Carbon Footprinting Workshop

14th February 2013

Agenda09.00 – 09.10 Introductions & icebreaker09.10 – 09.40 Principles & definitions of a carbon footprint09.40 – 10.00 Activity data & Conversion factors

10.00 – 10.10 Break

10.10 – 11.20 Calculating a carbon footprint: case study practice11.20 – 11.25 Carbon footprinting tools11.25 – 11.30 Reporting your carbon footprint11.30 Close

Introductions

• Grab some notepaper• Get into pairs• Interview your partner. Find out:

– their name and organisation– what their organisation does– What it is they want to learn from today’s workshop

Make notes - you will be asked to introduce your partner to the group!

Objectives of today's workshop

• Explain how to identify and categorise carbon emission sources

• Provide information and tools on how to calculate a carbon footprint

• Embed knowledge gained through a practical exercise using a case study

• Provide best practice tips for reporting a carbon footprint

• Explore reporting and data monitoring options

Climate Change Who Wants to be a Millionaire!

Who won the Nobel Prize for their work on climate change?

050403020100000000A: George Bush B: Sir David Attenborough

C: Bill Clinton D: Al GoreD: Al Gore

50 : 50

What was the name of the first international agreement to set binding targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

050403020100000000A: Rio Treaty 1992 B: Kyoto Protocol 1997

C: Copenhagen Summit 2009 D: Montreal Protocol 1987

B: Kyoto Protocol 1997

50 : 50

How much carbon dioxide is emitted when we use a kilowatt hour of electricity?

050403020100000000A: 119 kgs B: 750 grams

C: 0.541 kgs D: 2.1 tonnes C: 0.541 kgs

50 : 50

What is the average annual carbon footprint of a Camden resident?

050403020100000000A: 105 kgs B: 4 tonnes

C: 7.3 tonnes D: 25.7 tonnesC: 7.3 tonnes

50 : 50

Principles & definitions of a carbon footprint

Within the UK it is estimated that business activities account for about half

of all emissions

DEFRA SMALL BUSINESS USER GUIDE:Guidance on how to measure and report

your greenhouse gas emissions

What are greenhouse gases?

Many greenhouse gases occur naturally

Others result exclusively from human industrial processes

• Carbon dioxide CO2

• Methane CH4

• Nitrous oxide NO2

• Water vapour

• Hydrofluorocarbons HFCs • Perfluorocarbons PFCs• Sulphur hexafluoride SF6

Gases in the atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation

Recommendation: Measure emissions from the six GHGs covered by the Kyoto Protocol where relevant for your organisation

What is a carbon footprint?

Carbon footprint - The amount of greenhouse gases emitted that your organisation is responsible for,

expressed in units of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)

Usually in tonnes emitted annually

Useful Definitions

Carbon Dioxide equivalent – the unit for comparing the ability of other GHGs to change the climate to the

ability of CO2 to change the climate,

But CO2 is more abundant!

i.e. Methane is 21 times better at absorbing the sun’s energy than CO2 and N2O is about 300 times more effective than CO2.

Why measure your carbon footprint?

• Legal compliance – CRC EUETS CCA MER• Compensation – offsetting• Win business / funding• Required by potential clients• Motivating for staff – report performance• Don’t measure, can’t manage• To set an overall reduction target• Report to stakeholders• Reputation / publicity

What are the sources of GHG emissions caused by your organisation’s operations?

The consumption of fossil fuels in owned transport

Fugitive emissions – i.e. leakage of refrigerant

The use & disposal of water

Travel for business purposes

Staff commuting

Bio-mass / bio-fuels

The consumption of fossil fuels (boilers, furnaces, etc)

Process emissions The use of imported heat & steam

The consumption of electricity

Embedded carbon in materials

Supply chain emissions

The disposal of waste

Emissions Scopes

Scope 1 (Direct emissions): Activities owned or controlled by your organisation that release emissions directly into the atmosphere

Scope 2 (Energy indirect): Emissions being released into the atmosphere associated with your consumption of purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling. Emissions do not occur on site.

