Last updated on Mar 15, 2024

How can you determine the appropriate scope for your carbon footprinting analysis?

Carbon footprinting is a method of measuring the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with your activities, products, or services. It can help you identify the sources and impacts of your emissions, as well as the opportunities and strategies to reduce them. However, before you start calculating your carbon footprint, you need to define the scope of your analysis. This means deciding what types of emissions and what boundaries of your system you want to include or exclude. In this article, you will learn how to determine the appropriate scope for your carbon footprinting analysis, based on your goals, resources, and standards.

1 Why scope matters

The scope of your carbon footprinting analysis determines how comprehensive and accurate your results will be. It also affects how you can compare and communicate your emissions with others. A narrow scope may miss some significant sources of emissions, while a broad scope may require more data and resources. Therefore, you need to balance the relevance and feasibility of your scope, depending on your purpose and context. For example, if you want to report your emissions to a regulatory body, you may need to follow a specific scope defined by the rules or guidelines. If you want to improve your internal performance, you may want to choose a scope that reflects your operational control or influence.

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John Ouma

Affiliate Member of The Royal Society of Chemistry (AMRSC) | Waka Africa Organization, Co-Founder Waka Gram | University of Oxford- Hillary 2024 SoCC | McKinsey Africa-Fellow | 2024 MWF's Semifinalist
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One thing that comes out of the scope is its significance to carbon accounting. The choice of a scope has a trickle-down effect on the quality of results on the carbon footprint analysis. Whereas a narrow scope is poised to miss out on some essential sources of emissions, a broad one may require more data and resources which may be challenging to mobilize and may cause revisions on the timelines and so forth. However, the two approaches could be fused together to create a blended approach that speaks to the objectives and legacy of a given organisation. Moreover, there is need for agility to ensure relevance and compliance with the emerging trends in carbon footprinting. Engaging an expert could also solve the ambiguities as well.

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Maqsood Alam Khan 🔴 MAK

• Manager @ Sinyar Property Holding Group | PMP®, PRINCE2®, DEWA & DM Certified Professional
(edited)
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It's all about metric ton carbon dioxide equivalents (MTCO2e) emitted for GHG accounting. Benchmarking GHG emissions is becoming a hot topic that may result in regulations to restrict emissions. This will ensure a quality product to compare with benchmark against an inventory quality management system (IQMS) to help in planning for future improvements to the processes. The GHG protocols shall include data, method, processes, system and documentations to establish reference line against IQMS for continually improving inventory quality. Also, it is important to have right metrics to set boundaries as per feedbacks to score KPI rationally based on emission, carbon offsets, renewable energy certifications, and energy star. MAK

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2 How to define scope

When conducting a carbon footprinting analysis, you need to define two main aspects of scope: emission sources and system boundaries. Emission sources are activities or processes that generate GHG emissions, such as fuel combustion, electricity consumption, or waste disposal. System boundaries are limits that determine which emission sources are included or excluded, such as organizational units, geographic locations, or life cycle stages. To define the scope of your emission sources and system boundaries, you can consider the goals and stakeholders of your analysis, review relevant standards and frameworks, select emission categories and scopes, and define system boundaries and exclusions. Additionally, it is important to consider how to classify emission sources according to the three scopes defined by the GHG Protocol. Finally, you should decide which emission sources to exclude from your analysis due to data availability, significance, or relevance.

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Kaushik Chatterjee, ERP®,SCR®

Assessing energy & sustainability
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The key aspects here for this complex endeavour would be 1.Availability of data 2.Quality of data 3.Verification process 4.Regulations 5.Industry definitions (standardized and science based) The above will help to determine the scope, so it is the other way around not what an organization or individual want per se

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3 How to verify and improve scope

Once you have defined the scope of your carbon footprinting analysis, you need to verify and improve its quality and consistency. To do so, you should collect and analyze data to ensure accuracy, completeness, and reliability. You should also calculate and report your results using the appropriate units and conversion factors. Furthermore, you should review and validate your results through internal or external audits, reviews, or validations. Lastly, you should monitor and update your scope in accordance with changes in activities, data, or standards. All of these steps will help you track and evaluate your progress over time while incorporating feedback from stakeholders and peers.

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