As the world moves toward decarbonization targets, investors are increasingly paying attention to, and making decisions based on, climate considerations. As a result, companies must now grapple with how to approach carbon accounting and prepare to answer questions about how their facilities, business travel, transport, waste, supply chain, and other operating decisions impact emissions.
For many firms, getting started feels daunting. Emissions language and calculations may be unfamiliar and creating a carbon inventory may be a new organizational practice. Firms may be concerned that to begin carbon accounting, they will need to engage a consultancy firm or invest in specialized software. However, no matter where a firm is in its journey, it can take steps to simplify the process of calculating carbon emissions.
Simplifying Carbon Accounting with Climate Neutral + Novata
Leveraging the carbon accounting expertise of Climate Neutral, Novata clients can use Climate Neutral’s Brand Emissions Estimator (BEE) to estimate and refine Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions data directly within the Novata ESG reporting platform.
The Climate Neutral + Novata partnership offers two levels of estimation:
- Basic: rapid estimation of carbon emissions based on simple financial and geographic data
- Refined: detailed carbon inventory tool to measure and refine carbon emissions based on itemized purchasing data, as well as activity data such as the amount of fuel used in company-owned vehicles
Basic Estimation
For firms that have never conducted a carbon inventory, setting a high-level baseline estimate is a good place to start. The Basic Estimator offers a user-friendly, three-step approach to return estimates derived from industry and region-specific spend averages: reporting companies simply enter operating expenses, industry, and geographic business information to receive cradle-to-customer estimates for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions as defined by the GHG Protocol.
- Scope 1 Emissions: Direct emissions from controlled sources
- Scope 2 Emissions: Indirect emissions from the purchase of utilities such as electricity or steam.
- Scope 3 Emissions: All other indirect emissions, such as purchasing goods and services, business travel, or employee commutes.
Refined Estimation
Companies that want to enhance the depth of their carbon emissions inventory and/or align to the ESG Data Convergence Initiative standards can go a step further with the Refined Estimator.
The Refined Estimator facilitates the creation of a detailed carbon inventory using a shareable workbook that offers reporting companies a unique level of flexibility. To create the inventory, companies will need to:
- Enter a mix of financial (i.e., monetary data by country of purchase) and physical data (i.e., consumed inputs in energy units, number of employees, and transport data, etc.).
- Specify alignment to just Scope 1 and 2 and/or Scope 3 (within cradle-to-customer boundaries as defined by the GHG Corporate Standard).
Once the workbook is submitted to the Novata platform, the Refined Estimator leverages industry-leading datasets (Exiobase for monetary data, Ecoinvent for physical data, and EPA eGRID Data) and GHGP accounting principles to calculate and return data automatically within the Novata platform.
Start Your Carbon Accounting Journey
Novata’s partnership with Climate Neutral provides an intuitive, easy-to-use solution for reporting companies to calculate emissions and inform environmental goals. Emissions calculations, like all metrics collected in the Novata platform, are supported by a robust set of guidance, including step-by-step calculation guides, how-to videos, and education resources.
Novata’s global Customer Success team also provides one-to-one support to help firms select the carbon solution that best fits their needs, walk reporting companies through the emissions estimation process, and offer guidance on analyzing and interpreting emissions outputs.
To learn more about how Novata can help your carbon accounting journey, talk to an expert. >>
