A step-by-step guide to efficient carbon emissions tracking

Accurate and efficient emissions tracking is essential for businesses to meet regulatory requirements, reduce their carbon footprint and demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.

However, carbon tracking is only one part of the bigger picture. Emissions tracking should be integrated into a comprehensive ESG and sustainability strategy to drive meaningful change.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help streamline your company’s emissions tracking process while positioning it as a key component of your overall sustainability goals.

Step 1: Define scope and boundaries

The first step in efficient emissions tracking is to define the scope and boundaries of your organisation. This involves identifying the parts of your business under your ownership or control and mapping out your value chain. Understanding these boundaries ensures that your emissions tracking covers all relevant activities and aligns with recognised frameworks.

Step 2: Identify emission sources

The next step in efficient emissions tracking is identifying all relevant emission sources. This includes direct emissions from your operations (Scope 1), indirect emissions from purchased energy (Scope 2), and other indirect emissions from your value chain (Scope 3). Knowing where your emissions come from will help you determine what needs to be tracked and reported.

Step 3: Set clear objectives

Determine the goals of your emissions tracking efforts. Are you tracking emissions for regulatory compliance, internal reporting, or as part of a broader sustainability initiative? Setting clear objectives ensures that your emissions tracking aligns with your company’s overall ESG and sustainability strategy.

Step 4: Choose the right tools

Selecting robust tools is critical for improving the efficiency and accuracy of emissions tracking. Automated solutions, particularly those with AI capabilities, can help reduce manual work, streamline data collection and provide real-time insights.

Rather than just choosing a standalone carbon tracking tool, it’s essential to look for a comprehensive sustainability management system that includes carbon tracking alongside other ESG and sustainability management functions.

A system like this ensures your carbon emissions tracking is fully integrated with your broader sustainability strategy, making it easier to manage, report and achieve long-term goals.

If you don’t have a sustainability management system in place, now is the time to consider implementing one to streamline all of your ESG efforts and future-proof your reporting.

Step 5: Centralise your data

Managing emissions data from multiple sources – departments, suppliers and partners – can lead to fragmentation and inefficiencies. Centralising your emissions data within a sustainability management system helps consolidate all relevant information, making it easier to track, report and analyse your progress. This centralised approach is critical to aligning emissions tracking with broader ESG initiatives.

Step 6: Monitor progress and adapt

Emissions tracking is an ongoing process. Regularly monitoring your emissions data allows you to identify trends, inefficiencies and areas for improvement. Real-time insights provided by advanced tools can help your business stay agile, adapting to changing regulations and evolving sustainability goals. Consistent monitoring ensures that your carbon tracking remains accurate and relevant over time.

Step 7: Report in line with ESG standards

Once your carbon emissions are tracked within a sustainability management system, the data can be seamlessly used to report under multiple global standards and frameworks, such as the GHG Protocol, ESRS, IFRS S2, GRI and others.

A comprehensive sustainability management system consolidates your carbon tracking data, making it easy to generate reports that comply with various regulatory requirements. This integration ensures that your emissions data contributes to a cohesive sustainability strategy, supporting reporting across a wide range of standards and frameworks.

Step 8: Use data for strategic decisions

The data you collect from emissions tracking should inform your broader business decisions. Integrating emissions tracking into a sustainability management system lets you easily assess how your carbon reduction efforts align with your overall ESG goals. This strategic approach helps your business reduce its carbon footprint while advancing long-term sustainability initiatives.

The bigger picture

Carbon emissions tracking is a vital part of any sustainability strategy, but it shouldn’t operate in isolation. Integrating emissions tracking into a comprehensive sustainability management system allows businesses to manage carbon data alongside other ESG initiatives. This holistic approach ensures regulatory compliance, drives continuous improvement and strengthens the overall impact of your sustainability efforts.