What are Carbon Emissions?

Carbon emissions refer to carbon dioxide (CO2) gases released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. Carbon emissions are the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions; they trap heat, causing the planet to become warmer. Then, climate change causes weather and temperature pattern changes, leading to storms, floods, heat waves, and other natural disasters. To mitigate the effects of climate change, businesses are called upon globally to reduce the carbon emissions produced by their organisations.

Types of Carbon Emissions

Tackling carbon emissions requires a proper understanding of its examples, and the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol is a key framework for identifying and classifying them. Although the protocol focuses on greenhouse gases as a whole, carbon emissions are typically the largest portion of these gases. This makes the GHG Protocol particularly useful for understanding carbon emissions.

The protocol divides emissions into three categories, each representing a different source of carbon emissions from an organisation’s activities.

• Scope 1: These are direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the organisation, such as company-owned vehicles or facilities. Examples include carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels for heating and energy purposes, or emissions from industrial processes.
• Scope 2: Also known as indirect emissions from purchased energy, this comes from the electricity, steam, and heating the company purchases. Although the emissions themselves occur offsite, they are a result of the company’s energy consumption, and the most common example is the carbon released from electricity generation.
• Scope 3: This scope covers indirect emissions other than those captured in Scopes 1 and 2. It comes from supply chain activities like transportation, waste disposal, employee commuting, and other related activities. This category tends to be the most common and often represents the largest portion of an organisation’s carbon footprint.

Impact of Carbon Emissions

In almost every year of the past century, carbon dioxide has been documented as one of the several greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere due to human activities. As industries continue to grow, their carbon footprint must be addressed to avoid further environmental damage.

• Climate Change Acceleration: The key reason the climate is shifting is due to excess emission of carbon, usually in the form of CO2. These emissions pull heat into the atmosphere and cause the globe to warm more, thus worsening weather conditions and unpredictable environmental changes.
• Ecosystem Disruptions: Ocean acidification and habitat modification resulting from increased carbon emissions deteriorate ecosystems. Many species are having difficulty adjusting to sudden environmental shifts and this brings about the extinction of many species.
• Resource Scarcity: As carbon emissions lead to further deterioration of the ecosystem, natural resources become scarcer for industries. Organisations that fail to integrate sustainability practices into their operations are likely to face supply chain risk and high prices of scarce resources.
• Economic Costs: The cost of carbon emissions just from dealing with natural disasters, their economics, along with the financial losses in industries affected by climate change create huge amounts of costs. Companies have additional governing costs while dealing with market fluctuations and implementing changes to environmental standards with non-sustainable technology and systems.