You need to consider what methodology the data recipient is using otherwise you will be counting apples when they want an answer in oranges.

Some schemes are even talking about tracking employee commuting as part of the overall carbon measurement.

The devil is in the detail rather than the headline

"Carbon capture" means making carbon dioxide react with another chemical so that it can be isolated and stored, instead of being emitted to the atmosphere.

I will hazard a guess that you may instead want some spreadsheets to help you calculate the carbon emissions of your activities.  In that case the World Resources Institute website has much guidance and some templates.

Edited by user 18 June 2021 07:44:48(UTC)  | Reason: missing

One of the problems in monitoring this, is that it’s a bit false. So you need to be careful what you (your new system) monitors exactly. It all seems a good idea but…

You will monitor various aspects of your organisation and get year 1 total carbon footprint. Now in year 2 lets assume your company actually does something (makes a product or provides a service) and you also put in carbon reduction measures. However also in year 2 you do more of what it is you do ie you made 30% more widgets than year one, but this will have taken more power and resources, so your carbon footprint will potentially go up despite your initiatives.

You will therefore in any software you get need to be able to take account of this. It could also work the other way bad financial year, no effort in carbon commitment, but carbon reduction shown at end of year.

I also consider monitoring things you cannot do much about a bit of a waste of effort. Ie your employee’s commute. You employ people because they are the correct ones for the job not because they can catch the bus and not drive their car.

I just use spreadsheets, maybe not the most accurate, but it allows us to compare year to year and I sit and review any increase / decrease compared to what I know about the company and the situation. A cold winter will mean greater energy use, stands to reason. You will never know if that little sticker saying turn the lights off when you leave actually saves any energy and reduces your carbon footprint.

So, when selecting any software, sometimes less is more as they say. All depends on what you want the info for. Also any effort made can easily be wiped out by a dumb company decision ( you know the ones I mean).

Chris

Originally Posted by: Kate

by charging for or withdrawing on-site parking for non-electric vehicles

And therein lies yet another fallicy with Carbon accounting.

Just because it has electrical power rather than fossil fuel does not mean it has not made a more significant impact upon global carbon loading. Start from the big hole in the ground and extraction of rare earths, shipping items around the planet in ageing shipping.

EDF have just warned that two UK nuclear plants may have to be taken off line early - is anyone accounting for the carbon load constructing, operating and decomissioning such a plant?

It is possible to include all these issues of the carbon emissions due to the production of cars and other equipment that you use in a carbon footprinting exercise, and indeed to look down your entire supply chain.

Possible - but too onerous to be realistic unless you employ a team of people to do all this!

This is why it's so important to define at the outset what your footprint will and won't include and not to claim that whatever you calculate is your total carbon footprint, as realistically it won't be.