cnc carbon accounting methodology tp · 4!!...

Carbon Neutral Checkout™

Carbon Accounting Methodology

April 2016

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Carbon Neutral Checkout™ Carbon Accounting Methodology – V 2.0

Executive Summary Carbon Credit Capital LLC. (“CCC”) is revolutionizing the way businesses and individuals alike can be a part of the global climate change solution by establishing a brand-‐new initiative called Carbon Neutral Checkout™ (“CNC”). Carbon Neutral Checkout™, as a product label, invites customers to offset carbon emissions by purchasing carbon neutral products. This document discusses the carbon accounting methodology employed by the Carbon Neutral Checkout™ program. The methodology employs techniques used by internationally recognized standards. The document covers greenhouse gasses included, product carbon emissions boundaries, and data sources and data quality. This document also provides a brief introduction of the Carbon Neutral Checkout™ tool, developed by Carbon Credit Capital. About Carbon Credit Capital Carbon Credit Capital LLC (CCC) is a privately held company that focuses on carbon offset management to help corporations and individuals accelerate the global transition to sustainable development. CCC works closely with well-‐known partners in business, civil society, public interest organizations and other fields. More information is available at www.carboncreditcapital.com Disclaimer This document is a representative guide to the carbon accounting methodology developed and used by Carbon Credit Capital as part of the Carbon Neutral Checkout™ program. Carbon Credit Capital does not make any proprietary claims on any other standards or methodologies mentioned in this document. CCC reserves the right to update this document on a regular basis.

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Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4 2. Standards Employed ................................................................................................................... 5 3. Greenhouse Gases Included ...................................................................................................... 6 4. Product Carbon Emissions Boundaries ................................................................................ 7 5. Data Sources and Data Quality ................................................................................................. 8 6. The Carbon Neutral Checkout™ Tool and Methodology .................................................. 8 7. Verify the Carbon Footprint Estimate of Products ............................................................ 9

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1. Introduction Carbon Credit Capital is a carbon management company based in New York, offering several carbon management services including Carbon Neutral Checkout™, Carbon Offsetting Solutions, Customized Carbon Accounting Tools & Calculators, and Wholesale and Retail Transactions of Carbon Offsets. Carbon Credit Capital’s goal is to help any and every entity achieve emissions reductions and be a bridge from today’s world to a carbon neutral world. Driven by corporate responsibility, consumer demand, public relations, and potential government regulation, companies are increasingly interested in quantifying, reducing and offsetting the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with their company and the products they manufacture and/or supply. This, along with the growing market for eco-‐friendly products and consumer demand for transparent, credible and readily accessible information at the point of purchase, has made carbon content increasingly popular and a viable educational tool for the consumer. In terms of this trend, Carbon Credit Capital launched a revolutionary initiative called Carbon Neutral Checkout™ in early 2015. Carbon Neutral Checkout™ aims to encourage both companies and individual customers to understand one product’s carbon footprint. This concept does not only help companies build a green brand, but also gets customers involved, which is an attribute absent in other carbon reduction activities. Carbon Credit Capital collects primary inventory information from businesses and provides a detailed estimate of the carbon footprint of each basic product that a company offers. These carbon footprints are then neutralized using the highest quality carbon offsets, making the products carbon neutral. The methodology Carbon Credit Capital uses for Carbon Neutral Checkout™ is developed by following well-‐recognized industry standards and is flexible for companies to adopt, with customized carbon accounting tools. You can find more detailed information about this methodology in the following sections.

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Carbon Neutral Checkout Program

2. Standards Employed Carbon Credit Capital employs the techniques used by the most well-‐recognized carbon accounting standards to calculate carbon footprints. Among the three standards listed below, the GHG Protocol developed by WRI/WBCSD is the best recognized in the global voluntary market. Carbon Credit Capital also refines its methodology by incorporating any relevant industry standards to further customize the carbon accounting standards to accommodate North America’s companies’ requests. The standards that form a strong foundation of our carbon accounting methodologies include:

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• Greenhouse Gas Protocol developed World Resources Institute/World Business Council for Sustainable Development

• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines

• US EPA GHG Reporting Guidelines

Carbon Credit Capital’s methodology is aligned with the following GHG Protocol standards: Product Life Cycle Standard -‐ The Product Life Cycle Standard instructs users on accounting for the emissions of a product's full life cycle; users can learn to focus efforts on the greatest GHG reduction opportunities in order to develop more sustainable products. Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard -‐ This standard provides instruction on how a company should perform a scope 3 GHG inventory, which includes emissions from throughout a company's value chain. Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard -‐ The Corporate Standard provides instruction on how a company should perform a GHG inventory; it covers scopes 1 and 2. While Carbon Credit Capital provides “estimates” of carbon footprints of products, services and organizations, it does not perform full carbon footprint audits. A carbon footprint audit is an extremely scrutinized process and involves a third party verifier, which makes the process more costly, cumbersome and time-‐intensive. Carbon Credit Capital’s carbon footprint estimations do not require nearly the amount of time, resources or funding as a carbon footprint audit. Moreover, an audit is required for companies or organizations under mandatory compliance of any regulations. For voluntary purposes a full-‐fledged carbon audit including a third party is not necessary and thus, Carbon Credit Capital is able to reduce the costs of carbon footprint estimation substantially.

