How long does it take to assess a carbon footprint?
Summary
The time required to carry out a carbon footprint varies according to several factors, such as the size of the company, its sector of activity and the involvement of a specialist.
Generally speaking, it can take between 5 days (for a small service company) and 60 days (for a large company with several sites). Data collection is the most time-consuming phase, but methods such as using aggregated databases or the balance sheet can speed up the process, although their reliability may be limited.
Using an experienced specialist or training an in-house employee in the use of software can also reduce the time required.
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Introduction
Whether companies are assessing it to comply with legal requirements or out of a commitment to the environment, decision-makers are wondering how long it takes to assess a carbon footprint.
There is no single answer to this question. It depends on several factors, including the size of the company, its sector of activity, and whether or not the organisation calls on the services of a specialist.
However, it is estimated that the time required to perform a carbon assessment varies from 5 working days for 1 person (a service company with one office and fewer than 20 employees), to 60 working days for larger companies with several sites.
The duration varies according to the size and sector of the company
The minimum data required
The value of a carbon accounting lies largely in its completeness. Calculating a company’s carbon footprint must include all its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
These emissions include :
Emissions generated by suppliers upstream,
Emissions generated downstream (transport, product sales, etc.),
Emissions linked to employee commuting,
Emissions linked to the final use of the product by the customer,
The entire life cycle up to end-of-life and possible recycling.
In other words, it is necessary to bring together data on the company’s activities linked to the 3 scopes of a carbon footprint: direct emissions, emissions due to energy consumption and indirect emissions. The more processes, employees and operating sites a company has, the longer it will take to collect and analyse the data.
The case of industrial companies
For industrial companies, the task is even more complex and time-consuming than for service companies.
This is because their carbon footprint must cover all operational processes, from the supply of raw materials to the finished product, including the various stages of transformation. This generally requires the collection and analysis of data from a multitude of suppliers.
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Involving an experienced specialist can speed up the process and guarantee its reliability.
Simplified data collection reduces the duration of the carbon footprint
Since data collection is the most time-consuming phase, an optimum process needs to be put in place to collect the information efficiently and reduce the time taken to draw up the carbon footprint.
Data collection: the most time-consuming phase
A large part of the consultant’s work consists of gathering the information required for the carbon footprint. They spend a lot of time on this, as the information is scattered throughout the company.
As the data needed to draw up a carbon assessment has not yet been used, there is no process for automatically collecting, harmonising and centralising it. At present, this activity is mostly manual.
Shortcuts are possible, but they reduce the reliability of the carbon footprint.
Aggregated databases
Some organisations use databases such as S&P or CDP, which offer aggregated data collected from thousands of companies to determine the quantity of CO² emitted as a function of turnover, product or asset in a given sector of activity.
However, this solution, which appears interesting at first glance, has two major drawbacks:
the cost of accessing this data is very high,
there is a lack of transparency around the source and method of calculating the information
the data is not necessarily applicable to the sector of the company in question.
Using the balance sheet
The balance sheet can also be used as a basis for calculating a carbon footprint quickly. Because it is compulsory and standardised, the detailed balance sheet is quick and easy to use as a starting point. There are CO² conversion factors based on the amounts spent, for example, X amount of CO² per thousand euros spent on marketing.
However, emissions calculated from the balance sheet are highly unreliable. Working based on the balance sheet implies basing your calculations on expenditure rather than on the activities that emit greenhouse gases. The result is a carbon footprint that may omit significant CO² emissions, as well as CO² conversations with a very high degree of uncertainty.
Ways to speed up the carbon footprint calculation process
Use an experienced specialist and give them access to the data
The time is shorter when it is drawn up by an experienced professional who knows how to find and analyse the data and how to convert it into CO² equivalents. Even if the external expert does not collect the data themselves, they can guide employees through the process.
Train an in-house staff to use a carbon footprint calculator
Better still, it is possible to train an in-house person who will be responsible for collecting the data, processing it using a carbon footprinting calculator and updating thecarbon assessment regularly.
This is also an opportunity for the company to put in place processes to automate the collection of data internally and from suppliers.
Note that an external consultant is also capable of training a company’s employee in data collection and the use of the carbon footprint calculator.
Simplified carbon accounting
The simplified carbon footprint is a tool for measuring greenhouse gas emissions, suitable for small and medium-sized businesses or organizations wishing to obtain an initial estimate of their carbon impact.
However, it focuses only on the main sources of emissions, enabling a rapid and accessible assessment.
It is aimed at those who want to initiate a decarbonization process without mobilizing major resources, while obtaining reliable results to guide their actions towards an effective reduction of their carbon footprint.
Explore the concept of carbon assessment in-depth by clicking here, or read our comprehensive overview on carbon footprint calculators here.
Reduce your company’s carbon footprint by booking a demo with our experts at D-Carbonize.