Scope 3 (Other indirect): Emissions that are a consequence of your actions, which occur at sources which you do not own or control and which are not classed as scope 2 emissions

1

2

3

Emissions Scopes

Recommendation: Recommended: Measure and calculate emissions that fall into scopes 1 and 2

Discretionary: Measure and calculate your significant scope 3 emissions

Identifying the boundary of your footprint at the organisation level

Organisational boundary defines which parts of the organisation will be included in the emissions measurement and how to incorporate emissions from joint venture and subsidiaries.

Option 1: Equity share or % of ownership approach - % of financial stake

Option 2: Control approach – regardless of financial stake, take 100% responsibility for emissions. Choose from:

– Financial control approach: the ability to control the financial and operating policies of the operation with a view to gaining economic benefits from its activities.

– Operational control approach: the full authority to introduce and implement its operating policies.

Recommendation: Apply your chosen approach consistently and for most organisations this will be the financial control approach

Recommendation: Measure and calculate your organisation’s total emissions on a global basis

Identifying the operational boundary of your carbon footprint

Defining the operational boundary involves identifying which emission sources within the organisation boundary to include in the

measurement.

Can be set by schemes such as CRCEES, Carbon Trust Standard, MER, 10:10 campaign, etc

Exercise 1: identifying the boundary• Working in groups • Read the case study• Establish the boundary of the carbon footprint• Establish which emissions sources occur within this

boundary• Split the emissions sources into scopes• Answers & Discussion• 10 minutes

Case Study Answers: Exercise 1Building Emission Sources Emission scope

Head Office Gas 1 + 3Electricity 2 + 3Water 3Recycling 3

Kitchen Gas 1 + 3Electricity 2 + 3Water 3Refrigerant Leakage 1Food waste 3Food purchasing 3Plastic wrapping purchasing 3

Transport Depot Electricity 2 + 3Water 3Diesel 1 + 3LPG 1 + 3

Other (all) Staff commuting 3

Principles

Recommendation: Develop a re-calculation policy for when your baseline and emissions will be re-calculated, for example, mergers, acquisitions, discovery of significant errors

Activity data and conversion factors

Activity Data – some common questions

• What data will you need?• How will you get this data?• How can you make sense of energy bills?

What data will you need?

• Any data on the things that your organisation does that results in a GHG emission or removal, for example:– Amount of electricity in kWh– Amount of fuel consumed – either in litres (preferred) or using proxy data

(vehicle type and mileage)– Scope 3 transport e.g. long haul flight mileage

• Try to collect data on volume or mass as its more accurate

• Aim to capture at least 90% of your organisation’s carbon footprint

How will you get this data?

• Utilities bills (gas, electric, water, waste)• Monitoring utilities use

(daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly)• Staff surveys (e.g. commuting)• Purchase invoices (e.g. £’s spent on paper)• From appliance model specification (e.g. refrigerant

leakage)• Information from contractors – waste and recycling

N.B. Data will need to be converted in to correct format

How will you get data? Tips for dealing with Landlords

• Legal right to information if Landlord recovers costs via a service charge

• Big sites – mandatory half hourly data• Negotiation on lease arrangements (in current climate)• Read your own meters – Landlord should allow access to

meter or bills. Elec (kWh) gas (convert from m3 to kWh)• Automatic Meter Readings (AMRs)

Activity Data – some more common questions

• What do you do if you have missing data? • What do you do if you have data in the wrong

format? • When should you collect data?

What do you do if you have missing data?

• Use best guess data – e.g. 2011 data if no 2012 data available

• Take an average – e.g. average monthly use if missing a few months data (beware of season)

• Worst case scenario take benchmark and multiply by floor area

Record any methodology in carbon footprint report and aim for complete data collection next year.

What do you do if you have data in the wrong format?

• DEFRA tool accepts different data formats (e.g. miles, Km’s and litres)

• Use conversion tables to convert into necessary format (e.g. therms to kWh)

• Use proxy data (e.g. miles travelled and vehicle type vs actual fuel consumption)

When should you collect data?

• Use the financial year (your organisation’s)• Select the earliest data you can get for your first

carbon footprint – your baseline• Beware of time lag for information collection.

