10 Steps to Becoming a Carbon Neutral Business

Page 14 STEP 03: CREATE YOUR BASELINE This part of your process will be guided by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol which provides the world’s most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standards. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol classifies all the emissions you have under specific categories and talks about Scope 1, 2 and 3. You already had your first exposure to this framework as part of Step 1 “Define the ambition” and albeit helpful for standardizing emissions reporting, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol is not exactly easy to communicate. You may find it useful to have two versions of how to present your carbon footprint. One which follows the requirements of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and one which shows your results in more easily understandable categories. Especially in Step 5 “Engage your colleagues”, simplifying emissions is one of the elements that can really help your audience understand what your carbon neutrality goal is about. LM WIND POWER’S APPROACH TO WORKING OUT THE CARBON FOOTPRINT We had already measured our carbon footprint for quite some time before pledging to go carbon neutral. We collected a wide variety of data directly from our sites through an online sustainability reporting software called SoFi. While we had clear ownership of our carbon emissions reporting and the majority of our data was robust, the carbon neutrality pledge compelled us to collect data for activities that we had not been tracking in detail before. One example was the transport of materials from suppliers to our factories. We worked together with an external partner, helping to construct and validate our carbon footprint, and using their expert knowledge to bring our reporting practices in line with global standards. We realized there was no magic trick to acquire this new data – we just had to engage the relevant parts of the business and get a reliable process in place for data collection. We were also realistic in terms of which emissions we would and which we would not be able to map. For example, we used a survey to map the emissions from employee commuting, and in areas where we had limited data we extrapolated when the full data set would be impossible to chase down. While data collection can be tedious and challenging, the biggest single issue we encountered related to the emission factors used. The emission factors included in our SoFi system turned out to be quite different than the ones used by our external partner. When trying to compare our in-house carbon footprint reporting with that of our carbon neutrality consultants, we had two significantly different results. To ensure we sorted this out for future reporting, we had to spend a considerable amount of time and effort figuring out where exactly the emissions factors varied, why they differed and which one to choose going forward. This was an unexpected part of the process, which should be avoided if at all possible. COMPANY VEHICLES Emissions from company-owned vehicles such as cars, trucks or forklifts ELECTRICITY Emissions from purchased electricity that powers the lights, computers, tools and other equipment at our plants and offices WASTE DISPOSAL Emissions from landfilling, incinerating and recycling the waste we produce BUSINESS TRAVEL Emissions from business travel, for instance by airplane, public transport or car Where did our emissions come from in 2017? 2%4% 8% 9% 14% 22% 41% STATIONARY EQUIPMENT Emissions from stationary equipment such as boilers or back-up electricity generators in our plants DELIVERY OF MATERIALS Emissions from transporting materials such as fiberglass or liquid resin polyester from suppliers to our factories EMPLOYEE COMMUTING Emissions from commuting to work, for instance by car or public transport Our carbon footprint