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Carbon accounting: everything you need to know in 2023

Summary

Financial management is tricky when running a business, but did you know that monitoring is just as important as tracking your money (e.g. carbon accounting)?

Carbon accounting can help you and your company work towards a greener future and better environmental standards, such as developing an environmental management system or obtaining ISO 14001 certification.

Why carbon accounting is a useful strategy to ensure your company benefits the environment

What is carbon accounting?

Carbon accounting refers to the use of 

Calculate how much carbon dioxide emissions the company should bear.

“碳会计使公司能够准确地衡量应该购买的碳信用额，以抵消以前的碳排放量。这样做是为了让公司或组织能够准确地决定在其他企业之间交换的公平碳信用额、个人或第三方。”

Carbon accounting is known as the greenhouse gas accounting. 

Carbon accounting, sometimes called greenhouse gas accounting, is the process by which companies measure the level of carbon dioxide emissions they are responsible for so that they can trade carbon credits equally and fairly among countries, companies and individuals in the carbon market. 

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What is the main goal of carbon accounting?

The main goal of carbon accounting is to assign a set value to the CO2 and GHG emissions produced so that they can be accurately and numerically described as a financial value on the carbon market.

As many companies strive to reduce their carbon footprint and achieve net-zero carbon emissions, carbon accounting helps serve as a quantifiable measure to hold companies or individuals accountable.

What is the difference between carbon accounting and carbon assessment?

Carbon accounting simply refers to the process of measuring the amount of greenhouse gas emissions a company is responsible for producing, whereas carbon assessment is more complex.
Carbon assessment is an assessment of the numerical data of greenhouse gas emissions provided by carbon accounting. A carbon assessment can help companies gain a thorough understanding of their carbon footprint, which in turn helps them decide what next steps to take to contribute to a more sustainable business and environment.

Greenly can provide clients with carbon assessments to help support their transition to a more environmentally friendly environment.

Basically, carbon accounting is nothing more than a number. Carbon accounting is like getting back your test scores.

Some people got a bad grade on a previous test and have a new drive to do better. For others, a bad score is nothing more than that—it doesn't trigger any action or concern about potential improvement.

Carbon accounting does not ask someone to reduce their carbon emissions, whereas carbon assessment implies that people want to reduce their own carbon footprint - as it is the process of using the data revealed by carbon accounting to try to implement a new, better environment. Habit. 

Another way to think about the difference between carbon accounting and carbon assessment is like budgeting for the money for the month.

Carbon accounting is like a fixed amount you receive for the month. Guaranteed income is just a number and won't convince you to tweak your spending habits -- but it gives you the information you need to create a workable monthly spending plan. 

What are the two main approaches used in carbon accounting?

There are two main approaches to carbon accounting.

Expenditure-based approach

The first approach to carbon accounting is an expenditure-based approach.

The expenditure-based approach calculates the resulting greenhouse gas emissions by multiplying the economic value of the product or service purchased by the associated carbon emissions. Expenditure-based carbon accounting methods utilize environmentally extended input and output models, also known as EEIO models, and are generally less mathematically complex or computationally time-consuming.

While carbon accounting is simpler using an expenditure-based approach, it is not always reliable given the ever-fluctuating trends in the economy and prices. In addition, inconsistencies in exchange rates between foreign currencies make it difficult to rely on an expenditure-based approach.

So, is an expenditure-based carbon accounting approach worth using? 

If carbon calculations need to be done quickly, an expenditure-based carbon accounting approach is the best approach. However, this may not be the most accurate way to account for carbon if the average figure for carbon contributors is prone to margins of error due to uncontrollable factors such as inflation and foreign exchange rates. 

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Activity-based approach

The second major approach to carbon accounting is the activity-based approach.

The activity-based carbon accounting method is more specific than the expenditure-based method because it uses data to determine how many units of a certain material or textile component are purchased by a company.

For example, when using an expenditure-based approach, only the price of a chair purchased is used to determine the amount of carbon emissions produced, whereas an activity-based approach uses the quantities of various materials used in a product or service, such as wood or fabric – to calculate the carbon footprint.

Both expenditure-based and activity-based methods use carbon emission factors to calculate a company's carbon footprint and thus determine the emissions of an activity. 

Activity-based carbon accounting methods provide more accurate data than expenditure-based methods, and companies are therefore widely encouraged to strive to use a mixed-model approach to carbon accounting. This means that companies should use a dual, more pragmatic approach to carbon accounting and use both an expenditure-based approach and an activity-based approach.

