Why are other companies’ emissions part of my business’s carbon footprint?

This is a question we are asked time and again, so it’s time to answer it publicly. 

When we measure a company’s emissions, we want to know EVERYTHING, well, nearly everything (we don’t need to know what the CEO had for breakfast).

Our job is to find out the total carbon footprint of your business activities. This includes how much fuel and electricity you use as well as all the things you buy and sell. 

Let’s look at business travel for example. You may need to fly to Singapore for a meeting, stay a couple of nights, shake a few hands, and have a few drinks. We would include the carbon emissions from the flight, the hotel and in some cases even the taxi to the hotel. 

But hang on you say. Some of those emissions aren’t OURS. Surely the airlines are responsible for the flight emissions and the restaurants for the meal emissions and the hotel for the hotel emissions?

Well, yes, kind of.

It is part of their carbon footprint but also part of your carbon footprint. 

It’s handy at this point for us to explain what Scopes are…

The emissions that don’t exactly belong to you, fall into Scope 3. But the thing is, if your company didn’t exist, the emissions related to these things wouldn’t exist either.* So there’s a shared responsibility. The companies delivering the services do have ownership of the emissions, but if you didn't charter that boat it may not have left the dock that day. If you didn't book that hotel room, it could have been empty for the night, meaning less gas, electricity and air conditioning would have been used and if you didn’t have a website, its files wouldn’t need storing.

By measuring your Scope 3 emissions, we provide you with data that can help you make informed decisions about which products and services to buy and sell, since not all products and services emit the same amount of greenhouse gases. This gives you the opportunity to reduce your carbon footprint by choosing lower carbon suppliers, products or services.

Wouldn’t the emissions be double-counted?

No. If I was measuring the emissions of a whole country let’s say, I would only ask for each business to send me data on their Scope 1 & 2 emissions.

Each time CO2 enters the atmosphere it is someone's Scope 1 & 2 emissions.

Et voila, we hope we’ve answered your questions, but if not, do drop us a line, it’s often easier to speak to a human on these matters.

* Ok, we know what you’re going to say - if you don’t take the flight, the plane will fly anyway. Yes, that’s probably true right now, but if other companies acted like yours, measuring and reducing their carbon footprint, there would be less demand for flights and (eventually) less flights. Oh, and in the meantime, those flight emissions will be someone else’s problem.