Corporate Emissions Strategies – What Success Looks Like
This article summarises the ingredients for a successful and sustainable approach to developing a corporate emissions strategy.
Good to know
Here are some resources to support your preparation and implementation for emissions management, reduction and mitigation.
FAQs
Here are some of our most frequently asked questions on reporting emissions.
Do I need to report my emissions?
If your company has more than 250 employees, or a net turnover in excess of £36 million and is incorporated in the United Kingdom or listed on its stock exchanges you will need to report your emissions from Scope 1 and Scope 2, for the financial year ending March 2020. To see full requirements click here.
If you are a smaller company you are not legally required to report emissions, but voluntary reporting is advisable for its wider commercial, social and environmental benefits. There is no requirement for individuals to report their emissions, but they can use our products for free to see how their emissions compare to the UK national average.
What do I need to report?
You need to report your greenhouse gas emissions for all energy use where you buy and use fuel, for example in vehicles or plant and machinery. Additionally, you need to report all purchased electricity, steam and heat that you use in the operation of your business.
Reporting of business travel for large companies is required as a financial impact value but for all companies Scope 3 emissions are optional. However, for many business they will comprise the largest impact and are valuable to report as part of impact assessment and reduction plans.
Do I just report carbon emissions values?
You will need to report carbon emissions equivalent values. These include other key greenhouse gases apart from carbon dioxide, which is the largest component of greenhouse gases. Otherwise abbreviated to CO2e, these are the values that are needed to reflect your company’s full climate impact. You should also report your emissions as a carbon intensity ratio, commonly your emissions divided by products produced, revenue or FTE.
What data do I need?
You will need data for all types of fuel used in your own vehicles, or those leased by your company. This includes heating oil, petrol, gas, diesel, CNG which are measured in either litres or cubic metres. Electricity values in kwh or gas by cubic metres can be found in your supplier bills or obtained from landlords for shared offices. For travel you will need from and to journey points which can be supplied by your travel provider, if you have one, or enter the journeys manually with relevant passenger numbers.
What methodology do you use to calculate emissions values?
We use the UK Government’s DEFRA reporting methodology, which is recommended for UK companies. This reporting standard uses UK national data. For some transport types like air travel it is an average number that may not exactly reflect your journey. More precise calculations are available, but these should be used for information and not combined with the reporting methodology provided by DEFRA. Users of DEFRA conversion factors for transport will find their results compatible with the GHG Protocol standard.
Where do I report my emissions??
These are submitted with your annual report for financial performance, where your company size requires reporting. For smaller companies the results can be published on your website.
What is the value of showing my results?
There are many reasons for voluntary reporting, including for your employees and consumers, but also to help inform your reduction targets and highlight any reduction performance to date.
What happens if my business expands?
Expanding businesses can, through their growth, emit more greenhouse gases year on year. For this reason, part of the reporting process is to use either financial or operational metrics, such as FTEs or revenue numbers to contextualise emissions performance and enable assessment by activity.
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Resources
Here are some short articles and guidance notes to help with common issues and questions raised by our clients.
UK Emissions - What to Report in 2020
Overview of what you need to report if you are covered by the regulations.
Guide To Implementing A Corporate Emissions Plan
This overview is designed for companies considering an emissions plan, with an overview of what is needed.
Reducing Service Sector Emissions
An overview of the key areas and approaches to reduction of emissions in service sector companies.
How Carbon Emissions Are Measured
An explanation of how carbon emissions are measured from core company activity data, methodology and use of conversion factors.
Carbon Emissions – A Consumer View
Consumers are a key driver of emissions reporting, this pdf provides an overview for companies on how consumers view emissions.
Carbon Emissions – An Investor View
Investors increasing activism on climate change brings an urgency to emissions management, key trends are explored in this pdf.
Carbon Offsets – An Introduction
An introductory guide to carbon offsets, how they work and what they are designed to do and their use in emissions management.
Role, Value and Risks of Carbon Offsets
An essential read, when considering whether and how to use offsets in a company reduction programme.