What is a carbon footprint?
A internet search to define “carbon footprint” will retrieve many
slightly different definitions, this term, also known for businesses as
"corporate greenhouse gas inventory", is widely defined as follows:
The
greenhouse gases emissions associated with a particular activity over a
specified period, generally one year for organizations or all or part
of the production process for products. This includes both direct (e.g.
fuel combustion) and indirect (e.g. electricity generation) emissions,
and is typically measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
This unit, carbon dioxide equivalent, or CO2e,
takes into account the warming effects of the six greenhouse gases
measured under the Kyoto Protocol: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulphur hexafluroide.
Your business’s carbon footprint or corporate greenhouse gas inventory
can include everything from electricity use to emissions from business
travel, from company-car emissions and onsite energy use, like natural
gas. When discussing your footprint, be prepared to respond to which
impact categories you have included and which you have excluded, and
your rationale for doing so. The stronger your understanding of your
sources of emissions, the better placed you will be to reduce them.
