Expectations From Carbon Emissions Baseline

Calculating your organization's carbon baseline is one important first step in your goals for sustainability. With many organizations having had the burden of financial pressures due to recession, the goal of achieving optimum return of investment is high, notwithstanding the environmental costs.

There is a need to look beyond static calculation of the typical practice, and take a look at how your organization can move further to identify key priorities that are specific to your organization. The question is on how to get started in becoming cost effective. How can these efforts start small and be part of an integrated approach to an environmental management or sustainability program. Every organization must become sustainable, so that it uses fewer precious resources, be it human, capital, or natural, manages it's water consumption and waste production effectively and is as energy efficient as possible.

These are not just examples of environmental stewardship; these actions represent associated savings that go right to an organization's bottom line. While legislators show increasing desire to introduce carbon regulations, few today truly force organizations to report, trade, or buy the right to emit. Forward thinking organizations can create a better, strategic position for themselves by taking early action; by preparing for the not to distant future. In a challenging economic environment, every organization wants to see a positive return on investment (ROI), for every action, regardless of the environmental considerations. Having projects produce cost savings or improved operations, as well as improve an organization's sustainability initiatives, is win-win.

Those who take early action and understand the need to embrace sustainability holistically will be able to leverage their efforts in step-by-step fashion. Through the establishment of an automated carbon and energy management system, an organization will be able to locate areas of risk and identify opportunities, enabling management to be proactive rather than reactive.

In an increasingly competitive environment, an organization should strive for collaboration & visibility with real-time decision making, learn how it compares to its peers, and how it could reposition itself for better operational results.

Power comes from information, actionable data and accurate data management. When in possession of on-demand, accurate and timely information, the organization's management will be able to plan for operational and strategic efficiency.

The typical carbon calculator would enable organizations to be record carbon emissions manually from common sources, to establish point in time carbon baseline. This represents a good start.

This enables a comparison with a "point-to-point" figures across the enterprise or industry if shut data exists. All of this is to prepare strategic scenarios and plan successfully for the future of a low carbon economy.

The next step involves the more timely calculation and input of emissions related to ALL electricity, natural gas, refrigerant use, and vehicle operation across your entire organization. A variety of reporting points may be used.

Carbon emissions calculations may subsequently be utilized from historical data comparison going back many years if the utility bill data is available. This is the basis for the establishment, more accurate observation, and tracking of site level footprints. Automatic data capture is the next and one of the most important steps, allowing your organization to calculate and call upon dynamic reports, based on potentially large amounts of disparate information. Timely and accurate delivery of such sets of information will be the key to realizing savings from resources across largely distributed enterprises.

Real and effective environmental management is only achievable if the organization's leadership team has access to correct, timely and comprehensive information. There is definitely a need to step up beyond carbon baseline.