’s stance on sustainability.
Focusing on carbon footprinting helps businesses show how tangible environmental action is taking place.
What is a carbon footprint?
A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that an individual, business or organisation, item or event causes, directly or indirectly. Typically, we express this as carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. The CO2 equivalent (CO2e) factors in six GHG emissions.
We can then further break down emissions into three categories, or Scopes. Scopes help separate emissions into different action areas for a business to create a manageable approach to cutting their emissions.
Scope 1
Direct GHG emissions from owned or leased assets. This will include fuel burned onsite, gas, fleet (petrol and diesel) and emissions from manufacturing processes.
Scope 2
Indirect GHG emissions. This will include emissions from bought electricity and heat to power business premises.
Scope 3
All other Indirect GHG Emissions from non-owned or controlled sources. This can include supply chain emissions, such as products linked to deforestation, business travel and emissions associated with waste disposal.
Making a start
The first step is defining the parts of your organisation that you will collect data on. This will help you build measurement principles that help create consistency and accuracy in all carbon footprinting activities. Besides this, you should set out which of the activities you engage in are responsible for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
We recommended that you collect 12 months of data before establishing a carbon footprint. This accommodates seasonal changes in business activity.
Reporting your data provides transparency between you and your stakeholders. Once data is collected, it is important that written explanations on how you’ve calculated your figures and the context surrounding your data is shared with your stakeholders.
At Planet Mark, external verification is combined with a suite of tools and expert advice to help reinforce data validity and provide tips for future carbon footprint reductions.
Download the full guide
The Planet Mark Beginners Guide to Carbon Footprinting is a free guide with more practical tips and advice on how to begin measuring your carbon footprint. Download it here.
More Net Zero help for SMEs
Planet Mark recently joined forces with Amazon to call for a Net Zero Resources Hub for SMEs. As well as a free report you can also access free online courses. Find out more here.
