Measure - Carbon Footprint

Measuring your greenhouse gas emissions

Measuring your greenhouse gas emissions, or carbon footprint, helps you to understand and strategically manage those emissions.

Why measure and report emissions?

The everyday activities of businesses, communities and individuals create carbon emissions. The problem is that carbon emissions accumulate in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change. The first step to taking impactful climate action, is to understand how much carbon your operations generate.

Measuring emissions will also help you:

• Become a climate leader
• Set credible sustainability targets
• Identify opportunities for efficiencies and cost savings
• Manage risks more effectively
• Engage staff, customers and communities
• Be transparent and substantiate environmental communications
• Prepare for supply chain disclosure requirements
• Develop a competitive edge, gain market access, or fulfil tender requirements

Read more: Explore our articles on measuring and reporting emissions here

What should I measure?

You should measure emissions against a common standard (ISO 14064-1 for organisations) so you have a complete list of what should be included in your footprint. Verifying or certifying that inventory against the standard allows you to make confident claims about your carbon work knowing it is accurate and complete.

• Organisations measure all operational emissions required under the international standard for carbon footprints, ISO 14064-1, including vehicles, business travel, fuel and electricity, paper, and waste. You will also look at significant impacts from your supply chain. Toitū carbon programme standards also meet the Greenhouse Gas Protocol requirements for corporate accounting and reporting, Science Based Targets initiative requirements for reduction target setting, and CDP requirements for disclosure.
• Supply Chains can take advantage of our new tool allowing small and medium sized enterprises to assess their key carbon impacts and securely share the results with stakeholders and purchasers. The tool provides entry-level access for small businesses getting started on their carbon journey.
• Products and services measure all lifecycle emissions required under the international standard for product carbon footprints, PAS 2050, including source raw materials and components, production of the product, distribution and use of the product, and any disposal of waste
• Individuals can measure their household and tourism emissions for free here, using calculators based on the same software and emissions factors as our corporate clients. Our calculators help you measure energy, transportation and waste.

We make it easy to identify what to measure. Join one of our Toitū carbon programmes for full support to identify all the activities you need to consider for an accurate and complete carbon footprint.

How do I measure emissions?

The Toitū carbonreduce and Toitū carbonzero certification programmes give you the guidance, tools, and software to calculate your full carbon footprint in line with international standards.

We make it easy to measure carbon. Our custom Toitū emanage software converts standard operational information into a comprehensive greenhouse gas profile. We make it easy to translate climate science and best practice into your custom inventory. Software access comes with every Toitū carbon membership, or you can purchase a software use license. Contact us to see which option best fits your needs.

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What’s next?

Once you’ve measured your carbon footprint you can set carbon reduction targets with confidence. Learn more