A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent. Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbon dioxide and methane, can be emitted through the burning of fossil fuels, land clearance and the production and consumption of food, manufactured goods, materials, wood, roads, buildings, transportation and other services.
Human activities are one of the main causes of greenhouse gas emissions. These increase the earth’s temperature and are emitted from fossil fuel usage in electricity and other byproducts of manufacturing. The major effects of such practices mainly consist of climate changes, such as extreme precipitation and acidification and warming of oceans. Climate change has been occurring since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 1820s. Due to humans’ heavy reliance on fossil fuels, energy usage, and constant deforestation, the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is increasing, which makes reducing a greenhouse gas footprint harder to achieve. However, there are several ways to reduce one’s greenhouse gas footprint, choosing more energy-efficient eating habits, using more energy efficient household appliances, increase usage of fuel efficient cars, and saving electricity. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are gases that increase the temperature of the Earth due to their absorption of infrared radiation. Although some emissions are natural, the rate of which they are being produced has increased because of humans. These gases are emitted from fossil fuel usage in electricity, in heat and transportation, as well as being emitted as byproducts of manufacturing. The most common GHGs are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). A greenhouse gas footprint is the numerical quantity of these gases that a single entity emits. The calculations can be computed ranging from a single person to the entire world.
Calculating the carbon footprint of industry, product, or service is a complex task, but an increasingly essential one as part of your corporate sustainability program. At Cultivate Enterprises, we have the history and understanding of the carbon market, the tools that are used to calculate the offsets, and we can help your organization design and standup a program, bring your local growers into a program, and more. With our leading experts on carbon footprint calculations and program establishment, you get the luxury of their years of learnings from past programs they have setup, including getting the first check into a grower’s hands.
Areas of service we can assist with include the following:
- Assess carbon footprint for Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 inventories
- Identify ways to reduce your emissions
- Set emissions reduction goals
- Identify grower’s and other offsetting mechanisms to bring your total net carbon output down
- Report CDP, the Climate Registry, or other reporting platforms
- Improve your CDP score
- Go beyond GHGs to assess yoru short-lived climate pollutant (SCLP) inventory