Calculate your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

A carbon accounting standard is an internationally recognized method of calculating your company’s emissions. You’ll need to choose the one that best fits your company’s goals. The oldest and most commonly used method is the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. It divides emissions into three categories, also known as scopes.

Scope 1

Direct emissions from sources controlled or owned by your company, including from your energy consumption and company vehicles.

Scope 2

Indirect emissions from energy providers who supply you with electricity, steam, and/or heating and cooling for buildings.

Scope 3

All other indirect supply chain emissions, such as those from your raw material suppliers, waste and employee commuting.

Start collecting data on to calculate your company’s emissions. This involves going through all of your business activities and assets to determine what emissions each one produces. Follow these two steps:

1. Understand your goals

Examples of possible goals include cutting costs, reporting for eco-labelling or certification requirements, and reporting to regulators or partners (e.g. supply chains, financial institutions, insurance companies, investors).

2. Collect required data

This may include energy consumption by buildings, vehicle gas consumption and waste hauling weight reports. You can find this information on your invoices or by contacting your suppliers.

Calculating your carbon footprint can be a complex process. It’s important to ensure your numbers are accurate. We recommend calculating your emissions annually. You can select how to do it from the following options.

Use your existing software

Some business management and accounting software systems offer modules that allow you to track your carbon footprint data and produce reports.

Hire an outside expert

Consultants can either complete most of the work for you or work with your team. This is a good option if you lack the resources to produce accurate emissions reports.

Calculate it yourself

You can use online tools to make a rough estimate of your emissions. For example, Natural Resources Canada offers its Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator. To do it yourself, you determine the CO2 equivalent based on what are called emissions factors. These are factors that affect the calculation in your area, such as the carbon intensity of your local electrical grid, types of energy used and modes of transportation.

To report the data, you need to choose between two reporting approaches:

Financial and operational control approach

Under this approach, a business accounts for 100% of emissions from operations over which it has financial or operational control. For example, if a business directs the financial or operational policies of a restaurant, it reports 100% of the restaurant’s emissions. This is true regardless of what portion of the restaurant the business owns.

Equity share approach

This approach requires the company to account for emissions based on its share of equity in an operation. For example, if a business owns 40% of a restaurant, it reports 40% of the restaurant’s emissions.

Knowing how your business generates emissions helps you develop a reduction plan. Most emissions happen in four areas: electricity, heat and cooling, materials and transport.

Here are examples of projects to focus on:

Electricity

• Turn off and unplug appliances
• Run maintenance on old equipment and upgrade to more efficient models

Heating and cooling

• Set thermometers to lower heat during non-work hours
• Install air curtains and low-flow aerators on sinks

Materials

• Reduce the size of packaging
• Use recycled material

Transport

• Consolidate orders and shipments into one trip
• Switch to electric or more fuel-efficient company vehicles