What is Involved

Carbon Footprinting - What is Involved

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• Phase 1 – Define Study Objectives

  Firstly, the purpose and subject of the study need to be defined. This will help identify the type of footprint required and what accounting standards to follow.

• Phase 2 – Scoping

  This phase involves setting the boundaries of your footprint by considering what activities or life cycle phases will be included and excluded from the study. For example, in an organisational footprint there are three ‘scopes’ of emissions to consider:

  Scope one includes direct GHG emissions from activities owned or controlled by the organisation, such as burning fossil fuels, fuel used in vehicles that you own and any fugitive emissions from refrigeration and air conditioning.

  Scope two includes all emissions from purchased energy generated by other businesses on your behalf. Usually this will be limited to electricity that is purchased from the national grid.

  Scope three emissions are other indirect emissions, such as the extraction and production of purchased materials and fuels, transport-related activities in vehicles not owned by you, outsourced activities, waste disposal, etc.

  Scope three emissions tend to represent the largest element of a company carbon footprint and more organisations are now starting to assess these. Due to their indirect nature and the complexity of supply chains, data on these can be difficult to collect. Valpak’s knowledge and experience of packaging data collection from member supply chains means we are ideally placed and suitably experienced to undertake scope three data collection.

• Phase 3 – Data Collection

  Having identified the data required it then must be collected from both your own organisation and from your supply chain. This can be a time-consuming and difficult task, due to issues of confidentiality, supply chain complexity and hard-to-find quality data.

  Due to our experience in packaging services, we are well placed to collect data from complex supply chains, have the expertise to assess data quality and are trusted to collect confidential information. We also have access to a large database of good quality secondary data which can be used to supplement the data collected from your supply chain.

• Phase 4 – Carbon Conversion

  Once the raw data is collected, we convert this into a carbon footprint using various software and tools. These include SimaPro and the Environment Agency tool WRATE.

• Phase 5 – Interpretation & Reduction

  Having calculated the carbon footprint, the life cycle stages, processes or materials representing your business’s highest environmental risk can be identified. This is used to recommend ways to help you reduce your impact on the environment.

  A declaration of commitment to achieving carbon neutrality requires an entity to determine its carbon footprint, in line with recognised methodologies, and then produce a Carbon Footprint Management Plan describing how it intends to achieve carbon neutrality.

  We can also help you implement your carbon reduction strategy, including educating and training staff, as well supporting you in communicating your environmental credentials, messages and commitments to your stakeholders.

  We are a carbon neutral company to PAS 2060 and have the expertise to advise you on how to achieve carbon neutrality to this standard.

• Phase 6 – Offsetting (Optional)

  Having measured and reduced their carbon footprints, some companies wish to go the extra step and achieve a certified carbon neutral status that can be publicised to customers, suppliers or shareholders. This status can be achieved for a whole organisation, or for specific services, events or products.

  A declaration of commitment to achieving carbon neutrality requires an entity to determine its carbon footprint, in line with recognised methodologies, and then produce a Carbon Footprint Management Plan describing how it intends to achieve carbon neutrality.

  We offer a comprehensive service which encompasses all of the critical stages for the purchase of carbon offset allowances, including:

  • working with the client to select:
    • the most appropriate of the many voluntary carbon offset standards that are available
    • a specific project to support
  • acquiring carbon offset allowances that meet the client’s requirements in the most cost effective manner
  • ensuring that the allowances are genuine and are recorded in an appropriate registry
  • retiring allowances on our client’s behalf.

  We will also provide Carbon Neutral statements; imagery and other assistance in publicising the efforts that our clients have made in eliminating their contribution to climate change. We are a carbon neutral company to PAS 2060 and has the expertise to advise you on how to achieve this and verify against the standard. View our PAS 2060 case study & Valpak Carbon Neutral logo.