This post is in response to a blog post by David Schatsky titled The Cost of Corporate Carbon Footprinting.

There should be as strong a focus on the return on investment of performing a carbon footprint project as the cost. Most large organizations will likely need to perform such a project in the next three years so if we concentrate on making it economically beneficial for them there will be more commitment.

The cost of developing and maintaining a GHG inventory (carbon footprint) can be fully recuperated through effective reduction projects (usually the next step after developing a carbon footprint) and software that provides more than just a carbon footprint report.

For example, electricity, gas and fuel are often major elements of a carbon footprint. Many large companies will have hundreds and sometimes thousands of accounts. These invoices can be sent to a system electronically each month which will automatically check for anomalies such as incorrect tariffs and any spikes or troughs on each account based on historic data and trends. Value add features such as providing an electronic approvals process for staff are common with invoices ultimately being sent electronically to your ERP system for payment and your carbon footprint system for reporting.

There are examples of return on investments of less than 12 months from projects like these without including the labour cost savings (from the automation), follow on projects such as energy, water and waste audits (Google GE energy treasure hunts), leaner manufacturing processes and increased customer loyalty. And by providing the extra visibility of invoices on fuel and other costs such as mobile phone use, it discourages misuse of these assets by staff.

Finally, if a company thinks they may have a high dependency on external consultants then consider having a member of staff (or several) involved in the project so that you develop expertise internally.

Clearly this is a major topic that warrants more than just a few paragraphs. I will endeavour to post further resources and comments on this topic in the future.