Whatever we do, the products we make and consume, the drive to work, or simply our homes, they all create greenhouse gases. That in itself is not so bad. But we are now emitting much more of them than can be sequestered in the atmosphere. This leads to climate heating.
So in the fight against climate change, we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. But to know where we can reduce emissions, we first need to know where we are producing them. That’s where the carbon footprint calculation comes in, identifying the high-emission stages of the value chain.
The calculation is based on the criteria of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the internationally recognized and widely used standard. However, as the name suggests, not only carbon emissions are taken into account. The greenhouse gases methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride and nitrogen trifluoride are also converted into so-called CO2 equivalents and are thus included in the carbon footprint. The calculation distinguishes between three “scopes” in which the emissions occur.
