In order to help you remember these principles whilst you are doing or managing a GHG inventory for your business or for a client of yours- it is useful to remember the following mnemonic TRACC. This will assist you in keeping these principles easily remembered with Transparency- Relevancy- Accuracy- Completeness- Consistency always in your mind, it will help to keep you and your team “on track”. Remember without theses principles a GHG inventory cannot be authentic or credible

I believe as the Rosetta Stone unlocked learning of ancient scripts - the ISO ‘ s GHG Standards serve as the “Rosetta Stone” of carbon accounting or GHG inventories. These Standards are THE place to start your GHG education- such that you may then take positive climate action.

GHG are gasses retains heat over earth's surface increasing temperature to over above normal, therefore melting ice caps and increasing water level. Such gasses are increasing amount of carbon dioxide and water vapor within the atmospheric layer. Therefore lesser amount of carbon dioxide are used in photosynthesis to construct the carbon composition of plants. To account for or measure GHG should consider first to establish the theoretical value of carbon dioxide through the photosynthesis process to construct the carbon composition of plants. Then the carbon composition of plants are analyzed in the laboratory. Data is statistically analyzed using different algorithm technique to establish difference from the normal photosynthesis process.

Don’t forget that we have to establish two boundaries (1) Organisational Boundaries (“whose carbon is it”) and (2) Operational or Reporting boundaries (“which carbon to quantify “).

On GHG targets please use caution! Absolute targets are to be preferred as there are real numbers representing actual tonnes of GHG. Intensity targets are open to misinformation or misrepresentation. Here’s an example: my factory produces one product each day and each product causes 2tCO2e to be emitted in the manufacturing process; therefore I emit 2t CO2e each day. I set an intensity target as “I am going to cut my manufacturing GHG from 2tCO2e per product to 1 tCO2e. Wow I have halved my GHG intensity”. However I also increase my production volume from 1 product per day to 2 products per day. This means my factory emits 2tCO2e each day. I have halved my GHG intensity and met the target! However I have made NO climate change benefit!!

There isn’t enough information here to make that statement. If the market for the “product” is x products annually and you’ve halved production CO2 but doubled production rate. If the market demand remains constant at x, you’ve still halved the CO2 and thus met your target. Your point is only valid if the demand for your product/s doubles.

Well by using an intensity target I can report “progress” whilst making not one bit of real improvement. So again by following the TRACC principles we will avoid deluding ourselves and disclosing untrue information or publishing disinformation to our peers. It’s all about the principles. We must strive ALWAYS to be Transparent, Relevant, Accurate, Consistent and Complete. The quiz question we must ask ourselves is - are intensity targets in keeping with the GHG accounting principles?

It is important when designing the plan of measures to prioritize the actions in the main sources of GHG, categorizing them into process change, technology change or supply changes.

The first step in carrying out a GHG emissions inventory is to determine what the scope will be, and then detail very transparently what emissions have not been considered. This definition of what will or will not be included will allow stakeholders to understand (and perhaps object to) the exclusions and also allows for comparison between periods. In the case of a manufacturing company, for example, scope 1 and 2 emissions may not be the most relevant, but rather scope 3 emissions that include emissions associated with the transportation of inputs and products (among many other categories), as well as the emissions associated with the client's use of these manufactured products (energy consumption during their useful life, for example).

I am afraid the very first question must be “Whose Carbon is it?” Otherwise we will develop an unworthy and probably very inaccurate GHG inventory. We absolutely have got to clearly establish our GHG organisational boundaries. Thus includes examination of who controls emissions by checking who owns what emitting assets. Are these emitting assets held under leases or owned? Are these leases capital/finance leases or operating leases- all of which changes the “whose carbon is it?” question. Second we ask the “which carbon is it?” or establish if we are looking to quantify Direct, energy indirect or other indirect (I.e., Scopes 1, 2 or 3)