FAQs

CO2e is the standard measure for carbon footprints. It includes carbon dioxide as well as the other most important greenhouse gases created by human activities that contribute to climate change. These are converted to a much simpler to understand ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’, or CO2e.

Scope 1 and 2 refer to carbon emissions that an organisation directly controls. Scope 1 is on-site combustion of gas and oil, fuel for company vehicles, industrial usage of greenhouse gases such as CO2, and leakage from units such as refrigeration. Scope 2 refers to the purchase of electricity, steam, heating or cooling that was generated by a third party. Scope 3 emissoins is all other greenhouse gas emissions associated with the activity of an organisation, most notably in their upstream and downstream supply chain. Scope 3 also includes other activities such as business travel, commuting, capital goods, leases, franchises and investments – along with the processing, use and end-of-life of products sold to another organisation or to the end consumer.

Products require energy-intensive manufacturing processes, which traditionally rely on burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. This releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which trap more heat than normal in the atmosphere. This accelerates global climate change – so understanding and reducing a product carbon footprint means you can do something about climate change.

A sustainable individual or organisation is one that doesn’t deplete nature or natural resources faster than they re-generate, doesn’t directly or indirectly destroy natural habitat, and doesn’t compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In this way, human civilisation can co-exist with nature.

Greenhouse gases occur naturally. By trapping heat inside the Earth’s atmosphere, they help support life on Earth. However human activity, principally through burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal, is increasing the amount of these so much that we are heating up the planet faster than nature can adjust to it, thus threatening biodiversity. We are changing the climate so much that more extreme weather is occurring such as hurricanes, floods, droughts and wildfires.

The main culprit of climate change is a greenhouse gas called carbon dioxide (or simply carbon or CO2). ’CO2e’ is the standard measure for carbon emissions created by human activity. It includes carbon dioxide as well as the other most important greenhouse gases created by human activities that contribute to climate change (e.g. methane) as determined by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These are converted to a much simpler to understand ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’, or CO2e.

Organisations that have signed up to the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) are committed to making change in their operations and supply chains to reduce their carbon emissions. This must be in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming due to climate change to 1.5oC.

CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs a system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to report on their environmental impacts. Through scoring and reporting, they are encouraging transparency to encourage sustainable business operations. Similarly, the GRI covers a range of topics for sustainability reporting.

This international standard provides a framework for an effective environmental management system (EMS). It does not set performance requirements, rather an EMS allows an organisation to measure compliance against a policy or standard(s), and it encourages continuous improvement.

Otherwise known as the Global Goals, these are a collection of 17 interlinked targets to “achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. Set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly, they are intended to be achieved by 2030. They cover social as well as environmental topics.

This is the process of reporting on the environmental and social impacts of business activities. Along with financial reporting, it creates the ‘triple bottom line’ against which a sustainable business is measured.

The UK’s Green Claims Code is a set of principles designed to help businesses operating in the UK market avoid greenwashing. Organisations can be held accountable by UK regulators if they fail to comply with the guidelines. Developed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) it sets out 6 key points to check your environmental claims are genuinely green:

• Claims must be truthful and accurate
• Claims must be clear and unambiguous
• Claims must not omit or hide important relevant information
• Comparisons must be fair and meaningful
• Claims must consider the full life cycle of the product or service
• Claims must be substantiated

For further details please, go to: https://greenclaims.campaign.gov.uk/

In a traditional ‘linear’ economy items are made, used and disposed. Items often end up in landfill or are incinerated, so to replace them we will deplete or destroy more natural resources and habitats in an unsustainable way. In a circular economy we keep resources in use for as long as possible, make the most of them, and then recover the raw materials to begin the process all over again.