Typically carbon footprinting only includes direct and indirect operational emissions, known as Scope 1 and 2 emissions under the Kyoto Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Value chain footprinting also includes Scope 3 emissions, which represent the full lifecycle, from both suppliers and consumers, including all use and end of life emissions.
Based on the Carbon Trust’s decade of experience of footprinting thousands of businesses and products there is clear evidence that having a robust carbon management strategy across a corporate value chain can deliver significant rewards. These include improved brand equity, cost reduction, revenue enhancement and risk mitigation. However, accurately measuring value chain emissions presents unique challenges and can be complex and time consuming. Bringing together the Carbon Trust’s extensive footprinting experience with CRedit360’s award-winning sustainability software expertise these challenges can now be overcome to maximise the business benefits of managing a value chain.
John Whybrow, General Manager of Software at the Carbon Trust said: “There are significant business benefits to be gained through having visibility of your value chain emissions. However, we also understand that this can be challenging.
“The sheer volume of data involved means that how you identify, collect and store the right sets of information over time, which can then be analysed in a meaningful and accurate way, is critical to success.
“Many companies are already stretching the capabilities of Excel to the limit and businesses need to have a reliable intuitive solution that can deliver the right level of business insight without the need for data management specialists. We believe the collaboration with CRedit360 will deliver unique game changing software to help address this challenge.”
Mark Shields, Managing Director of CRedit360 said: "CRedit360 has been providing carbon management software for over 10 years and helping companies of all sizes calculate and report their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. As awareness and complexity of Scope 3 reporting increases, we’re delighted to combine the Carbon Trust’s unparalleled expert knowledge and the power of CRedit360 sustainability software to produce innovative solutions which provide a deeper view into the value chain.”
A value chain can represent a high volume of data. To meet the necessary business requirements it is critical that the data is captured to the right level of accuracy to enable strategic business decisions to be made confidently. In many cases a true value chain footprint also involves integration of information from suppliers, which needs to happen securely. Processing and modelling this level of data can be a drain on productivity and prove costly and resource intensive. By automating this process through intelligent software, which also provides interfaces for gathering supplier data securely, the level of internal resource needed is reduced and results are delivered faster.
The first product developed and available now through the collaboration is the ‘Value Chain Hot-Spotter’, which has been designed to enable companies to quickly estimate carbon intensive areas of their value chain. The tool covers seven Scope 3 categories using easily accessible company data. The release of the full Value Chain Reporting software platform is planned for autumn 2012.
For more information on the value chain software solutions from the Carbon Trust and CRedit360 please visit www.carbontrust.com/valuechainsoftware or www.credit360.com
About the Carbon Trust
The Carbon Trust is an independent company with a mission to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy.
- We advise businesses, government and the public sector on their opportunities in a sustainable, low carbon world
- We measure and certify the environmental footprint of organisations, products and services
- We help develop and deploy low carbon technologies and solutions, from energy efficiency to renewable power.
For further information or interviews with the Carbon Trust, please contact the Carbon Trust press office on 020 7170 7050 or press@carbontrust.com.
About CRedit360
CRedit360 is a specialist provider of sustainability software, serving over 100 global clients. Founded in 2002 by a group of sustainability professionals and an innovative UK IT company, CRedit360 has developed software from the ground up to handle the complexities of managing sustainability data. We maintain strong client relationships and manage every aspect of product development and support with in-house technical teams and sustainability experts. CRedit360 is GRI certified, Carbon Disclosure Project accredited (Gold Standard) and winner of the 2012 Best Sustainability Software award from Ethical Corporation.
For further information, visit www.credit360.com. To schedule an interview with Mark Shields, please contact Jeremy Fenderson on Jeremy.fenderson@credit360.com or +44 1223 237 200 or +1-312-884-9896.
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