What is a Carbon Footprint?

Carbon Trust, an independent climate change consultancy firm established by the UK Government, define a carbon footprint as: “The total set of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, event, organisation, product or service expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).”

The full footprint of an organisation encompasses a wide range of emissions sources, from direct use of fuels to indirect impacts such as transportation or emissions from other organisations within the supply chain.

A common classification method is to group greenhouse gas emissions by the level of control an organisation has over them. On this basis, there are three main types of greenhouse gas classification:

Direct emissions that result from activities the organisation controls
For example, the on site combustion of fuels, emission of gases during operation, production and manufacture, and running of a vehicle fleet.

Emissions from energy usage
For example for lighting, heating, and powering of equipment. Although the organisation is not directly in control of the emissions, by using the energy (such as electricity and gas) it is indirectly responsible for the release of CO2.

Indirect emissions from products and services that the organisation does not directly control
For example, a company that manufactures a product is indirectly responsible for the carbon that is emitted in the preparation and transport of the raw materials.

Why calculate a Carbon Footprint?

There are typically two main reasons to calculate a carbon footprint:

1) To manage the footprint and reduce emissions over time

Calculating an organisation’s carbon footprint can be an effective tool for ongoing energy and environmental management. In this case, it may be enough to understand and quantify the key emissions sources, typically including gas, electricity and transport. Having quantified the emissions, steps can be identified and prioritised, focusing on the areas of greatest savings potential.

2) To report the footprint accurately to a third party

Organisations increasingly want to calculate their carbon footprint in detail for public disclosure:
• For Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or marketing purposes
• To fulfil requests from business or retail customers, or from investors
• To ascertain what level of emissions they need to offset in order to become ‘carbon neutral’.

What does Carbon Neutral mean?

Carbon neutral describes products, operations and activities which have had all direct & indirect greenhouse gas emissions:

• Measured
• Calculated (in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent), then;
• Offset through the purchase of carbon credits

Find out how ENVI bacame carbon neutral.