The Value of Certification in Carbon Reporting

Whilst we continue in a world of mixed messages, lack of clarity about ESG and carbon reporting requirements, there are three things to consider before you start your carbon reporting journey.

1. What is the purpose of carbon reporting in your business?

If you’re preparing the numbers to provide to a supplier, you may need to ensure that you have the figures certified. Recently, one of our clients was visited by a client representative to view their business operations, discuss ESG and carbon reporting, and discuss their sustainability initiatives to determine whether they will continue to be a preferred supplier. The representative was clear that while certification wasn’t strictly necessary, it would indicate the seriousness with which the company considered their impact on the environment, their social responsibility and good governance. In addition, certification would elevate the company in the eyes of its clients.

However, if you are seeking to identify your carbon footprint to understand your starting point, identify areas for improvement and use the information for competitive advantage or to get ahead in readiness for mandatory requirements whether legislated or for supply chain negotiations, certification would not be necessary at least in the short term.

2. Are you currently undertaking sustainability projects in your business or plan to do so in the future?

Projects like working to reduce waste, recycling or reducing energy consumption are some of the projects I’ve seen that businesses are already undertaking. That is great. Kudos to them. However, without a carbon baseline report, they are missing out on the benefit of scientific data to show the impact those projects have made on their carbon emissions footprint.

It’s not too late for them to undertake a carbon footprint assessment and start tracking the improvements these projects are making, but they have missed out on their historical data.

Companies about to embark on these types of projects have the opportunity to prepare a carbon baseline report before they start to have the data to show the impact they’re making.

3. Do you supply to large corporations?

If your company supplies to large corporations, you will see requests from them for your carbon footprint data soon.

With the overarching goal of carbon net zero emissions, large corporations will be looking to work with suppliers actively working to reduce their carbon footprint. Future supply chain purchasing decisions will consider both price and carbon emissions data.

Large corporations may require certification of carbon reporting data. It may be possible to provide uncertified data in the short term and work towards obtaining certification in the future.

Whatever your stage in your carbon reporting journey, it is important to consider why you are undertaking the reporting, who you will provide the data to, and whether you need certification.

We are proud to advise that this article was written by the team and not produced by AI.