The Promethium Corporate Carbon Footprint Tool was designed to do a basic calculation of your carbon footprint based on energy consumption and other data. It offers a tutorial on the use of the Tool with reference to the source documentation. The Tool reports on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol defines Scope 1 emissions as: All direct GHG emissions, and Scope 2 as: Indirect GHG emissions from consumption of purchased electricity, heat or steam.) It analyses the carbon footprint against the currently indicated regulatory framework with respect to the following issues:
- Requirements for mandatory reporting
- Requirements for the submission of GHG mitigation plans
- Carbon tax impacts:
- Scope 1 emissions
- Access to relief measures
- Impacts of offsets
- Scope 2 emissions
- Access to relief measures
- Impacts of offsets
- Scope 1 emissions
This is an Excel spreadsheet based calculation tool (freely downloadable from www.carbontax.co.za) which is aimed at companies. It allows boundary setting (one company or groups of companies), incudes clear guidance on what and why, and has good links to external sources of information such as the 2013 Treasury Carbon Tax Policy Paper, the GHG Protocol, and the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the National Climate Change Response Paper. It is a very good starting point and will tell the potential user what data he has and what data he needs to collect and analyse.
Although the Carbon Tax implementation in South Africa has been delayed, some form of carbon tax is on the horizon and commerce and industry would be well-advised to evaluate what the impacts upon business of this tax will be. There are many areas where businesses can significantly reduce their carbon footprint and they should seek professional advice if these are not clear to them.