A new initiative called the Forest Footprint Disclosure Project (FFD Project) has been launched with help from the UK government and with the backing of 12 major financial institutions with over $1.3 trillion in assets under management.
The FFD Project will run in parallel to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), the world’s largest resource of corporate greenhouse gas emissions data. The aim is to get corporations to disclose how their activities and supply chain practices lead to tropical deforestation.
A forest footprint is defined as “the total amount of deforestation caused directly or indirectly by an individual, organisation or product.”
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
TEDx - self-organized TED events
I’ve talked about TED a number of times in this blog. It’s an excellent resource and my substitute for TV which is abysmal here in New Zealand. (And no, I don’t have Sky/cable because I’m shamelessly addicted to the Discovery Channel, NGS, History channel etc).
TED has recently launched a new initiative called TEDx which allows fans everywhere to hold their own TED events under the TED banner. Over 30 such events have already been held around the world with another 120 planned for the future.
TEDx events can last up to 1 day in length and are usually a combination of recorded TED talks and local live speakers. The events cannot be used to promote commercial, religious or political agendas, and there are a few other simple rules that seek to ensure the experience is as TED-like as possible.
It’s a very exciting project and one I intend to get involved in personally. Watch this space.
Monday, June 8, 2009
More on the cost and ROI of corporate carbon footprint-ing
Following on from David Schatsky's post on The Cost of Corporate Carbon Footprinting, an Impact Assessment form is available on the recently published web page for the UK DEFRA's "draft guidance on how to measure and report your greenhouse gas emissions".
It includes example costs and time scales of performing a GHG Inventory based on company size. The hourly rates used in their calculations may be a bit low but you can substitute those for your own figures.
It also includes estimates of savings in resources through improved efficiency and case studies supplied by the UK Carbon Trust.
Available here - http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/greenhouse-gas/index.htm
It includes example costs and time scales of performing a GHG Inventory based on company size. The hourly rates used in their calculations may be a bit low but you can substitute those for your own figures.
It also includes estimates of savings in resources through improved efficiency and case studies supplied by the UK Carbon Trust.
Available here - http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/greenhouse-gas/index.htm
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Return On Investment of Corporate Carbon Footprinting
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.
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.
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