LRQA Business Assurance offers Carbon Footprinting basics for organisations
30th November 2010 by Alex Briggs
In today’s business world, organisations are increasingly measuring and managing their impact on the environment. To be successful in managing a company’s environmental performance, organisations need to understand carbon footprinting. Paul Smith, LRQA’s Climate Change Manager, is an expert on environmental management systems and carbon footprinting. He works with global organisations verifying their greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring that their data are relevant, complete, consistent, accurate and transparent. In this short interview, he shares the basic elements that companies need to understand to successfully manage their carbon footprint.
Paul, tell us the different types of carbon footprinting for companies?
Essentially, for companies there are three types of carbon footprinting. Firstly, there are organisational carbon footprints, secondly there are project based carbon footprints for the reduction or removal of emissions, and thirdly there are product carbon footprints.
What types of tools are available for companies to help them measure their carbon footprint?
There are a number of standards and specifications for calculating carbon footprints. For example, ISO14064 part 1, can be used as a framework for organisational carbon footprints, ISO14064 part 2 for project based carbon footprints, and PAS2050 amongst others for product carbon footprints.
What is an organisational carbon footprint?
An organisational carbon footprint is essentially whatever greenhouse gas emissions arising from its activities that an organisation wishes to measure over a defined period with the intention of managing it, or better still reducing it.
What is ISO 14064?
ISO14064 is a specification for calculating greenhouse gas emissions. Part 1 of that standard is a framework for calculating the greenhouse gas emissions from organisations, and part 2 is for projects designed to reduce or to enhance removal of greenhouse gas emissions.
What is product carbon footprinting?
Product Carbon Footprinting is essentially the calculation of all greenhouse gas emissions arising throughout the lifecycle of the product.
What is PAS 2050?
PAS2050 is a publicly available specification for calculating the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from goods or services, otherwise known as product carbon footprints.
What is Product Carbon Footprint Lifecycle?
Product Carbon Footprint Lifecycle, in the context of greenhouse gas emissions, can be defined as partial lifecycles for business to business activity (also known as cradle to gate), or full lifecycles for business to consumer activity (also known as cradle to grave).
For more information on LRQA Business Assurance Climate Change Services, please visit www.climatechange.lrqa.com or follow us on Twitter @LRQA_CC_CSR. The LRQA “What is Series” features videos on a wide range of topics that relate to management systems, certification, assurance, verification and validation. See the video series on www.vimeo.com/channels/26932 .