Carbon Footprint

Set a Baseline and Track Decarbonization Progress

A Carbon Footprint Report Measures the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that result from operating your business. Measuring your carbon emissions establishes a baseline and an understanding of your emission sources.

Why Measure GHG Emissions?

By identifying and measuring your greenhouse gas emission sources, you are building knowledge of which aspects of your operation produce the most emissions. This knowledge will be used to guide investments in decarbonization of the business. Further, you likely have customers or other stakeholders who are requesting carbon emission data about your business.

How to Measure GHG Emissions?

The Greenhouse Gas Protocols (GHGP) categorize Carbon Emissions in the following Scopes:
Scope 1 – Direct Emissions
Scope 2 – Purchased Electricity and Steam
Scope 3 – Upstream or Downstream Emissions (I.e., supply chain emissions)

You may be wondering, which scopes are applicable to my business?

ESG OWL will assess which emissions are relevant for inclusion in the Carbon Footprint report. Clients may choose to start with a subset of emissions sources as they establish their capabilities. Don’t worry, ESG OWL will work with you to identify which sources to measure now, and which to measure later!

What is the Carbon Footprint Process?

ESG OWL strives to make the Carbon Footprint process as easy as possible for its clients. We will guide you through the process and handle the heavy lifting. Clients are primarily responsible for collecting data from the relevant parties like Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Operations, and/or Maintenance.

Carbon Footprint Project Steps:

Identify Carbon Emissions Sources

Collect Data

Calculate Emissions

Prepare the Carbon Footprint Report

A Carbon Footprint may be referred to as a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory, Carbon Accounting, or Carbon Emissions Report.

What does the ESG OWL Carbon Footprint Report Include?

Overview of a Carbon Footprint
Summary of Total Emissions
Breakout of Emissions by Scope
Breakout of Emissions by Location

Additional Analysis (dependent on your unique emissions data)
Decarbonization Opportunities
Explanation of Emission Calculation Methodology

Get started with your Carbon Footprint baseline report!

Commonly Asked Questions

Does a manufacturer need to measure its Carbon Footprint every year?

Yes, most manufacturers are being asked to report on their carbon footprint each year. Just like financial statements, manufacturers should measure their carbon footprint each year. Measuring annually enables tracking progress of decarbonization efforts. Most customers’ third-party questionnaires such as EcoVadis, CDP, etc. are requesting Carbon Emissions data on an annual basis.

Measuring a Carbon Footprint is new at my company, where do I start?

Most small- and medium-size manufacturers start by measuring Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. These are emission sources that are managed by the manufacturer, so manufacturers have control and better access to the data required for the carbon footprint.

Whereas Scope 3 emissions such as raw materials can only be influenced by the manufacturer, rather than controlled.

What is the difference between a Company-wide Carbon Footprint and Product Level Carbon Footprint?

A company-wide Carbon Footprint captures the Scope 1 and Scope 2 emission sources which include sources such as natural gas, fuel, refrigerants, and electricity. These emission sources usually have data readily available from utilities and internal recordkeeping. The result is a company-wide Carbon Footprint as defined by Greenhouse Gas Protocols.

Separately, you may have customers or stakeholders asking about Product Level Carbon Footprints, Lifecycle Analysis (LCA), or Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). The complexity of measuring product level emissions is significantly higher and more expensive compared to the company-wide carbon footprint. The good news is most customers are requesting Company Wide Carbon Footprints!

However, ESG OWL does support Product Level Carbon Footprints by leveraging its network of software partners to handle the increased complexity and Emission Factors required for the higher volume of materials and activities required for Product Level Carbon Footprints.

Should I conduct the Carbon Footprint with an internal resource or hire a third party like ESG OWL?

Just like other functions such as HR, Finance, IT, Website Maintenance, or Information Technology manufacturing executives must choose whether to hire and train employees to fulfill the work or leverage third-party support. Sustainability takes time, effort, and expertise to understand requirements and apply them to your specific operations.

ESG OWL brings expertise working with other small and medium-sized manufacturers to accelerate the carbon footprint process and ensure a high level of quality in the work product. You gain peace of mind that the work will be done efficiently and professionally, without the need to hire a new employee, or delegate the work to an existing employee who is unqualified. ESG OWL seeks to find cost savings opportunities and helps protect existing customers from being siphoned away by competitors due to sustainability.