Corporate carbon footprint and product carbon footprint

Interrelations between the carbon footprint of products and corporate GHG emission


Corporate GHG accounting aims to measure, inventory and communicate a company’s GHG emissions for a given year (WBCSD et WRI, 2006). GHG accounting and reporting shall be based on the following principles:

  • RELEVANCE: Ensure the GHG inventory appropriately reflects the GHG emissions of the company and serves the decision-making needs of users – both internal and external to the company.
  • COMPLETENESS: Account for and report on all GHG emission sources and activities within the chosen inventory boundary. Disclose and justify any specific exclusions.

  • CONSISTENCY : Use consistent methodologies to allow for meaningful comparisons of emissions over time. Transparently document any changes to the data, inventory boundary, methods, or any other relevant factors in the time series.
  • 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 accounting and calculation methodologies and data sources used.
  • ACCURACY : Ensure that the quantification of GHG 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.

Sources of GHG emissions

Operational boundaries are set to define the sources of GHG emissions to be included in the corporate GHG emissions. They help define three "scopes" for accounting and reporting purposes: direct emissions (scope 1), electricity and indirect emission (scope 2) and other indirect GHG emissions (scope 3).

Organizational boundaries are set to determine what sources of emissions (scope 1, 2, 3) are attributable to the company and in what proportion. For corporate reporting, two distinct approaches can be used to consolidate GHG emissions: the equity share and control approaches (further information ). This notion is particularly important in the case of shared emissions sources from joint ventures for example.

Product carbon footprint vs. corporate GHG inventory

Annual corporate emissions, in other words the GHG inventory or the corporate carbon footprint, come from the company’s business activities over the course of the year: production activities, administrative activities, business travel, employee commuting, etc. These emissions are correlated to the level of activity, that is to say the quantity and nature of goods and services provides.

Thus, the corporate carbon footprint represents the sum of all of the company’s product carbon footprints for the reference year, in addition to the company’s other indirect emissions (scope 3) associated with administration, infrastructure, employee commuting, business travel, franchises and leased assets.

Les liens entre l'Empreinte Carbone et la quantification corporative des émissions de GES

The relationship between the corporate GHG inventory and product carbon footprint (WRI and WBCSD, 2011).