We take carbon accounting very seriously. It’s our job to provide clients with the most accurate carbon emissions assessment possible. Our comprehensive methodology examines a company’s scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, ensuring both direct and indirect CO2 emissions are reported. To do this, we employ calculators and reference a number of databases to measure a company’s carbon footprint.
Green Places acquired multiple databases that help build out our emission calculations, ensuring the emission factors we use are up to date and accurate. We also obtain our emission factors from the latest EPA “U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks” report, guaranteeing our calculations reflect ongoing trends towards efficiency. When clients choose to examine additional scope 3 emissions, Green Places uses the database known as the Comprehensive Environmental Archive Data (CEDA). CEDA, a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol third party approved database, calculates emissions from over 400 human activities via a spend-based method. We employ this database mainly for calculating emissions from categories such as purchased goods and services, water and wastewater, and occasionally upstream and downstream transportation (when conducted by third party distributors).
When calculating an international footprint, Green Places uses electricity emission factors provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA is the most trusted source for location-based international electricity emission factors. What separates Green Places’s model is our ability to obtain smart default values when clients are unable to provide specific activity data. Also, our spend-based approach enables a detailed glimpse into companies’ supply chains (scope 3 emissions). According to the EPA, scope 3 emissions typically account for the majority of an organization’s total GHG emissions.
Each analysis we complete is backed by leading technology and science, and will stand up to high levels of scrutiny. We recognize that accurate carbon accounting is essential for any company to take meaningful climate action.
