5 free carbon accounting tools for small businesses
Carbon accounting is a key step for businesses that are getting started with sustainability. Also known as GHG accounting, it’s the process of estimating the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced directly and indirectly by the business operations and supply chain.
You can’t manage what you cannot measure
The carbon accounting step is important because it allows the company to identify the so-called hotspots: areas of the business that drive the largest proportion of emissions. This in turns will inform the initiatives and investments that the business will undertake to eliminate or minimize the emission from these sources.
You don’t need a lot of resources to get started
Estimating company emissions may seem like a daunting task: complex methodologies, expensive software tools and confusing regulations are often a blocker for smaller companies with limited resources.
The crawl, walk, run, fly methodology can offer guidance here: you can start small, test, trial and then build on what you learned taking a step-by-step approach. You do not need an expensive software license or a dedicated sustainability team to get started. In fact there are free tools and resources for small and medium size businesses to quickly get started estimating emissions and identifying areas for action.
Here are five free tools for measuring carbon emission at the company or product level which are ideal for users with no or limited experience of carbon accounting.
1. The Change Climate Project — Business Emissions Evaluator (BEE)
The Change Climate Project is a non profit working to democratize carbon measurement and management. The basic version of their online emission calculator tool is free to use and provides an interactive chart with break down of emission sources.
Scope: company carbon emissions Scope 1,2 and 3.
Methodology: GHG Protocol.
Data needed: you need very limited information such as company revenue, employee number, own facilities (e.g. office) and manufacturing / warehouses location.
Ideal for: quick overview of most likely emission sources for a comparable company in your industry / sector.
2. SME Climate Hub — Normative calculator
SME Climate Hub is a non profit initiative backed by the United Nation Race to Zero campaign to empowers small to medium sized companies to take climate action. The calculator build in collaboration with Oxford University and Normative is completely free to use.
Scope: company carbon emissions Scope 1,2 and 3.
Methodology: GHG Protocol.
Data needed: it requires a bit more information than the BEE tool as on top of basic company details it requires data on vehicle and machinery fuel consumption, electricity and heating consumption, expenses (travel, transportation, raw materials, goods and services).
Ideal for: emission estimation that is more tailored to your specific business characteristics. The program also offers a simplified process to set reduction targets and publicly communicate on progress.
3. EPA Simplified GHG Emissions Calculator (Excel)
This excel based tool was developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is targeted to US-based businesses.
Scope: company carbon emissions Scope 1,2 and 3.
Methodology: EPA / GHG Protocol.
Data needed: the data requirements here are more extensive including consumption data for different types of fuels, refrigerants, steam, employee commuting, waste generation, etc.
Ideal for: US-based business with a more advanced understanding of carbon accounting frameworks and access to raw activity data for its operations. The Excel tool is somewhat less user friendly than the online tools and requires some familiarity with data manipulation in Excel.
4. 2030 Calculator
The 2030 Calculator, created by the Swedish Fin-Tech Doconomy as part of a wider partnership with UN Climate Change, enables manufacturers and brands to calculate the carbon footprint of products in an intuitive and quick way without requiring the costly and time intensive resources normally associated with life cycle analysis.
Scope: product carbon emissions cradle-to-gate.
Methodology: ISO 14040 on life cycle analysis and ISO 14067 on carbon footprint of products.
Data needed: you will need data at the product level such as total weight, material and packaging components, supplier location and transport mode for raw material and packaging, manufacturing and distribution energy consumption, location and transport mode.
Ideal for: manufacturers and product teams looking for a quick way to analyze the carbon footprint of their products. The results can be used for internal purposes identify where in the value chain emissions occur and opportunities for reduction. Note: only a limited number of product category are covered (e.g. apparel, consumer electronics, furniture & household, media).
5. Allbirds Life Cycle Assessment tool
This Excel based tool developed by the company Allbirds to calculate the carbon footprint of their own products. The tool is applicable for apparel and textile products.
Scope: product carbon emissions cradle-to-grave.
Methodology: ISO 14067:2018.
Data needed: product level data like material and packaging components, supplier location and transport mode for raw material and packaging, manufacturing and distribution energy consumption, location and transport mode, product use.
Ideal for: apparel manufacturers who want to develop their own LCA to understand the end to end carbon footprint of their products. It requires a more advanced understanding of LCA and Excel to adapt the model to the specific business.