Creating Carbon Footprints, for Organisations, Communities and Nations Douglas Crawford-Brown Professor Emeritus, UNC-Chapel Hill Executive Director, Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research

Our task today: Quantifying the carbon footprint of an organisation at a level sufficient to allow identification of the most effective strategies of reduction

Scopes 1, 2 and 3 under the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 1 includes emissions “from sources that are owned or controlled by the institution, including: on-campus stationary combustion of fossil fuels; mobile combustion of fossil fuels by institution owned/controlled vehicles; and "fugitive" emissions. Fugitive emissions result from intentional or unintentional releases of GHGs, including the leakage of HFCs from refrigeration and air conditioning equipment as well as the release of CH4 from institution-owned farm animals.”

Scopes 1, 2 and 3 under the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 2 includes “indirect emissions generated in the production of electricity consumed by the institution.”

Scopes 1, 2 and 3 under the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3 includes emissions as a “consequence of the activities of the institution, but occur from sources not owned or controlled by the institution, such as commuting, air travel for university activities, waste disposal; embodied emissions from extraction, production, and transportation of purchased goods; outsourced activities; contractor owned vehicles; and line loss from electricity transmission and distribution.”

Categories of emissions contributors in the Carbon Footprint Tool Electricity (Scope 2, unless generated on-site) Natural gas (Scope 1) Other fuels on-site (Scope 1) Commuter (Scope 3) Fleet (Scope 1) Travel (Scope 3) Paper (Scope 3) Office Devices (Scope 3) Communication Devices (Scope 3) Waste (Scope 3)

The pages of the Carbon Footprint Tool:

Organisations will focus on emissions that: contribute most strongly to the overall footprint, are under the control of the organisation can be reduced in the most cost effective manner and/or are required to be reduced by either a regulatory organisation or by a “client”

Next week: Continuing with carbon footprints, examining those of communities