Definition

Emissions conversion factors The factors that we use to tell us how much carbon has been emitted from our activities, i.e. consuming 1 kWh of electricity emits 0.51694kgs/CO2, or 0.52037kgs/CO2e (2012)

Published for the UK by DEFRA, updated annually.

These are unique for each country.

Carbon conversion calculation

eActivity• Consumption of Electricity• Consumption of Transport Fuel

Unit• kWh Electricity• Litres Diesel

Conversion• 1 kWh X0.5204kgs/CO2e• 1 Litre x 2.584kgs/CO2e

/ by 1000 to convert to tonnes

Result• Greenhouse gas emissions(tnCO2e)

Break

Calculating a carbon footprint using a case study

DEFRA GHG Tool Demo

Main activity – Calculating the carbon footprint

• In your groups, using the laptop• Open up the link titled ‘DEFRA tool’ • Calculate the consumption figures for each emissions

source within the whole organisation boundary and then enter them into the right part of the tool

• Deal with uncertainty (there is some missing data)• Add up the total CO2e and record this in the answer

sheet provided in your packs (page 3)• Note key decisions in method – these are needed for

your report• Answers & Discussion

Case Study Answers: Exercise 2

Camden Cuisine LtdGreenhouse Gas Emissions data for period April 1st 2011 to 31st March 2012Scope 1 Tonnes of

CO2eHead office gas – 80 000 kWh (400 000/5 = 80 000) Table 1d – SCOPE 1 COLUMN 16.440Kitchen gas – 30 000 kWh Table 1d – SCOPE 1 COLUMN 6.165TOTAL GAS 110 000 kWh 22.605Kitchen Refrigerant leakage – Table 8b – operation / industrial refrigeration 0.15Transport Diesel – 8000 litres (£3800 x 2 = £7600, £7600/0.95 = 8000) Table 1d or 6a – SCOPE 1 COLUMN

20.668

Transport LPG – 7500 litres Table 6a – SCOPE 1 COLUMN 11.495Scope 2 Head office electricity – 60 000 kWh (300 000/5 = 60 000) Table 3c (electricity consumed) – SCOPE 2 COLUMN

31.222

Kitchen electricity - 40 000 kWh Table 3c (electricity consumed) – SCOPE 2 COLUMN 20.815Transport electricity – 25 000 kWh (50 000/2 = 25 000 kWh) Table 3c (electricity consumed) – SCOPE 2 COLUMN

13.009

TOTAL ELECTRICITY 125 000 kWh 65.046Standard Practice total gross emissions 119.964

Case Study Answers: Exercise 2

Scope 3

Head office gas – 80 000 kWh (400 000/5 = 80 000) Table 1d – SCOPE 3 COLUMN 1.669

Kitchen gas – 30 000 kWh Table 1a – SCOPE 3 COLUMN 0.637

Transport Diesel – 8000 litres (£3800 x 2 = £7600, £7600/0.95 = 8000) Table 1b or 6a – SCOPE 3 COLUMN

4.670

Transport LPG – 7500 litres Table 6a – SCOPE 3 COLUMN 1.439

Head office electricity – 60 000 kWh (300 000/5 = 60 000) Table 3c (electricity consumed) – SCOPE 3 COLUMN

4.167

Kitchen electricity - 40 000 kWh Table 3c (electricity consumed) – SCOPE 3 COLUMN 2.778

Transport electricity – 25 000 kWh (50 000/2 = 25 000 kWh) Table 3c (electricity consumed) – SCOPE 3 COLUMN

1.736

Head office water – 160 m3 (800/5 = 160 m3) Table 9a - treatment and supply 0.168

