Calculating a CO2 footprint for businesses: a guide for businesses
Direct answer
Calculating a corporate carbon footprint means multiplying everything a business consumes, such as natural gas, fuel and electricity, by emission factors and adding it all up to one total in CO2 equivalents. The international accounting rules come from the GHG Protocol, which divides emissions into three scopes. For Dutch businesses the official emission factors are freely available at CO2emissiefactoren.nl.
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Calculating a CO2 footprint for businesses: scattered information versus Energy Intelligence
Dutch businesses face demand for emission figures from several directions at once: European reporting rules, the Dutch obligation to report work-related travel, and customers mapping their own value chain emissions. In practice it often starts like this: a facility manager hears that a major customer is asking for the footprint, and then discovers that gas bills, fuel cards and air travel are scattered across the organisation. The calculation itself is simple. Collecting complete and correct consumption data is the real work.
- Scope 1 covers direct emissions from own sources such as gas boilers and company vehicles, scope 2 covers purchased electricity and heat, scope 3 covers the rest of the value chain.
- The calculation is always: consumption data times emission factor. Example: litres of diesel times the factor in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per litre.
- The Dutch emission factor list is an initiative of Milieu Centraal, Stichting Stimular, SKAO, Connekt and the Dutch government, updated annually by an expert panel.
Insight
Traditional approach
Information is scattered across portals, documents, invoices or separate spreadsheets.
Modern approach
Data, context and interpretation are brought together into a clear decision picture.
Decision-making
Traditional approach
Choices are made based on averages, assumptions or occasional analyses.
Modern approach
Scenarios, KPIs and current measurement data make the trade-off more concrete and repeatable.
Follow-up
Traditional approach
Actions often stay non-committal or disappear into separate reports.
Modern approach
Follow-up actions, monitoring and reporting are linked to the same energy data.
How does the calculation work?
The global basis is the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. It divides emissions into three scopes. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from the company's own sources, such as the gas boiler and the vehicle fleet. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling. Scope 3 covers all remaining emissions in the value chain, from purchased goods to business travel. For each source you collect consumption data: cubic metres of natural gas, kilowatt hours of electricity, litres of fuel. You multiply each figure by an emission factor in kilograms of CO2 equivalent per unit. CO2 equivalent means other greenhouse gases, such as methane, are included, converted to the climate effect of CO2. The sum of all sources over a year is the footprint.
- Scope 1: direct emissions from sources the company owns or controls.
- Scope 2: purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling.
- Scope 3: the rest of the value chain, from procurement to transport and waste.
- The calculation: consumption data times emission factor, added up per year.
- Dutch emission factors are freely available at CO2emissiefactoren.nl.
When is it required, and what can you do with it?
For large companies the footprint is part of sustainability reporting under the European CSRD directive, which also covers the value chain. Exactly which companies must report is being revised at European level; the Netherlands exempts some companies for the intervening financial years. In addition, the Dutch work-related mobility reporting obligation (WPM) applies: organisations with currently 100 or more employees report annually before 1 July to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) on business travel and commuting. The ministry wants to raise that threshold to 250 employees, but until that decision is taken, 100 remains the limit. Even without an obligation the calculation is useful: as a baseline for a reduction target, for example through the Science Based Targets initiative, or because a CSRD-obliged customer includes your emissions in its report as value chain emissions.
- CSRD: sustainability reporting for large companies, including value chain effects.
- WPM: employers with 100 or more employees report travel kilometres to RVO annually.
- Voluntary: the footprint is the baseline for reduction targets, such as through the Science Based Targets initiative.
- If your customer reports under the CSRD, your emissions count as its value chain emissions.
Where are the limits and pitfalls?
Scope 1 and 2 follow from your own meter readings and invoices and are straightforward to calculate. Scope 3 is the hardest, because that data sits with suppliers and customers. Without actual consumption data you work with averages, for example emissions per kilometre driven instead of actual litres of fuel. That is considerably less accurate. Emission factors themselves are also averages from scientific research, with assumptions about matters such as land use. For electricity, two methods exist side by side. The location-based method uses the average of the Dutch grid, the market-based method uses your own energy contract. The same kilowatt hours thus produce two different outcomes; the GHG Protocol therefore requires reporting both. Only compare company footprints when the boundaries and method are the same.
- Scope 3 requires data from third parties and in practice often relies on estimates.
- Actual consumption data, such as litres refuelled, is more accurate than derived kilometres.
- Electricity has two outcomes: location-based (grid average) and market-based (your contract).
- Emission factors are scientific averages with assumptions, updated annually.
- Comparing companies only works with identical boundaries and method.
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