Carbon Footprinting: The Basics

A carbon footprint can be either for a site or for a product. These are very different: A site carbon footprint does not include the embodied energy in raw materials, it relates only to emissions resulting from site activities. A product carbon footprint covers the complete carbon emissions resulting from the production of the product. The site footprint will only be part of the product carbon footprint.Carbon footprinting requires data on all carbon emissions, and there is a three-part classification:

Scope 1: Direct—this covers emissions that a site directly causes, or from a controlled asset.
Scope 2: Indirect (from imported utilities)—this covers emissions from electricity or other imported utilities, e.g., heat or steam.
Scope 3: Indirect (other)—this covers emissions that a site causes but where it does not control the asset. One area of confusion is whether an emission is in Scope 1 or Scope 3. The key issue is whether the site has control of the asset, and actual ownership is less important than control.

Action:

Prepare an initial carbon footprint. You will need it sooner than you think. Carbon footprinting will become an issue for customers as they attempt to reduce their own carbon footprint.
After preparing an initial carbon footprint, data collection should become part of normal operations.
Start recording and publishing your carbon emissions regularly.

Note: Dr. Robin Kent is the author of Energy Management in Plastics Processing, published by Plastics Information Direct, and managing director of Tangram Technology Ltd., consulting engineers specializing in energy management in plastics processing. rkent@tangram.co.uk.