If you’re reading a website called Green Business, chances are good you already have a professional interest in sustainability and the challenges of climate change. But does your organization truly ’walk the talk’ or are its so-called sustainability activities mere lip-service? Are you measuring the success (or failure) or your strategies? Have you shared those results with current and potential stakeholders? Are you able to demonstrate that you belong in a sustainable supply chain? Will you be competitive in a low-carbon economy?

One of the best ways to answer all of these questions - and showcase your organization’s environmental stewardship - is to measure your organizational carbon footprint, publish your greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory report on a credible, public registry, and then manage your organizational impact through emission reduction strategies.

In addition to being a business best-practice, measuring and managing carbon inventories can help organizations prepare for (or comply with) regulatory impacts. South of the border, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently introduced a proposed mandatory reporting program for organizations that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of GHGs each year. Under the proposed rule, plant managers in up to 40,000 facilities will have to complete a self-assessment in 2010 to determine whether annual mandatory reporting of GHGs to the U.S. EPA is required. Members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee moved a step closer to establishing a cap-and-trade system in America by approving The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 - an Act that may have implications for Canadian companies that export to the United States.

Closer to home, the Government of Quebec is planning to adopt Bill 42 this month - June 2009. Bill 42 would give the Government of Quebec the powers necessary for its participation in the cap-and-trade system for GHG emissions, in partnership with the other Canadian provinces and member states of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). If it adopts Bill 42, the Government of Quebec will establish reduction targets and emission caps, require reports of all GHG emissions covered by the joint program of the WCI "maintain a public register of emission allowances containing the names of the holders of emission allowances, the number and type of emission allowances credited to their respective accounts and any other information determined by regulation of the Government."   

Other WCI member provinces are also taking action. For example, British Columbia has the Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Cap and Trade) Act, Manitoba has The Climate Change and Emissions Reductions Act and Ontario has Our Plan: Adding It Up (includes new regulations coming soon). Alberta, although not currently a WCI member, was the first province in Canada to develop legislation to regulate GHG emissions when it enacted the Climate Change and Emissions Management Act.

Business needs and government demands add up to a fast-approaching imperative-your organization will need to truly understand its carbon footprint sooner rather than later. The good news is that it’s not as complicated and intimidating as you might think.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has developed a comprehensive, usable, international standard for carbon management under its 14000 environmental management family: the ISO 14064 series (the author’s organization, Canadian Standards Association, acted as World Secretariat for the development of ISO 14064).

ISO 14064-1 Part 1 Specification with Guidance at the Organizational Level for Quantification and Reporting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals provides principles and requirements for quantifying and reporting an organization’s carbon footprint. This standard breaks the process down into five steps.

Step 1: Setting Organizational Parameters and Boundaries
Your organization may include one or more facilities-as simple as a single cubicle or as complicated as a conglomerate with several locations serving different functions scattered across the country.

Each facility may include GHG sources (something that emits greenhouse gasses), GHG sinks (something that removes GHGs from the atmosphere) or GHG reservoirs (places where you can capture and store GHGs). To get an accurate picture of your organization’s total carbon inventory, you will need to consolidate facilities based on either financial and/or operational control, or your portion of a shared facility. Your total carbon footprint is the aggregate (see Figure 1).

 
 
You will also need to determine the GHG emissions from your operations, which may include:

• Business travel
• Energy consumed (but not generated) by your organization
• Outsourced activities or franchises
• Physical facilities or processes you own or control
• Production of purchased raw or primary materials
• Transportation of goods
• Use and end-life phases of products and services
• Waste generated
  
  Step 2: Measuring GHG Activity

Once you’ve determined what you need to measure, it’s time to get started. You’ll want to establish a base year-either using historical data or using your first inventory year-so you can monitor improvement over time.

Although GHGs include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous Oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), the total inventory will be measured in tons and then converted to carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2e for the sake of simplicity. This is the reason why GHG inventories are also called carbon footprints. CO2e is calculated using the mass of a given GHG multiplied by its Global Warming Potential (GWP)-or how much a given mass of a specific GHG contributes to climate change.

