An Introduction to the GHG Protocol

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Greenhouse Gases are gases that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. Those in Earths atmosphere are mostly water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. Whilst necessary, as without them the Earths temperature would be around -18°C, humans have caused an increase of 40% in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, which in turn is leading to the warming of the planet and other associated issues such as ocean acidification, rising sea levels and species loss. It is therefore vital that we stay aware of our impact on the planet, and do our best to manage greenhouse gas emissions.

What is the GHG Protocol?

The GHG Protocol is the most widely used accounting tool to manage, understand and quantify greenhouse gas emissions. Used by government and business leaders, the GHG Protocol is a decade-long partnership between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). It serves as the foundation for almost every greenhouse gas standard in the world, as well as offering an internationally accepted tool for businesses to compete in a global marketplace.

Why are we getting involved?

We are now working towards achieving the GHG Protocol Mark, which will allow us to have the backing of the WRI and the WBCSD on the certifications we issue. Our tool will adhere to their standards, enabled by our BETA customers who have enabled us to pay for the audit. This will enable us to help companies achieve further certification, beyond the ISO 14001, ISO 50001, ISO 20121, BS 8555 and B Corp certifications we already offer.

What the GHG Protocol means for us

Being a part of the GHG protocol means a lot to us. It goes beyond allowing companies to measure, manage and report their greenhouse gases, as it gives our customers a competitive edge on the marketplace. In 2016, at least 92% of Fortune 500 companies responding to the Carbon Disclosure Project used the GHG Protocol, only strengthening its reputation amongst market leaders. Incorporating this into our system facilitates competition with these corporations, and will allow businesses with our certification to strengthen their position.

The GHG Protocol will allow us to strengthen our carbon footprint certification, and put your business in a better position as a B-Corp. If you have any questions about the GHG Protocol or your organisations carbon emissions, get in touch with us via our contact page.

What makes up a Carbon Footprint – The Basics

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In our modern era of a warming climate and ever increasing awareness, there is a myriad of terms that we, as a population, may only be partly aware of. ‘Carbon footprint’ is one of those, and it’s full meaning is something of great importance.
In short, a carbon footprint is an estimate of the impact an activity has on our changing, warming, climate. It is a calculation of several aspects: greenhouse gas sources, notably CO2, methane and nitrous oxide; any influencing carbon sinks; and various forms of carbon storage. Then, for the sake of simplicity, all impacts are tallied and expressed as a single number in terms of CO2 equivalent – that is, the amount of CO2 that would need to be emitted to achieve the same level of warming.
Taking a plastic bottle, for example, it may seem simple to calculate its emissions – they would come from the extraction and processing of the oil to turn it into the bottle. However, there are several uncertainties that come into the equation, including the energy used to extract, refine and transport the oil, and the transport involved in moving the final product. Furthermore, one could try to account for the use of paper in the administration of the plastic bottle company, the electricity their computers use and their use of printer paper. It can, effectively, be calculated to an infinitesimal point.

However, this is far too complex, and the estimation of a carbon footprint is therefore based off what is feasible to measure. Small intricacies may not make the final calculation, but any major contributors, such as fuel usage, general conditions and transport logistics, may come in to play. Given this, the carbon footprint calculation is a very powerful tool when it comes to understanding the impact of your behaviour, be it as an individual or collective, on global warming. Calculation and constant monitoring of your carbon footprint is essential to keeping it as low as possible, thus decreasing your harm to the planet.
There are several incentives to knowing what your carbon footprint is and acting on it. First of all, there is a moral incentive to keep your carbon emissions as low as possible and make a contribution to slow down global warming. Secondly, there is a business incentive, whereby businesses will be more inclined to trade with you and you will attract better people, both as employees and clientele. Finally, depending on your location, tax breaks may be available if you lower (and can prove) that you have lowered your carbon emissions, and are continuing to do so.
If you have any questions about Carbon Benchmarking, or would like to speak to us about your organisation’s carbon emissions, get in touch via our contacts page.

What is Carbon Offsetting?

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What is it?
Carbon offsetting can be a hard idea to come round to, but is in reality quite a simple concept. Schemes allow individuals and companies to make a financial contribution to environmentally friendly projects around the world to stabilise their own emissions, be it from travel, day-to-day energy use or material consumption. These may take shape in a variety of forms, including the deployment of clean energy technologies, purchasing carbon credits and tearing them up, or, in a more direct application, planting trees to soak up CO2 in the atmosphere. The costs vary, but will usually equate to around £8 per tonne of carbon offset. For example, a flight from London to Sydney would produce around 2.64 tonnes of CO2 per passenger, so would cost around £22 to offset.

Why is it done?
Carbon offsetting may seem like an unnecessary cost to a holiday or business, but it’s a simple, effective and cost-efficient to lessen our negative impact on the world. Our carbon emissions from fossil fuels alone have risen substantially since the beginning of the 20th century, with the warming effects visible now and in the future. However, the positive effects of carbon offsetting are not only environmental. Several governments around the world have introduced incentives for companies to reduce their carbon emissions. The UK government, for example, offers tax relief on the Climate Change Levy (CCL) if steps are taken towards reducing emissions by entering a Climate Change Agreement (CCA) with the Environment Agency.

