Quantifying the corporate carbon footprint is an essential step for gaining awareness of the impact generated by a business on climate change, understanding the main hotspots to address and the key impact contributors.

 

There are two main reference methods for carrying out an inventory of the greenhouse gas emissions of an organisation:

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• The GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, which is the best known internationally and most frequently adopted method;
   

• The standard UNI EN ISO 14064:2019 which contains “Part 1 – Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals”.

 

The main greenhouse gases (GHG) quantified by means of the GHG Protocol are: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4),  nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC); sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and perfluorochemicals (PFC).

 

A complete inventory includes the calculation of three categories of emissions:

• Scope 1 (direct emissions): includes direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources owned or controlled by an organisation (e.g. from company vehicles, refrigerant gases, etc.)

• Scope 2 (indirect emissions): includes indirect emissions of greenhouse gases associated with the purchase of electricity, heat or cooling, generated outside and consumed by the company.

• Scope 3 (indirect emissions in the value chain): includes all indirect emissions occurring across a company’s value chain upstream or downstream of corporate operations.

 

The GHG Protocol classifies Scope 3 emissions in 15 categories, subdivided into upstream and downstream to provide a detailed analysis of the entire value chain.

 

It must be said that for manufacturing companies and low energy intensity services Scope 3 emissions are usually the main hotspots in the emissions inventory of a company. Calculating them is therefore critical in order to have a complete and realistic picture of the company’s impact on climate change.

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