Using Data to Manage Your Company’s Greenhouse Gas Impact

We recently shared that HeatSpring measured our greenhouse gas (GHG) impact. Then, we shared a step-by-step Guide to do your own baseline GHG measurement. Now, we will wrap things up by taking a look at what this all means and how to use your GHG emissions data to manage your organization’s impact.

Developing a greenhouse gas management plan

You probably set about measuring your baseline greenhouse gas emissions for a reason. It’s nice to know your impact, but how can the data you collected empower your organization to do something about it? You work in solar because you believe in a sustainable and healthy future, and operating our own businesses sustainably is just one way we can ‘walk the walk’ and show consumers and others a path to decarbonization.

A GHG Management Plan is the next step to operationalize targeted actions to impact sources of emissions. U.S. EPA has a form you can use which walks you through setting up your Plan. If you documented the process you followed to measure your baseline year emissions, you have most of the components you need for your Plan, which can broken down into the following sections:

1. Organization Information: organization name, address, and inventory contact information.
2. Boundary Conditions: We provided information about how to set your organization’s boundaries in last week’s article.
3. Emissions Quantification: If you used an emissions calculator like the U.S. EPA’s Simplified GHG Emissions Calculator (Sept. 2024), how you measured emissions will come from that source, including the ‘emissions factors’ needed to quantify emissions in different states and utility regions. 
4. Data Management: How did you source the data you used in your calculations, and how did you ensure accuracy and consistency? What information would someone else need to replicate the process you followed so results are comparable year over year? 
5. Base Year Adjustments: When significant changes in your operations (for instance, mergers and acquisitions) or how you are calculating your emissions occur, or if you discover a mistake in past years’ calculations, you may wish to recalculate your base year emissions so you can continue to use it as a basis for comparison. This section is where you describe what would trigger such an action and how you would address it. 
6. Management Tools: Roles and responsibilities, training, and file maintenance. This is where you record ‘who does what,’ how roles are passed on when succession occurs. 
7. Auditing & Verification: Auditing, management review, and corrective action.

Setting a GHG reduction goal and tracking progress

Once you have a Management Plan, the next step is to collaborate with stakeholders to set goals for reducing and offsetting your GHG emissions. This is a big step that highlights your organization’s climate strategy and commitment. Your goal ideally will be company wide, or, include all operations within the boundaries you set earlier in the process, and long-term, achieved over a period of time that is sufficient to effect measurable change.

You can choose to either set your goal as (1) reduction in absolute emissions as compared to your baseline, (2) a decrease in GHG intensity (i.e. usage per square foot or FTE), or (3) carbon neutrality. You will want to include Scope 1 and 2 emissions at a minimum, and Scope 3 emissions where you have credible data and a means to influence change. 

Finally, consider where other, comparable organizations sit with respect to your emissions levels, to ensure your goals are impactful with respect to performance across your sector. If you are using time and organizational resources to address your emissions, do you really want to end up in the middle of the pack, or could your organization be a leader in reducing your impact? And, don’t forget to toot your own horn when you are successful!

Organizations who choose to go carbon neutral, or making no net release of GHG, achieve this goal through emissions reductions, but also by purchasing carbon neutral power and/or offsets – balancing your emissions by funding removal of emissions elsewhere through things like reforestation.

You can use a form like this one from EPA to track your GHG emissions year over year.

This is the end of our short series about measuring GHG emissions, but we hope this is just the beginning of your journey! Please feel free to reach out if you need help or would like to talk about your GHG emissions goals: laurejeanne@heatspring.com. 

Part 1: HeatSpring Measured our GHG Impact (and You Can Too)
Part 2: Measuring Your GHG Impact: A How-To Guide