Emission factors are critical for precisely calculating a company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These representative values quantify the climate impact of various products and processes, and are fundamental in the world of carbon accounting.
Position Green, a holistic platform for all ESG management needs, recently offered a guide covering all the essential aspects of emission factors and reporting processes.
An emission factor essentially describes how much GHG is released during an activity, such as electricity consumption or vehicle fuel combustion. By multiplying these factors with actual usage data, businesses can estimate the GHG emissions for various operations.
This standardization provided by emission factors enables companies to accurately evaluate their environmental impact, adhere to regulations, and set realistic reduction targets. In addition, it facilitates effective communication of sustainability efforts to stakeholders, enhancing a company’s environmental responsibility and reputation.
Expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), emission factors allow for the comparison of different greenhouse gases on a common scale. The global warming potential (GWP) of these gases, which is a metric developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), helps in understanding their relative impact over a standard period, usually 100 years. For instance, methane is considered to have a GWP of 28, implying that its warming effect is 28 times that of carbon dioxide over a century, Position Green explained.
When specific activity data is unavailable, companies often rely on financial spend data to estimate emissions, although this method introduces more uncertainty due to variable factors like price fluctuations.
Sources for reliable emission factors include open-source databases maintained by governmental and international bodies such as DEFRA, EPA, and the IPCC, as well as more detailed licensed datasets from organizations like the IEA or Ecoinvent. These databases, which are updated annually, provide comprehensive methodologies that outline how emission factors are calculated and their appropriate uses.
Position Green, a leader in carbon accounting solutions, underscores the importance of stringent quality assurance in emission reporting. By monitoring updates and adhering to a standardized method of evaluation, they ensure the data used is reliable and effective for businesses aiming to report and reduce their environmental impact.
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