What is Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint

A carbon footprint measures the totalgreenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by a person,organisation, event or product. A carbon footprint considers all six of theKyoto Protocol greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrousoxide (N2O), Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and Sulphurhexafluoride (SF6).

What is a Carbon Footprint?

“A carbon footprint measures the total Greenhouse Gas (GHG)emissions caused directly and indirectly by a person, organization, event orproduct; expressed in equivalence of global warming potential of carbondioxide”. Itis a subset of the ecological footprint and of the more comprehensive LifeCycle Assessment. The ‘Carbon Footprint’ encompasses all possible causes thatcontributes to GHG emissions, namely: direct (on-site, internal) and indirectemissions (off-site, external, embodied, upstream, and downstream). A CarbonFootprint is expressed in terms of Carbon Dioxide equivalent, generally 1Carbon footprint = 1 tCO2e.

What about Emission Scopes:

There are three category of emissionsources defined for Carbon Footprint or GHG accounting purposes. The ‘Scope 1’includes all direct emission sources, whereas ‘Scope 2’ includes indirectsources of emissions. The ‘Scope 3’ includes all other indirect sources ofemissions associated with the Inventory boundary.

(A representative pictorial presentation canbe referred in the image slider)

Scope 1: Direct GHG Emissions

Direct GHG emissions are considered based on sources that are owned orcontrolled by the company within their defined project boundary. For example:emissions from combustion in owned or controlled utilities such as boilers,furnaces, DG sets, owned vehicles, etc.; emissions from chemical production inowned or controlled process equipment.

As per standard practice, the GHG emissions that are not covered by theKyoto Protocol of UNFCCC, e.g. - CFCs, NOx, etc. are not considered to beincluded in scope 1 but may be reported separately.

Scope 2: Indirect GHG Emissions

Scope 2 accounts for GHG emissions mainly from the indirect source ofenergy outside the project boundary; a main source is purchased electricityconsumed by a company. The purchased electricity is defined as power or unitsof electricity that are purchased from grid or otherwise brought into theorganizational boundary of the company from outside where power generation isnot owned or controlled by the company. Thus, scope 2 emissions are physicallyoccurrence at the facilities where electricity is generated, hence termed asindirect emission. However if the purchased power is directly from anyrenewable source or generator declares or give away the green component of theelectricity to the consumer then indirect emission will be anyhow zero.

Scope 3: Other Indirect GHG Emissions

Scope 3 emission is an optional reporting category under GHG accountingas per current practice. It mainly allows inclusion of sources of all otherindirect emissions, which are mainly consequences of the activities of thecompany, but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the company. Forexample, use of public transport or any hired or rented vehicles for thepurpose of business related activities of the company, similarly and example couldbe emission originated in extraction and production of purchased materials; oruse of various products and services that has somehow associated emissions maybe at source or may be at use or end of use phase.

For more details and understanding, please write to us at write@bluegreenetc.in