Head office recycling – 2080kg per year = 2.08 tonnes Table 14b 0.436

Kitchen food purchasing - £25 000 Table 13 – Line: 15 24.232

Kitchen plastic purchasing £5000 Table 13 – Line: 25.2 4.253

Case Study Answers: Exercise 2

Scope 3

Kitchen food waste – 2400kg = 2.4 tonnes Table 14b 1.680

Kitchen water – 1000m3 Table 9a - treatment and supply 1.053

Transport Deport water – 250 m3 Table 9a - treatment and supply 0.263

Staff Commuting Tube (London Underground) Table 6k 4.697

Staff Commuting Bus Table 6k – London bus 2.881

Staff Commuting Cycling 0

Staff Commuting Walking 0

Staff Commuting Motorbike Table 6j 0.916

Staff Commuting Small petrol car Table 6b 1.428

Total Scope 3 59.103

Best practice total gross emissions 179.067

Carbon footprinting tools

Tools & Support

• Camden Climate Change Alliance - www.camdencca.org; RAFT

• Islington Climate Change Partnership – www.islingtonclimatechangepartnership.org.uk

• Carbon Trust Website, Tool & Workshops - http://www.carbontrust.com

• World Resource Institute’s Greenhouse Gas Protocol - http://www.ghgprotocol.org/ most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions

• Defra GHG conversion spreadsheet -

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/reporting/conversion-factors.htm

Carbon Footprint Support and Standards

• DEFRA - guidance on how to measure and report your greenhouse gas emissions (All businesses) (Free)

• DEFRA - SMALL BUSINESS USER GUIDE: Guidance on how to measure and report your greenhouse gas emissions (Free)

• Carbon Trust Standard - developed by the Carbon Trust to encourage good practice in carbon measurement, management and reduction by businesses and public sector organisations (Free to obtain a copy of the rules, certification fees apply)

• ISO 50001:2011 – International standard in energy management, through the development of an EnMS (preview of guidelines is free but certification fees apply)

Reporting

Reporting

• Consider who the report is for, how will they use it? (this affects what you put in it) – – to make decisions i.e. on investment or project approvals -

your report would need to include associated costs and a note on its accuracy

– to report performance internally / externally - your report would need to provide the information needed by others and be written in a way that they can follow

– for further analysis - your report might need to contain more of the raw data rather than a simple summary

– Etc

Recommendation: Select and report on a baseline year which should be the earliest date for which verifiable emissions data is available

Reporting cont…• Section 1: Description

– Purpose of report and approved uses– Boundaries – organisational and operational– Scope – what’s in, what’s out, why– Time period and frequency of reporting

• Section 2: Method statement– The conversion factors and tools you used– Who provided data, what format it came in– What data was missing and why– Any assumptions made, ‘filler’ calculations, etc

• Section 3: The Footprint– Totals of emissions by activity, scope, department, site, etc– Comparison with past footprints – how and why has it changed? – Benchmarks – mainly by site

• Section 4: Management– Current performance – scenarios & projections – will you meet your target?– Action plan(s) for reduction – key milestones for this year– Action plan for carbon management – training, data improvement, policy & strategy,

resources • Section 5: Verification statement (3rd party?)• Other?

Example Corporate Carbon Footprint from DEFRA

Recommendation: You should report total GHG emissions as a gross figure in tonnes of CO2e

You may report net emissions after offsets and green tarriff

You may use an appropriate intensity ratio to compare performance over time

Reporting: the Camden Climate Change Alliance

• Annual submissions requested from all members• Absolute footprints (scopes 1 and 2) used to

calculate the Alliance’s overall carbon footprint and (hopefully) reduction figure

• Companies can submit in variety of different ways:– Their own format (using guidelines we’ve discussed above)– Raw energy usage data– Using the Alliance’s RAFT (Reporting and Footprint Tracker)

The RAFT

Reporting: the Islington Climate Change Partnership

• Annual submissions requested from all members• Carbon emissions (minimum scope 1) from all

members used to calculate the Partnership’s overall carbon footprint

• Members receive a report based on their submissions• Members can submit in variety of different ways:

– Their own format– Raw energy usage data– Using the Partnership’s unique login on Systems Link online

ICCP online reporting tool

Organisation name

Upcoming Alliance and ICCP Events

• Climate Week 2013: March 4-10– List of events here– List of events here– List of events here– List of events here

• Green Sky Thinking Series – Think Green, Act Local!: 18th April 6:30-8:30pm The Hub

Kings Cross. Hosted by ICCP & Conisbee.

Thank You

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