Most Companies Aren’t Measuring their Carbon Footprint Correctly

Measuring greenhouse gas emissions encompasses looking at every single activity – including the supply chain and the delivery and use of your products. Carnegie Mellon University performed a recent study that discussed the issue. They determined that these areas are typically not considered by businesses promoting climate friendliness, as reported in the August 15 edition of Environmental Science & Technology.

Looking at direct emissions from operations is really just the beginning. It turns out that Carbon neutrality claims are wildly exaggerated. How best to look at your carbon footprint? Adopt a “cradle-to-grave” view of the impacts of your goods and services.  Carnegie Mellon developed a screening analysis that does just that. Without looking at the more complete picture, companies are missing 74 percent of the average emissions. Green house gas (GHG) software can also help determine the real picture.

Most organizations calculate their footprint by using a tool developed by the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Plans are in place to update the existing protocol in the next two years.

Questions to consider: Are you incorporating the emissions from the trucks that haul your products? How about emissions from the use of a product, like the energy being sapped by a computer processor over its lifetime? The carbon review needs to consider anything and everything your products touch. Anything less is simply a “less than accurate” footprint. Enviance’s leading greenhouse gas (GHG) software is helping companies with this problem.

Some companies are turning to climate change nonprofits such as the Carbon Disclosure Project to help them get information from suppliers.