3. Greenhouse Gases Included The main greenhouse gas emissions included in the carbon footprint assessment are Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O). Additionally, the following greenhouse gases may also be included when applicable:

• Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6)

• Hydrofluorcarbons (HFCs)

• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)

• Biomass CO2 emissions

If it can be shown that the process creates a negligible amount of SF6, HFCs, PFCs and biomass CO2 emissions (the CO2 equivalent emissions of these gases combined account for less than 5% of total

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CO2 equivalent emissions), these greenhouse gases may be excluded from the assessment, provided that an explanation is given.

4. Product Carbon Emissions Boundaries Carbon Credit Capital calculates the “cradle-‐to-‐gate” GHG emissions of a product. A product will receive Carbon Neutral Checkout™ certificate once its “cradle-‐to-‐gate” GHG emissions are offset. The “cradle-‐to-‐gate” boundary includes: • Material acquisition & Pre-‐processing

- Extraction/production and pre-‐processing of raw materials - Transportation of raw materials to production facilities

• Manufacturing - Emissions from energy usage - Emissions from chemical processes - Emissions from waste disposal - Emissions from the manufacturing and processing of packaging materials

• Distribution & Storage - Transportation of sold product to first customer - Emissions from energy usage in storage

Where data are available, emissions from the use and end-‐of-‐life phases may be included to calculate the full “cradle-‐to-‐grave” GHG emissions of a product. However, calculation of emissions over these phases is not required for a product to be Carbon Neutral Checkout™ certified.

Sample process map illustrating the stages of a product’s life cycle

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5. Data Sources and Data Quality

Carbon Credit Capital develops a customized data-‐collection sheet to receive primary data from companies, making the carbon footprint estimates more accurate. The data-‐collection sheet is comprehensive and also guides companies as to where to locate the primary data and information easily. When primary data points are not available, secondary data points are relied up on in the absence of primary data from a client, as well as in conjunction with such data to provide a more academically and industrially well-‐rounded estimate. These tools and resources provide reliable data for calculating accurate carbon footprints and are completely trusted under industry standards, in absence of primary data. These tools and resources include, but are not limited to:

• Environmentally extended input-‐output models • LCA Databases (US EPA, US NREL, UK DEFRA, other government and international

agencies) • Research papers by academic, governmental, and non-‐governmental organizations

When using secondary data, Carbon Credit Capital identifies and uses the best available published materials regarding the third data source listed above. Based on these papers and studies, Carbon Credit Capital first examines and compares each method and analysis process that accounts for a single material. CCC then sorts out and organizes carbon emission factor data points that cover emissions from value chains. The following criteria are applied during this research: • Raw materials/process relevance • Recent data used in publications • Objectivity • Peer review • Relevant scientific citations Each publication/database should include detailed descriptions, assumptions and sources of raw materials’ Life Cycle Analysis.

6. The Carbon Neutral Checkout™ Tool and Methodology The Carbon Neutral Checkout™ tool was developed to implement the above methodology and calculates any product’s carbon footprint estimates quickly. Based on the above-‐described criteria, the tool allows the user to calculate the upstream carbon footprint of products from the extraction of raw materials to the arrival of a product at the location of final sale. The tool covers carbon emissions involved in the supply chain of products, as determined by GHG Protocol. The tool requires information like the materials (ingredients) from which a product is made, and from where the materials are sourced. The below estimates cover the carbon emissions derived from cradle-‐to-‐gate.

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Below is an example demonstrating how the tool uses primary and secondary data to calculate the carbon footprint of a product.

7. Verification of Carbon Footprint Estimates Verification of compliance with these standard requirements ranges from a company’s self-‐verification of environmental attributes, to a third-‐party verification that may include on-‐site and/or post-‐certification audits. Third-‐party verification and certification in support of an eco-‐label program provides stronger evidence of objectivity and independence. Carbon Credit Capital can assist the companies to locate a third-‐party verifier for the verification of carbon footprint estimates of products.

Carbon Neutral Checkout™ tool estimates carbon footprint associated with preparation of an apple pie

cnc carbon accounting methodology tp · 4!!...

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