You may find that two different calculators reach exactly the same conclusions about your carbon footprint, and then give you radically different recommendations for reducing it. They may have perfectly valid reasons for doing so, but it may leave you confused all the same. Ask yourself who has devised
them: oil companies and conservation groups both have every right to do so, but it is worth remembering their starting points, and everyone else’s.

ORGANIZATIONS

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard

Inventory frameworks for businesses include the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and ISO 14064, itself based on the Corporate Standard. Depending on a company’s size and fi nancial capacity, it may be worth hiring professional help instead of doing the inventory itself. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is a widely-used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify and manage greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol is the result of a partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard provides standards and guidance for companies and other organizations preparing a GHG emissions inventory. It covers the accounting and reporting of all six Kyoto Protocol GHG gases. It was designed with the following objectives in mind:
to help companies prepare a GHG inventory that represents a true and fair account of their emissions, through the use of standardized approaches and principles;
simplify and reduce the costs of compiling a GHG inventory;
provide business with information that can be used to build an effective strategy to manage and reduce GHG emissions;
increase consistency and transparency in GHG accounting and reporting among various companies and GHG programmes.

The standard builds on the experience and knowledge of over 350 leading experts drawn from businesses, NGOs, governments and accounting associations. It is currently being used by more than 1000 companies. The GHG Protocol Initiative’s vision is to harmonise GHG accounting and reporting
standards internationally to ensure that different trading schemes and other climate-related initiatives adopt consistent approaches to GHG accounting.

THE CYCLE – COUNT AND ANALYSE KICK THE HABIT 65