In this knowledge clip, we will teach you more about calculating and allocating carbon emissions, better known as carbon accounting. Companies and countries use carbon accounting to understand their climate impact. This climate impact is expressed as a carbon footprint. The carbon footprint can be calculated for individual products, companies, or even entire countries. In this way, different products, companies, and countries can be compared with each other on an equal basis.
After listening to this knowledge clip, you can answer the following questions:
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Carbon accounting is a way of calculating climate emissions. Various calculation methods can be used for this purpose. |
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Companies that voluntarily want to report their CO2 emissions often use the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. This shows how many emissions are emitted directly (Scope 1) by the company, and indirectly, for example through electricity consumption, production of raw materials and use of products (Scope 2 and 3). Lifecycle assessment, or LCA, is often used to calculate the carbon footprint of products. This adds up all emissions from raw material production to the end of the product's life cycle. Furthermore, there are various methods that differ in the degree of user choice. With stricter methods, the end results are easier to compare between different products. The Renewable Energy Directive contains a detailed method for calculating carbon footprints of renewable fuels and comparing them with emissions from fossil fuels. |
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When calculating the climate gain from using renewable fuels, we look at the entire life cycle of the product. The production of the raw material and conversion to fuel are usually responsible for most of the emissions. If greenhouse gases other than CO2 are emitted somewhere in the chain, such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), these are expressed in CO2 equivalents. Ultimately, the climate impact of the fuel is expressed in grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoule of energy produced. This figure can then be compared with the impact of fossil fuels. |
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