Carbon Emissions Reporting

Carbon Emissions Reporting

Businesses worldwide face pressure to reduce the impact their activities have upon the environment, and in particular the volume of greenhouse gases they produce.

In the United Kingdom, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has described climate change as the "greatest environmental challenge facing the world today". Although there is currently no legislation in place in the UK forcing companies to reduce carbon emissions, tax benefits and consumer pressure provide a strong incentive for businesses to develop environmental strategies.

Emissions trading is the primary tool advocated by the UK Government for tackling global climate change, a method which aims to tackle emissions reduction at the points where there is the lowest cost for doing so. For emissions trading to work, a uniform method of reporting is necessary to allow for comparisons to be made across organisations. Kilograms of CO₂ is the preferred unit of measurement for emissions, and Defra have developed conversion tables which provide a standard CO₂ cost for typical business activities, allowing organisations to report on the volume of CO₂ they produce. This article describes the various methods by which businesses and organisations can report on their carbon emissions.