How we measure our carbon footprint

Ambius collaborated with the sustainability team at Deloitte to measure Ambius's carbon footprint in our Europe, North America and South Africa businesses in 2010. 

Using internationally-certified protocols (ISO 14064-1: 2006 and the World Resources Institute Greenhouse Gas Protocol (revised) - WRIGHG), we measured all of our scope 1 (direct, e.g. vehicle fuel and natural gas) and scope 2 (indirect, e.g. grid electricity) greenhouse gas emissions, together with greenhouse gas emissions associated with our waste disposal, paper consumption and airline travel.

Companies report GHG emissions from sources they own or control as:

These direct Greenhouse gas emissions are principally the result of the following types of activities undertaken by the company. 

• Generation of electricity, heat, or steam. These emissions result from combustion of fuels in stationary sources, e.g., boilers, furnaces, turbines. 
• Transportation of employees and waste. These emissions result from the combustion of fuels in company owned/controlled mobile combustion sources (e.g., trucks, trains, ships, aircraft, buses and cars)

Indirect emissions generated as a direct consequence of business activities. 

• Emissions from the generation of purchased electricity that is consumed in its owned or controlled equipment or operations. 
• Transport-related activities: 
• Employee business travel in non-company owned vehicles. 
• Employees commuting to and from work (optional).  
• Transportation of waste in non-company owned vehicles. 
• Extraction, production, and transportation of fuels consumed in the generation of electricity for office activities.

The footprint measurement must cover the six gases identified in the Kyoto protocol: CO2, SF6, CH4, N2O, HFCs and PFCs) and emissions should be calculated for a one-year period (period to be clearly stated). The greenhouse gas effect of each gas will be converted to CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents).