Respect for the environment, corporate social responsibility, company image, environmental regulations, customers and even investors: everything pushes us to reduce the carbon footprint of our activity or product

It is increasingly important to know the origin and amount of CO2 emissions associated with the activity or product -that is, its carbon footprint-. This is the first step to address their reduction, with the so-called climate change mitigation measures.

Carbon footprint is a parameter that represents the total emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG), expressed in mass of CO2 equivalent, caused directly or indirectly by a product, organisation, service or event throughout its life cycle.

The organisational carbon footprint attempts to quantify the amount of GHG emissions caused directly or indirectly by the activity flows of an entity or group of interconnected entities, which may be its responsibility or on which it depends.

Calculating the carbon footprint makes it possible to identify an organisation’s major sources of GHG emissions and to have a picture of its impact on climate change. It constitutes the necessary basis for addressing and giving continuity over time to actions to reduce GHGs and their impact on the environment. In order to calculate it, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the activities and processes carried out by the organisation in its business activity, in order to draw up an inventory of emission sources that covers the maximum possible amount of emissions for which the organisation is responsible.

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  • It does not require a great effort or many hours of work for the organisation, as it is not necessary to implement a new standard within the structure of the company. All that is needed is to provide the required information.
  • Obtain a free and simple official seal awarded by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, by registering in the Carbon Footprint Register. This seal recognises organisations committed to reducing greenhouse gases.
  • Economic savings in the organisation’s processes, as the calculation of the carbon footprint makes it possible to find weaknesses and opportunities for improvement, which often lead to potential savings.
  • Possibility of certification of the calculation according to official standards, which allows to publicly show that the carbon footprint has been calculated, without the need, for example, to have a production system in place that follows the organic production standard.

The calculation of the organisation’s carbon footprint serves as a tool for continuous improvement: knowledge of the main sources of emissions enables the implementation of emission reduction measures, which will result in both energy and economic savings.

What reduction measures should be implemented?

  • Those that are inexpensive and/or easy to implement
  • and those that are necessary, due to a major source of emissions.

How we can help you

For the calculation of the carbon footprint we follow the following METHODOLOGY:

  1. Definition of calculation limits (type of control, scopes, etc.) Depends on the purpose of the calculation and the type of activity/product/organisation.
  2. Analysis of processes, identification of emission sources and development of the emission inventory. Requires in-depth knowledge of the processes carried out in the organisation or of the product/service.
  3. Calculation of environmental impacts. For this purpose, emission factors and global warming potentials are used, based on specialised literature and professional LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) software.
  4. Preparation of the report of results, including interpretation of the calculation.
  5. Development of Emission Reduction Plan for organisations and monitoring plan.
  6. Support during the process of registering the carbon footprint in inventories.

Intergia offers advice and support in the calculation and interpretation of the carbon footprint and the subsequent management of its reduction.

Contact with us for more information.