In scope

A few weeks back I mentioned how I was working through the application to become a B Corp. Whether we go for accreditation is very much up in the air at the moment, yet it is a very interesting exercise. Thanks to some significant help from Katrina at UMI, I’m pleased to say I am making good progress. A lot of the accreditation comes down to stating a position and being able to prove it. Good governance and documentation are key to achievement (here endeth today’s lesson!).

When I first ran through the online assessment tool, the company had attained just over 26 points. 80 points is deemed to be a reasonable score, one which could precipitate an attempt at accreditation and so we were way off by several country miles. Following Katrina’s help we managed to get into the fifties and now, following my improved understanding, I think we have scraped into the seventies. At this point I should make it clear that I am not attempting to game the system. This is a genuine attempt to understand our social value and environmental position rather than merely chasing an award.

One of the main areas for assessment is our commitment to carbon reduction. Now, this is an interesting area for a business with no employees and very few assets. How do I work out the amount of emissions we make, in order to be able to set targets? Fortunately someone has been here before me and identified the three levels, or scopes of emission. I’ve stolen these from the National Grid site:

Definitions of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions

• Scope 1 covers emissions from sources that an organisation owns or controls directly – for example from burning fuel in our fleet of vehicles (if they’re not electrically-powered).
• Scope 2 are emissions that a company causes indirectly and come from where the energy it purchases and uses is produced. For example, the emissions caused when generating the electricity that we use in our buildings would fall into this category.
• Scope 3 encompasses emissions that are not produced by the company itself and are not the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by them, but by those that it’s indirectly responsible for up and down its value chain. An example of this is when we buy, use and dispose of products from suppliers. Scope 3 emissions include all sources not within the scope 1 and 2 boundaries.

Essentially, scope 1 are those direct emissions that are owned or controlled by a company, whereas scope 2 and 3 indirect emissions are a consequence of the activities of the company but occur from sources not owned or controlled by it. At least I know where to start from, that is a calculation of the amount of gas we use to heat our homes (when we are working there) and the amount of petrol we consume relating to CyberNorth. Of the 6 of us in the team I know that 2 have electric cars, while most of us use public transport wherever possible. All I need to know now is what people get up to at home and their petrol consumption. Shouldn’t be too hard (he says).

We can then think about scope 2.