Carbon Management
How to Select Emission Factors for Carbon Accounting
Emissions calculations often multiply activity data by an appropriate emission factor. Reliability depends on how well the factor represents the facility activity, fuel and reporting boundary, not merely on how recent it is.
Hierarchy and representativeness
Where available, use verified supplier or facility data, then country- and sector-specific factors, with generic defaults as a fallback. The chosen source should match the activity by technology, geography and period.
Unit and calorific-value pitfalls
Mixing litres, kilograms, standard cubic metres and energy units can create major errors. Lower- or higher-heating-value conventions and the global-warming-potential set used for CO2e conversion must remain consistent across the inventory.
Versioning and evidence
Store the source link, publication year, unit, geography and conversions for every factor. When a factor changes, apply a documented recalculation policy instead of silently rewriting historical inventories.
Sources
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