Measure the amount of energy, fuels or electricity consumed, materials produced, service provided or land affected. Then weigh this against organizational activities that produce GHG emission reductions, such as energy demand and use management, energy efficiency upgrades, technology or process improvements, GHG capture and storage, management of transportation and travel demands, fuel switching and renewable energy use.

Step 3: Choosing Methodologies
Quantification methodologies help minimize uncertainty and provide accurate, consistent and reproducible results that allow you to track progress over time.

There are three main types of methodologies: calculation, measurement and combination.

Calculation includes:
ï    GHG activity data multiplied by GHG emission or removal factors
ï    Use of models
ï    Facility-specific correlations
ï    Mass-balance approach

Measurement is the gathering of hard data-either continuously or periodically-and the combination methodology includes both calculation and measurement.

You will want to complete an uncertainty assessment and establish a quality assurance procedure for information management. You will also need to retain all of your records and documentation for Step 5: Verification.

Step 4: Reporting
This is where you get to share your results with stakeholders. The best way is to publish your organization’s carbon inventory report on a respected, third-party registry.

Before you prepare your report, make sure you know what you want to achieve, who will be reading it and how often you plan to report. This will make it more usable and valuable for your stakeholders.

If you plan to publish with a registry that conforms to ISO 14064, you will need to ensure the report includes:
ï    The reporting period
ï    Organizational boundaries and parameters
ï    Emissions in tons of CO2e
ï    Removals in tons of CO2e
ï    Disclosure of any GHG sources or sinks you did not include, and why
ï    The base year inventory
ï    A description of the methodologies used
ï    The results of the uncertainty assessment
ï    Statement of Verification (this will be explained in Step 5: Verification)

Optional information you may wish to include, if it provides value to your stakeholders includes:
ï    A description of organizational policies, strategies or programs
ï    A description of organizational emission reduction activities and results
ï    Any purchased or developed GHG offsets
ï    Emission details for each facility
ï    An assessment of organizational performance against relevant internal or external benchmarks

Step 5: Verification
Obtain verification to get true value from your carbon footprint report-and to protect against any accusations of ’greenwash’. The principles and process mirror those used in financial audits. The goal is an independent, objective review of the data and many registries and programs require third-party verification.

The verifier should be a qualified expert who understands GHG management issues and is familiar with ISO 14064, and specifically ISO 14064-3 Part 3 Specification with Guidance for the Validation and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Assertions. Ideally, the verifier will work for an accredited organization or be certified through a program that has been developed and managed to the requirements of ISO 17024, the global benchmark for organizations operating personnel certification programs. Before getting started, it’s important that all parties agree to the scope, objectives, criteria and level of assurance required.

The verifier will examine the data and provide a statement that includes the level of assurance and their conclusions, including any qualifications or limitations. This statement is then included with the carbon inventory report.

A team effort
Producing a carbon inventory report is almost always the result of a team effort. The scope and activities of your organization may require the inclusion of individuals from property/facility management, operations, transportation/logistics, accounting and engineering to prepare a comprehensive report. An environmental or sustainability specialist may also make a strong addition.

GHG management training courses are available from credible organizations with experience in the climate change and carbon management fields. Look for a training organization that can show it is actively measuring and managing its own carbon footprint. Also, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative provides several useful, free tools and calculators to help you measure emissions and calculate your organizational footprint.

Establish your environmental leadership positioning and prepare for a competitive advantage in the emerging low-carbon economy. Monitor the success of reduction strategies and move toward the ultimate goal of carbon neutrality.

As the Director of the Ottawa Office at the Canadian Standards Association, Michel Girard, PhD, is responsible for the climate change portfolio. CSA Climate Change (www.csa.ca/carbonperformance) acted as World Secretariat for the development of the ISO 14064 series of Standards for carbon management and delivers solutions to help adapt Canada’s infrastructure to a changing climate. Prior to his appointment at CSA, Dr. Girard was Director of International Climate Change at Environment Canada.
 

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