Carbon Footprint Explained: From Causes to Solutions

Measuring and reducing CO₂ footprints is crucial to mitigating the greenhouse effect and global warming. If CO₂ continues to be emitted unabated, environmental problems such as extreme weather events and long-term ecological changes will continue to worsen, posing ever greater risks to our planet and society.

A CO₂ footprint measures the greenhouse gas emissions caused by a person, company, or product. Those emissions consist primarily of carbon dioxide (CO₂), but also contain other greenhouse gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases, which get converted into CO₂ equivalents to calculate the total emissions load. A corporation’s CO₂ footprint thus reflects the sum total of how much the company contributes to climate change through its business operations and its supply chains and through the use of its products.

A large CO₂ footprint can be indicative, for example, of a heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Industries like the energy and transportation sectors often have big footprints for this reason. However, having a large CO₂ footprint compared to that of competitors can also be an indication of inefficient processes that result in the wasting of energy or heat, for instance.

Scientific guidelines provide a framework for calculating emissions, and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol sets an internationally established standard. Companies calculate their respective CO₂ footprints by identifying all of their sources of emissions, such as natural resource and energy consumption or waste production, and convert them into CO₂ equivalents by applying standardized emission factors. Avoided emissions, such as through a company’s own renewable electricity production via solar panels, for example, are also factored into the calculation.

The calculation draws a distinction between a company’s Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions sources.

CO₂ footprint calculators often have limited accuracy because they are based on general assumptions and averages that do not reflect an individual person’s or company’s specific circumstances and emissions sources. They often do not factor in every source of emissions, particularly Scope 3 emissions. Moreover, their methodologies may vary from one another and can deviate from internationally proven models, resulting in footprint mapping inconsistencies.

How can permanent emissions reductions be achieved despite the inaccuracies of CO₂ footprint calculators? This is where scientifically grounded approaches like the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) come into play. The SBTi provides companies with a clear framework with which to set emissions-cutting targets aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate protection, ensuring that emissions reductions strategies not only bring about near-term improvements, but also contribute in the long run to containing global warming.

The SBTi is a global framework that helps companies set explicit, scientifically grounded targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the goals of the Paris Agreement. By aligning their emissions-cutting strategies with the latest climate science insights, corporations can prove their commitment to limiting global warming to much less than 2°C and ideally to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Targets validated by the SBTi provide investors with a reliable indicator of the long-term path of a company’s CO₂ reduction strategy. An SBTi target thus mainly expresses two things: that a company is taking responsibility and reducing its contribution to climate change, and that it is optimizing its own processes and costs, which can lessen climate-related risks in some circumstances, such as by purchasing from suppliers that do not produce in regions with scarce water resources, for example.