ICT Sustainability

Carbon Accounting

As part of their eco-management and audit scheme, the European Union (1993) defines an environmental audit as:

"... a management tool comprising a systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of the performance of the organization, management system and processes designed to protect the environment with the aim of:

(i) facilitating management control of practices which may have impact on the environment;

(ii) assessing compliance with company environmental policies;"

Australian Carbon Offset Standard

The Australian Department of the Environment and Energy provides a National Carbon Offset Standard for Organisations (2017a), along with standards for Products & Services (2017b), Events (2017c), Precincts (2017d) and Buildings (2017e). The standard details steps to: measure, reduce, offset and report emissions. Use of the standard is voluntary, however those making claims against the standard are required to be independently audited.

Legislative and Standards Base

For auditing purposes, the National Carbon Offset Standard says that ISO standard 14064-3 "Greenhouse gas specification with guidance for the validation and verification of greenhouse gas assertions" (ISO 2006, BSI 2009) should be used.

Also cited is the Greenhouse Gas Protocol corporate accounting and reporting standard (GHGP, 2004), the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act (2007) and the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Regulations (2008). The Australian procedures are derived from the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC 2006) and are similar to other countries.

Carbon footprint calculation

Carbon footprint calculation principles

The calculation of the carbon footprint is based on the principles in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol corporate accounting and reporting standard (GHGP, 2004):

1. Relevance: Ensure the greenhouse gas inventory of an organisation, product or service appropriately reflects the greenhouse gas emissions attributed to that organisation, product or service.
2. Completeness: Account for and report all greenhouse gas emissions sources and activities within the defined boundary of the organisation, product or service. Disclose and justify any specific exclusions.
3. Consistency: Use consistent methodologies to allow for meaningful comparisons of greenhouse gas emissions over time. Transparently document any changes to the data, boundary, methods, or any other relevant factors.
4. Transparency: Address all relevant issues in a factual and coherent manner, based on a clear audit trail. Disclose any relevant assumptions and make appropriate references to the calculation methodologies and data sources used.
5. Accuracy: Ensure that the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions is systematically neither over nor under actual emissions, as far as can be judged, and that uncertainties are reduced as far as practicable. Achieve sufficient accuracy to enable users to make decisions with reasonable assurance as to the integrity of the reported information.

Carbon footprint calculation of an organisation

The boundary of an organisation defines the activities that an organisation should include in its carbon footprint calculation. This includes all corporate group members; and all facilities under the operational control of corporate group members.

Greenhouse gas emissions sources

Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions are defined as in the Guidelines for National Greenhouse Inventories from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2006).

1. Scope 1 emission sources:

   • the combustion of fuel for energy;
   • the extraction, production, flaring, processing and distribution of fossil fuels;
   • industrial processes where a mineral, chemical or metal product is formed using a chemical reaction that generates greenhouse gases as a by-product; and
   • waste disposal - either in landfill, as management of waste-water or from waste incineration.

2. Scope 2 emissions sources: activities that generate electricity, heating, cooling or steam that is consumed by a facility but do not form part of the facility.

3. Scope 3 emissions are not defined in the draft standards and are not required to be included. Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions caused by the organisation, such as from business travel.

Greenhouse gas emissions factors and calculation methodology

1. Collect activity data relating to the greenhouse gas emissions sources within the boundary.
2. Calculate the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the sources using one of the options:
   • default emissions factors from the National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA) Factors (Department of Environment and Energy, 2017f);
   • direct measurement using: industry practices or standards for sampling, or using continuous or periodic emissions monitoring.
3. Apply the calculation to a specified period of time, such as 12 months.
4. Assess the uncertainty of greenhouse gas emissions estimates.

External Auditors for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme

The Register of Greenhouse and Energy Auditors is maintained by the Clean Energy Regulator (2017). Organisations with emissions of 125 kilotonnes of CO₂-e or more, are obliged to have their annual emissions report independently audited.

Environmental Claims for Ubiquitous Broadband

In Environmental Load Reduction Effects of Ubiquitous Broadband Services (Sawada, Origuchi and Nishi, 2007), three researchers from NTT estimated the CO₂e emissions reduction from using broadband. ICT is assumed to reduce the environmental load by making the movement of people and things more efficient and replacing physical media, such as paper and compact discs with on-line transmission. The researchers then calculated the energy consumed by the network to replace physical goods. The result was an estimated reduction of at 46% for wired networks and 79% for wireless, for each subscriber.

The researchers carried out their calculations for NTT's B-FLET optical fiber service and FOMA mobile communication service (provided by NTT DoCoMo). The total reduction in CO₂ emissions of all users in 2005 was calculated to be 3.14 million tons.

Evaluation method

The amount of CO₂ emitted in the acquisition of raw materials, manufacture, use, and disposal were calculated. Users were surveyed as to their use of the Internet services. ICT services and actions were classified into nineteen categories and their energy use evaluated.

Daily Internet usage time for the optic fibre service was estimated at 27.53 minutes per person per day and 36.54 minutes per person per day for the wireless service.

An example of the energy use estimates is a music-downloading service. The energy used by the data centre holding the music, the network and the terminal the user uses much be considered. The corresponding purchase of CDs at a retail store involves CO₂ emissions from CD manufacture, distribution, and disposal, as well as the purchaser's trip to the store.

However, for wired services it was information services, including government web pages and social networking which were found to have the largest environmental savings, not e-commerce. 79% (120 kg-CO₂e/year). For wireless service it was telephone, videophone, email, and accessing national and local government information which had the greatest effect. It should be noted that NTT included voice telephone calls as a broadband service, although it could be argued that a non-broadband, or even analogue phone service would give similar results.

Now Read

1. Section 2 "Requirements" in National Carbon Offset Standard for Organisations (DEE, pp. 7-20, 2017a)
2. Environmental Load Reduction Effects of Ubiquitous Broadband Services (Sawada, Origuchi and Nishi, 2007).

Questions

1. Which activities are in Scope?: Which activities of your organisation produce Scope 1, 2 or 3 greenhouse gas emission sources, as defined in the National Carbon Offset Standard?

2. Five principles for calculating a carbon footprint: The five principles in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for calculating a carbon footprint are: Relevance, Completeness, Consistency, Transparency, and Accuracy. How would you suggest using ICT to assist your organisation convince an independent auditor that these principles has been complied with?

3. Does broadband reduce carbon emissions?: Three researchers from NTT have claimed emissions reductions from the use of broadband of 46% (wired) and 79% (wireless) per subscriber per year. They include savings from the use of email in place of paper mail and music downloads instead of buying CDs from a store. How would you use the National Carbon Offset Standard to check this actually reduced emissions?

Next: Methods and Tools.

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About the book: ICT Sustainability: Assessment and Strategies for a Low Carbon Future