Assessment of GHG emissions

The first stage of the process is to produce the carbon footprint. At ECA we follow the GHG Protocol guidance for carbon reporting – this is an internationally recognised standard and forms the basis for the UK Government's guidance on environmental reporting.

The footprint must include all scope 1 and 2 emissions. The PAS also encourages organisations to include their scope 3 emissions in their footprint, particularly if these emissions can be influenced. For example, waste emissions can be reduced by reusing materials. There is some flexibility to the requirements – you can exclude some emissions if they are immaterial to report in relation to the wider footprint.

The period set should either be in line with your financial year, or a period that has recently finished, so there is time to achieve an emission's reduction for year 2. The data collection for the footprint should become embedded in the organisations accounting procedures, then it becomes readily available to report on. The first year of the assessment will become the baseline year that all future emission's reduction are compared against.