Skip to main content How to calculate your practice's carbon footprint
The UK has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 as part of international efforts to limit global warming. If you’re keen to create a greener way of working, then calculating the emissions associated with your practice - known as its carbon footprint - is a great place to start. Here we explain how to calculate your practice’s carbon footprint and discuss some of the benefits of taking steps to reduce it.
What is a carbon footprint?
The term ‘carbon footprint’ refers to the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, that are released into the air as a result of human activity. Activities such as travelling for meetings, shipping goods and using energy generated from fossil fuels all contribute to your practice's carbon footprint.
Why calculate your practice's carbon footprint?
Calculating the carbon footprint of your practice can give you a deeper understanding of how its day-to-day operations impact the environment. This insight could be an important step in creating a way of working that supports the UK’s emission reduction targets. As well as helping to limit the effects of climate change, calculating your practice's carbon footprint could offer some of the following benefits:
It could save money
Working out your practice's carbon footprint could help you to identify where you’re using large amounts of energy. By making changes to address these areas, you may be able to reduce both the financial and the environmental costs of running your practice.
It could give you sustainability credentials to share
Customers are increasingly interested in businesses’ sustainability credentials, and this can be an important factor when they decide who to engage with. Calculating your practice's carbon footprint and then taking action to reduce its environmental impact will allow you to let your clients know that you’re working towards becoming a greener practice.
It could help you prepare for the future
By calculating your practice's carbon footprint and taking steps to create a more sustainable way of working now, you could find yourself better prepared for any future developments in environmental legislation.
How to calculate your practice's carbon footprint
To measure the greenhouse gas emissions connected to your practice, you must first understand what to include in your calculation. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol defines the global standards for calculating emissions and divides them into three ‘scopes’:
- Scope 1 - emissions made by your practice directly, such as those from a vehicle owned by the practice or a boiler that heats your office.
- Scope 2 - emissions made during the production of the energy your practice uses, such as those from a power station that generates your electricity.
- Scope 3 - emissions from sources not owned or controlled by your practice, such as those created during an employee’s commute on public transport. Calculating Scope 3 emissions can be more complicated, as it involves data from sources outside your practice.
You’ll need to identify all of your practice activities that result in emissions within each of these scopes and collate the data relating to them over a 12-month period. You’ll then need to ‘convert’ this data to establish the quantity of emissions associated with each activity and arrive at a total. You can do this using a conversion factor spreadsheet or an online calculator.
To find out more about the process of calculating your practice's carbon footprint, please refer to the government’s guidance on how to measure and report your greenhouse gas emissions.