 

KLM, the Dutch Airline, have taken it into their own hands and have developed a comprehensive scheme to offset the emissions from their flights. They have partnered with a Ghanaian enterprise that has developed a special coalpot which is 40% more efficient than its traditional counterparts, resulting in annual savings of around 300,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year. This has also curbed deforestation, as less coal is needed to fuel the stoves.

This shows how carbon offsetting has changed from just planting trees, which has a short-term effect. Carbon offsetting has moved to more innovative solutions, helping people offset their carbon in ways that will change their lives and their carbon output in the long term.
You can also look to reduce your footprint on the world. Think about it next time you travel or turn the heating on, as there could be a cost-efficient way to reduce your impact on the world. If you would like to find out more about your or your organisation’s emissions, please get in touch via our contact us page.

A Beginner’s Glossary to Carbon Benchmarking

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We see a lot of visitors to our site who are curious about measuring the impact of their, or their organisations, impact on the planet through their carbon footprint. Some of these visitors, though, aren’t necessarily aware of a lot of the technical terminology behind what we do. So we set out to define six of the most-used terms associated with measuring one’s carbon footprint. Hopefully, it helps to inform some of our visitors as to what it’s all about.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is comparing one’s performance with a standard point of reference for measurement. The resulting benchmark then represented a defined level of performance which can be used as a reference for comparison. Benchmarks can be based on averages – or percentiles – of real performance, and is often based on policy-driven objectives such as ‘net zero carbon’ (the idea of reducing one’s carbon footprint to a cumulative zero.

Carbon Footprint

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to support human activities, both directly and indirectly. It can be attributed to an individual, organisation, country, etc. and is usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Activities like driving, heating, and food production have associated CO2 emissions. The carbon footprint is then the sum of all of these emissions that were induced by activities within a given timeframe (usually a year).

Carbon Target

A carbon target is a defined value used as a quantitative goal for a company’s carbon footprint or net carbon emissions (footprint minus any carbon offset activities) to meet within a given timeframe. These targets can be absolute, or based on a comparison with industry averages.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Emissions are gases and other particles that are released into the atmosphere as a result of burning fuels and other processes. Generally, these emissions are most likely to come from cars, power generation and industrial processes. A greenhouse gas, then, is a classification of gases that, when released into the atmosphere, are capable of absorbing infra-red radiation. Consequently, this process will trap and hold heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is called the greenhouse effect, and ultimately is what leads to global warming. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O). So a greenhouse gas emission is when a greenhouse gas is released into the atmosphere.

To learn about the different classifications of greenhouse gas emissions, check out our article on classifying emissions here.

Greenhouse Gas Protocol

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol is a global standard, developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI), that informs companies and organisations on how to measure, manage and report greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a difficult term to define, as many view it in different ways. Essentially, it can be defined as it was at the world’s first Earth Summit in 1992 –  maintaining operations and development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

If you have any questions about Carbon Benchmarking, or would like to speak to us about your organisation’s carbon emissions, get in touch via our contacts page.

The benefits of Carbon Footprinting

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Waste in any form, is bad for business. Quite simply; reducing waste, reduces cost which improves a business’s bottom line.

A carbon footprint helps to identify the waste or inefficiencies within a business in terms of energy and raw material consumption. With energy costs increasing and shortages of water and other natural resources predicted, this information is vital for a business to ensure informed decisions can be made to overcome such adversity.

Finding a major global company that hasn’t completed a carbon footprint is becoming a rarity.   A global standard for carbon foot printing is the GHG protocol. It has set a global standard for how to measure, manage, and report greenhouse gas emissions. Within this protocol companies need to report scope 1 (direct) and scope 2 (indirect) emissions and are coming under increasing pressure to report their scope 3 (indirect) emissions as well. This has shifted the magnifying glass to companies supplying or using services or goods associated with these global companies. This means they are now interested not just in the quality of the service or product within their supply chain but also the effect it will on their carbon footprint.

Carbon foot printing is therefore not just for the big boys. It is for anyone who wants to play with them or even play with those who want to play with them. Put crudely, by carrying out a carbon footprint a business can increase its chances of being asked to play.

Carbon foot printing uses data already collected by a business, such as energy bills and travel expense claims and so does not have to be resource expensive. However, it is not just a tick box exercise that improves a business’s access to this all important group. As already mentioned it helps a business identify ways to reduce cost and risk. Also 92% of young employees prefer to work for organisations with “green” credentials and therefore such companies are able to attract talented individuals who are more likely to stay longer, reducing recruitment and resource costs1 price of tamiflu. In addition, if a business chooses to publish its carbon footprint, and even better have it verified, it can have a positive impact on its brand awareness.

Carbon footprinting has been around for a while now and may almost seem old school – but out of date it is not.  Why?  Put bluntly, it is simple to carry out yet provides a variety of plus’s all of which positively affect the bottom line of any business, big or small. Not hard to see therefore, why it has stood the test of time including times of economic hardship.

 

  1. Mattioli, Dana. How Going Green Draws Talent, Cuts Costs. The Wall Street Journal. November 13, 2007.
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