This hybrid approach to carbon accounting will allow companies to accurately measure their carbon footprint using activity-based methods, while still being able to quickly calculate their carbon emissions using out-of-the-box expenditure-based methods.

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碳会计如何对公司的排放进行分类？

Estimated carbon emissions calculated through carbon accounting are typically grouped into three distinct categories, often referred to as “scopes” – these scopes in carbon accounting are intended to organize and simplify the process.

Under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, these three scopes are broken down, regardless of whether the carbon emissions are from industrial or vehicle-related activities, heating or electrical cooling systems, or various other emissions that do not fall under Scope 1 and Scope 2.

当碳排放源自工业化习惯或公司使用的车辆时，碳排放被归入范围 1️⃣。例如：任何燃料使用、不可再生能源、化学品泄漏以及办公空间或各种设施的能源使用都属于范围一。

符合范围 2️⃣ 的碳排放是指租赁或租赁的办公空间或车辆消耗和排放的能源，例如运行中央供暖或空调所需的燃料或电力。 

最后，符合范围 3️⃣ 的碳排放是不属于范围一或范围二的任何其他杂项排放。可能属于第三类范围的碳排放活动包括原材料、购买的商品或服务、员工通勤等交通、租赁资产、特许经营、投资，甚至商务旅行。

由于范围 3 是碳核算最普遍的类别，因此通常最难精确衡量。 

贵公司为何应投资碳会计？

您的公司可以从决定进行碳核算中受益有几个原因。例如，使用碳核算是发展企业可持续发展的良好第一步。越来越多的投资者和客户正在寻求与企业合作或购买其产品或服务，这些企业不仅寻求财务成功，还寻求环境和社会成功。

此外，使用碳核算提供了具体的数据，有助于建立透明度，进而防止未来出现任何针对“洗绿”的指控。碳核算提供的统计数据可以作为贵公司确实在努力减少碳排放的证据。

碳会计还可以刺激公司内部的财务增长，因为投资者、员工和消费者如果寻求可持续实践，就更有可能为产品或服务做出贡献。同样的概念也适用于任何新的法律或政府要求。如果公司努力通过碳核算等经过验证的流程来计算碳排放量，第三方将更愿意投资该业务或项目，因为公司将能够证明其遵守新环境法规的意愿。 

碳核算的以下所有好处最终会吸引新的投资者，这只会继续刺激企业或项目的经济成功。由于投资者对那些愿意因 气候变化恶化而调整其商业模式以提高整体可持续性的公司越来越感兴趣，因此使用碳核算的公司可能对新投资者具有更大的吸引力。

作为一家公司，如何开始减少排放？

“碳核算只是公司为减少碳排放量可以采取的一步。您的公司可以采取以下 3️ 个小步骤来开始减少碳足迹。”

1.关闭供暖和空调系统

在办公室、汽车或与公司相关的其他租用空间中，很容易在不必要的情况下意外地打开暖气或空调。因此，在去度假或请假之前，请检查无人居住的空间是否在无人居住的情况下进行供暖或制冷。

这样做还可以为您的公司节省资金！

2.为您的员工提供公共交通

乘坐地铁而不是开车上班是减少碳排放的唯一方法的日子已经一去不复返了。

流行的自行车或踏板车共享服务提供了降低公司在范围 2 中的碳核算分数的机会。您的员工将进行更多锻炼，节省资金，并整体减少公司的碳排放量。 

3.停止租用未使用的空间

如果您的公司花点时间评估哪些租赁车辆、联合办公空间或未充分利用的公司，您的公司可以停止租赁这些空间，从而减少公司的碳足迹。

碳企通呢？

“如果阅读这篇关于 2023 年碳核算的文章让您有兴趣减少碳排放以进一步应对气候变化 – Greenly 可以帮助您！”

Greenly can help you improve the environment, starting with an assessment to see how much carbon your company is generating.

Learn more about Greenly and how we can help reduce your carbon footprint. 

Don't wait any longer, request a free, non-binding demo from our experts today and find the solution that best suits your business needs and take the first step towards reducing your carbon footprint.

碳企通 的碳会计：Sia Partners 公司的案例

Sia Partners 是一家咨询和会计公司，成立于 1999 年，业务遍及 18 个国家。Sia Partners 自己进行碳管理，但他们花费了太多时间在不同办事处之间交换信息。2020 年，他们选择了绿色排放跟踪工具，以实现更加简单和高效。

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