An Easy Guide to Carbon Accounting
Carbon accounting has transformed the way businesses track, measure and report their environmental impact
It isn’t easy to pinpoint where carbon emissions in your business come from without any assistance. Through the usage of carbon accounting, you can calculate your Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Carbon accounting can help your business develop a decarbonization plan and provide data for government, investor, and customer environmental disclosures.
What is Carbon Accounting?
Carbon accounting is the practice of calculating the total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions an organization emits from its operations directly and indirectly.
The process measures a business's carbon footprint, providing key information on carbon emission hotspots you may not be aware of.
A common issue for businesses wanting to begin their decarbonization journey is affordability and expertise. Most small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) lack the budget for an in-house sustainability employee despite increasing expectations from customers and investors.
Learn about our affordable carbon accounting solutions for small and medium-sized businesses
Talk with a RyeStrategy sustainability manager to learn more.
Benefits of Carbon Accounting Software
Using carbon accounting software to collect, calculate, and report your carbon emissions will streamline the data collection process to save time. RyeStrategy carbon accounting software incorporates the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for accurate carbon footprint calculations and provides a full library of mitigation strategies and custom recommendations based on your company’s emissions. RyeStrategy sustainability managers are on hand to help customers fulfill reporting to CDP, SBTi, EcoVadis, or custom reporting platforms to maintain compliance and publicize climate action.
With a corporate carbon footprint, your business can comply with climate disclosure regulations, build brand equity, and form an effective decarbonization plan.
Regulation compliance: California has recently required businesses to report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. More states will follow in the footsteps of California and enact emission legislation. Businesses that must fulfill their National Emissions Inventory (NEI) reporting obligations must disclose accurate reports or face financial losses incurred through penalties and fees. Calculating your emissions through carbon accounting software allows your business to share up-to-date and transparent emission reports. Suppliers can use carbon accounting to meet environmental standards and fulfill climate disclosure requests. Regulation compliance has become a growing concern for businesses as governments globally have increased environmental regulations to combat climate change.
Effective decarbonization plan: Carbon accounting tools can help you identify emission reduction opportunities by analyzing your comprehensive carbon footprint report and delivering year-over-year carbon footprint comparisons. Your business can identify areas in your operations that are major carbon emission producers. Identifying hotspots makes it easier to create effective mitigation and reduction strategies. Companies can also set aggressive targets that push them ahead on their timeline for decarbonization. It is important to routinely assess progress on targets to prevent complacency.
Build brand equity: Accurate emission reports can increase brand trust, unlock revenue opportunities with customers who only work with companies prioritizing decarbonization, and improve investor confidence in your business. A PWC survey revealed that 75% of investors consider how a business manages its sustainability-related risks and opportunities when making investment decisions. Carbon accounting helps businesses build their sustainability reputation and show their commitment to fighting climate change. This can prevent your business from any greenwashing allegations. Consumers and investors will have evidence that proves the effectiveness of your business's environmental efforts.
The Future of ESG Reporting
Investors expect the future for corporate sustainability to have stronger reporting standards. Businesses meeting regulations and sustainability-related standards will become more important, currently 57% of investors feel that this would provide them enough information for their decision-making. Reporting standards will continue to become more aggressive as the global goal to achieve net zero by 2050 nears. Scope 3 emissions will continue to grow in importance. In large enterprises, Scope 3 emissions often contribute more than 70% to a business's carbon footprint. More companies will begin to share their Scope 3 emissions and account for them in their timeline for decarbonization, requiring enterprises to collect carbon emissions data from all of their supply chain vendors, large and small.
At RyeStrategy, our sustainability experts guide businesses through the collection, calculation, and reporting of emissions data with our guided carbon accounting software and hands-on climate disclosure services. We can provide clarity and support to assist your business in fulfilling supplier and government disclosure requests. We’re here to help you build a decarbonization plan for your business and leverage the results to attract new business, retain existing customers, and do your part to help our planet.
Work with RyeStrategy
Schedule a free 1:1 strategy session to learn more about affordable carbon accounting solutions for small to medium-sized businesses, no matter where you are on your climate journey.
Check out our blogs about navigating decarbonization below.
About RyeStrategy
Based in Seattle, RyeStrategy is a CDP-accredited, mission-oriented company specialized in carbon accounting, mitigation coaching, and climate disclosure solutions for organizations at any point in their sustainability journey. Learn how RyeStrategy helped Salesforce, Ideascale, and Wazoku achieve their sustainability goals.
From exhaustive carbon footprinting and mitigation coaching, to setting science-based targets and reporting climate data to CDP, SBTi or custom reporting platforms, RyeStrategy acts as a hands-on extension of the team, custom-tailoring services to fulfill climate disclosure requirements easily and accurately.
Meet with a sustainability specialist to learn more about RyeStrategy solutions.
