Emissions Measurement & Offset Standards

Overview

In accordance with global standards, we ensure all emissions measurement and offsetting are:

Relevant - appropriately reflecting business activities and serve the decision-making needs of stakeholders - both internal and external to a business

Complete - include all emissions sources and activities within the inventory boundary, and any exclusions are documented with reasoning

Consistent - use the same methodology over time, and transparently disclose any changes to data, inventory boundary, methods, or any other relevant factors

Transparent - have a clear audit trail, are factual and coherent, and disclose any assumptions, methodologies and data sources used

Accurate - are not systematically over or under actual emissions, as far as can be judged, and reduce any uncertainties as far as practicable

The Offset Alliance MORE Framework is based on globally recognized emissions accounting standards set by The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol).

Measurement Standards

OUR EMISSIONS MEASUREMENT FOLLOWS GLOBAL BEST PRACTICES AND INCLUDES ALL THREE EMISSIONS SCOPES

Scope 1

Emissions from operating equipment that you own or lease, like a fleet of vehicles, forklifts or generators.

Scope 2

Emissions from electricity that you purchase from the grid.

It’s not uncommon for a business to have 80% or more of its emissions come from Scope 3 activities

MEASUREMENT APPROACH

We use a hybrid operational control approach to measure emissions. Actual data is used whenever available (e.g. kWh of electricity used). Otherwise estimates and averages are used, based on factors published by the EPA, DEFRA, Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index (CHSBI) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Your measurement identifies emissions hot spots, where action can be taken first to have an immediate impact through reductions.

Scope 3
Emissions from everything else that makes your business possible. Scope 3 includes 15 categories. We measure #1-9 & 13:
1. Purchased goods & services
2. Capital goods
3. Fuel & energy related activities
4. Upstream transportation & distribution
5. Waste from operations
6. Business travel
7. Employee commuting
8. Leased assets (when applicable)
9. Downstream transportation & distribution
10. Processing of sold products
11. Use of sold products
12. End of life treatment of sold products
13. Downstream leased assets
14. Franchises
15. Investments

Offset Standards

ENSURING CREDIBLE EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS WITH VERIFIED CARBON OFFSETS AND RECS

Carbon Offsets Selection

All carbon offsets sourced and retired by Offset Alliance meet the highest global standards for quality–proving to be additional, quantifiable, real, permanent and socially beneficial. Offsets are all developed, audited and third-party verified using the most trusted carbon measurement and reduction protocols from:

Carbon Offsets Vintage

All carbon offsets used to offset your business emissions have a vintage of six years or less relative to your business’s measured / offset year. We always make best effort to source and retire carbon offsets with a vintage year as close to your measured / offset year as possible. For example, your measured / offset year is 2019, the vintage will be 2014 or newer.

Carbon Offsets Retirement

All carbon offsets retired as part of your emissions offset are recorded in their respective public registry, including your business name for reference.

Vintage Explained
Carbon offsets are generated by a project after completing third-party verification of performing in accordance with the published protocol it is developed under. For example, a reforestation project starts Jan 1, 2013 and is then verified in early 2015. The credits generated by this project will have a vintage of 2013 and 2014, the years in which the emissions reductions occurred.

Flight Emissions

Global Measurement Standards

The UN ICAO organization aggregates airline carbon emissions data from 190+ reporting countries, including aircraft types, fuel consumption, passenger/freight ratios and passenger load factors. Using this and a radiative forcing factor of 1.9 we calculate emissions of flights either using real data when available, or with averages based on most common flight routes to and from destinations-including typical stop overs to account for take-offs.

Radiative Forcing Explained
When flying at altitude, planes emit planet warming pollutants beyond CO2-such as water vapour, aerosols and nitrogen oxides. According to a special report by the IPCC, this results in aviation having an overall climate impact two to four times higher than from CO2 emissions alone. Learn more here