Carbon Footprinting
Climate change and its negative consequences are fast becoming a priority concern for many in government and business, as well as the general public. It is generally recognised that climate change results, at least partly, from the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) - as well as other so-called 'greenhouse gases' - in the atmosphere. To fight this accumulation, there are hints of carbon taxes or carbon-rationing, and we are all urged to 'reduce our carbon footprint'.
'Carbon Footprint': the Basics
It is an analogy to represent the amount of climate change emissions ('greenhouse gases') resulting from an activity; it is measured in CO2 tonnes equivalent, because CO2 is the best-known, most common of the greenhouse gases. CO2 production - i.e. the creation of a 'carbon footprint' - results mostly from the combustion of fossil fuels. This means that wherever fossil-fuel energy is (or has been) used, there is a carbon footprint.
Other potent greenhouse gases (methane CH4,nitrous oxide N2O, perfluorocarbons PFCs, sulphur hexafluoride SF6 and hydrofluorocarbons HFCs), also included in calculating carbon footprints, come from agricultural and industrial activities.
Measuring Carbon Footprints
Measuring carbon footprints - or 'carbon footprinting' - calculates the climate change impact of an activity, in CO2 tonnes equivalent. Carbon footprints are commonly calculated for products or organisations: in either case, life cycle assessment techniques are used to incorporate both 'direct' emissions (those resulting from the activity itself) and 'indirect' emissions (those resulting from upstream - or upstream and downstream - activities).
The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC)
The Carbon Reduction Commitment is a mandatory energy-monitoring and emission-reduction scheme to be deployed in the UK in April 2010. It has been designed to help the UK Government to meet its climate change targets (as set in the Climate Change Act 2008) and will affect thousands of larger private and public UK organisations. In addition to financial incentives resulting from energy-savings, the CRC introduces a reputational incentive as a league table of participants will be published annually .
CRC : who? what? when?
All UK organisations with at least one half hour meter (HHM) and buying on the half hour market will have to participate. If their half hourly metered electricity use was below 6,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2008, then they will only to have to make an ‘information disclosure’ of their electricity consumption to the CRC registry. For organisations with higher electricity consumption (ie above 6000MWh) then there will be an obligation to acquire/trade carbon allowances and cut carbon emissions. However, the CRC scheme is designed not to overlap with other existing 'energy/carbon' schemes, therefore it will not cover emissions already covered in Climate Change Agreements (CCAs)and direct emissions included in the European Union emissions trading scheme (EU ETS).
If your organisation falls within the CRC (based on 2008 electricity consumption) you will have to register in 2010. From April 2010 you will be required to monitor your annual energy consumption so that you can submit all necessary information to the Scheme Administrator and purchase emission allowances if relevant to your circumstances. The total amount of available allowances will be capped and a league table of participants published every year.
Energy monitoring and footprint calculations undertaken to comply with the CRC can easily be used to measure your organisation's total carbon footprint.
As established LCA practitioners, EuGeos can not only help you to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your operations, products or transport systems, we also ensure that you understand what the resulting numbers mean and that you can identify saving opportunities.
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