The release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere is a topic of increasing interest, which an organisation cannot ignore, also to increase its credibility with stakeholders. An organisation’s carbon footprint is a powerful management tool for achieving objective and quantifiable CO2 equivalent reduction targets. It is a tool that makes it possible to determine the impacts that services, products, an event or even the organisation as a whole have on climate change and, therefore, on global warming. Measuring the carbon footprint of a product or company analyses the life cycle, identifying and quantifying the contribution these phases make to the production of CO2 equivalent.
All climate-altering gases are taken into account in the calculation: carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). This is the reason why it is called CO2 equivalent, as the other gases are also included.
In a carbon footprint, direct and indirect emissions are measured. The former are from the company’s own or company-controlled source-sources (also called Scope 1). The indirect ones, on the other hand, are a consequence of the company’s own activities, but whose source-source is controlled by other companies (Scope 2 and 3).
Whereas until a few years ago, organisations calculating their carbon footprint mainly focused on direct emissions, now a total analysis including indirect emissions is required by the market.
