Calculating the carbon footprint: 8 MISTAKES to avoid

"What can't be measured, can't be improved" Peter Drucker

A carbon footprint is nothing more than a process of converting our business activity into units of greenhouse gas, or "CO2 equivalent". Measure, to be able to manage.

Although it is not a new technique, today it takes on a new relevance, as being able to correctly quantify the CO2 emissions of your business can be key. You can read about this here.

During my years as a consultant I have had the opportunity to participate in several processes of implementation or verification of the carbon footprint, and today I would like to share with you the 8 mistakes you should not make.

PREPARATION stage

• Not clarifying Organisational Boundaries: What are the criteria for deciding what is within your scope and what is not? The GHG Protocol (the most widespread methodology for calculating emissions) offers you two consolidation possibilities, by equity share or by control criteria. Choose the approach that best suits your current business and future prospects.
• Not doing a good prioritisation exercise: it is too early to report on Scope 3 issues that require complex engagement processes and information gathering from groups outside your company. Start with the core, Scopes 1 and 2. Choose the Scope 3 categories that seem more relevant to your company. Watch your peers to find out.

BEGINNING stage

• Being too perfectionist: Perfect is the enemy of good. You can start with the basics and use estimation models to start measuring your emissions, while you continue to develop your process, obtain better quality information, train your team and involve external partners.
• Not having complete and accurate information: You will be as limited as the baseline information you have. Ensure the quality of the data you use. It is important that you start to increase the robustness of this information as you develop your carbon footprint. The beginnings may seem straightforward, as the baseline information in Scopes 1 and 2 is often linked to operational expenses such as your fleet's fuel usage or your offices' electricity consumption. However, you will soon realise that tracking monetary expenditure and energy consumption are not the same thing, and that making this conversion from monetary to energy unit is more complex than it seems.
• Not identifying the most relevant external actors: no process of service delivery or product development is isolated and independent. Who are your most relevant partners? Raw material suppliers (upstream), distributors of your product (downstream), etc. It is time to start considering whether their impact is relevant in the global perspective and start engaging with them to create a flow of information.

MATURITY stage

• No prospecting: don't assume that because you have been reporting your emissions for years you know everything about the impact of your business. Keep an open mind and make small estimates of the emissions of those activities that you consider to have a lower impact. Sometimes you may be surprised to discover not only that they are not as irrelevant as they seem, but that you should prioritise their management over other activities.
• Losing focus: scope 1? Of course. scope 2? Of course. Scope 3? Yes, but wisely choosed. Reporting for the sake of reporting is useless and a waste of time for the team that will make them see no use in what they are doing. The Carbon footprint is a management tool, like many other reporting mechanisms. Focus your efforts on the metrics that matter to your business.
• Not recalculating when you need to: your business changes over time. There are additions and divestments. There may come a time when you need to update your emissions from previous years to be consistent with your carbon footprint management targets.

These would be the main mistakes to avoid in the carbon footprint calculation process. That's all for this time. Here are some useful links:

• If you have any questions about how to integrate and manage sustainability in your business, you can book a free consultation session with me by clicking?here.
• And if you would like to receive my upcoming publications directly in your email, you can sign up for my newsletter by clicking?here.