Carbon footprint as an element of the company’s business model
Climate change caused by anthropogenic emissions is the greatest problem of humanity in the 21st century, which has joined forces to stop the increase of the Earth’s average temperature.
The European Union is pursuing an energy policy aimed at reducing CO2 emissions and achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The main element of this policy is the introduction of the CO2 emissions trading system (ETS), which had the greatest impact on the energy industry and economic entities that burn large amounts of fuel for the purposes of production. It has also become clear to the European Union that the key role in the implementation of this plan is to control the activities of companies and enterprises.
The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions has become a global action, the environmental and emission policy of all sorts of companies, from the energy, chemical, manufacturing, food production to financial and IT industries, is more important than ever in the eyes of the potential recipient and customer.
Companies that do not care about their impact on the environment become uncompetitive because public awareness of climate change is as high as ever
The need to calculate the carbon footprint is due to the following reasons:
Market requirements – key stakeholders often expect information about the carbon footprint of an organization or product before making contact. Such stakeholders are not only potential contractors, but also banking and territorial units. In an increasing number of inquiries, it appears as a necessary condition to present the size of the carbon footprint in a specific range,
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports and non-financial reporting. According to the rules of CSR, being “socially responsible” not only means that organizations meet all formal and legal requirements, but also increased investments in human resources, environmental protection and relations with stakeholders who may have a real impact on the efficiency of economic activities of these organization and their innovation.
External image – the carbon footprint can be used as a valuable marketing tool informing smaller customers, local communities and employees about the responsible approach of the company to issues related to environmental protection.
The carbon footprint calculation can be carried out in two categories
Carbon footprint of the organization
We offer the calculation of the carbon footprint of an organization in three scopes:
Scope I – includes the calculation of the so-called direct emissions, i.e. emissions that arise as a result of fuel combustion in the analyzed organization. These emissions are successively related to the functional unit of the organization.
Scope II – includes the calculation of direct emissions and the so-called indirect emissions, i.e. those related to the purchase of energy in a form that is not subject to combustion. The sum of these emissions is referred to the functional unit of the organization
Scope III – includes the calculation of direct emissions, indirect emissions and other emissions throughout the life cycle of the organization. This scope will be enriched by transport emissions that arise from the sourcing of raw materials and the distribution of the finished product etc.
Carbon footprint of a product
We offer the calculation of the carbon footprint of a product in two ranges:
From cradle to gate – includes the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions in the life cycle of a given product from the moment of extraction and transport of raw materials to the delivery of the finished product to the gate of the plant.
From cradle to grave – includes the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions in the life cycle of a given product from the moment of extraction and transportation of raw materials to disposal of the product.
Contrary to the methodologies appropriate for calculating the carbon footprint of an organization, the methodologies adequate for calculating the carbon footprint of a product include emissions generated at the stage of preparing raw materials for production (from cradle to gate), as well as those that arise during the phase of its use and disposal (from cradle to grave). Therefore, it is important to know the amount of emissions related to the above-mentioned phases of the product life cycle.