Carbon footprint
The Carbon Footprint is a tool for assessing and quantifying the climate-changing emissions (GHG-Greenhouse Gases) of an organization's activities.
It is useful for analyzing the company's profile with respect to climate-changing emissions, to contribute to and be aligned with the European Union's 2030-2050 strategic goals of carbon neutrality, the SDGs Agenda 2030 and the United Nations' Race to Zero 2050. It is also a support for defining objectives for improving and reducing climate-changing emissions.
The measurement of the Carbon Footprint is regulated by the UNI EN ISO 14064 standard.
Three scopes have been defined for measuring climate-changing emissions, such as:
SCOPE 1
Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from company-owned and controlled resources. In other words, emissions are released into the atmosphere as a direct result of a set of activities, at a firm level. It is divided into four categories: stationary combustion (e.g fuels, heating sources). All fuels that produce GHG emissions must be included in scope 1.
SCOPE 2
Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy, from a utility provider. In other words, all GHG emissions released in the atmosphere, from the consumption of purchased electricity, steam, heat and cooling.
SCOPE 3
Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions - not included in scope 2 - that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. In other words, emissions are linked to the company's operations. According to GHG protocol scope 3 emissions are separated into 15 categories.