Sustainable Management
Helo123
6.pptx
Why is energy typically the metric of greatest concern to organizations looking to improve upon their sustainability?
What processes may an organization use to guide their energy management strategy?
5 - Energy: in Review
Schedule & Learning Objectives
The Greenhouse Effect
Greenhouse gases
Climate Change & Business: Impacts & Issues
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Paris Agreement & Mechanisms for Change – Carbon Markets
Impact on Business
Reporting on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Energy and Greenhouse Gases
Often it is assumed that energy consumption is an accurate proxy of GHG emissions; however, while they are correlated it is important to measure both metrics separately
Energy
Greenhouse gases
Greenhouse Effect
The naturally occurring greenhouse effect keeps Earth’s average temperature at 15ᴼC – without it we would experience an average temperature of – 18ᴼC and life as we know it would not be possible!
Following industrialization, concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased, which has led to global warming and climate change
Greenhouse Effect Greenhouse Gases I
| Greenhouse Gas | Pre-Industrial Levels (1800s) | Current Levels (2013) |
| Carbon Dioxide (CO2) | 280ppm | 395ppm |
| Methane (CH4) | 715ppb | 1774ppb |
| Nitrous Oxide (N2O) | 270ppb | 323ppb |
| Chlorofluoro -carbons CFCs & HFCs | 0 | 553ppt |
(Adapted from: NOAA, 2013)
Greenhouse Effect Greenhouse Gases II
The contribution of individual GHGs to global warming depends on properties intrinsic to each gas, including:
Residency (R.) time – how long the gas remains in the atmosphere
Absorption efficiency – how much heat the gas can absorb
Residency time + Absorption eff. = Global warming potential (GWP)
Abundance – how much of the gas exists in the atmosphere
GWP + Abundance = Relative Contribution
Greenhouse Effect Greenhouse Gases III
| Greenhouse Gas | Current Levels (2013) | R. Time | Abs. | GWP |
| Carbon Dioxide (CO2) | 395ppm | variable (50 yrs) | low | 1 |
| Methane (CH4) | 1774ppb | 15 yrs | high | 21 |
| Nitrous Oxide (N2O) | 323ppb | 100+ yrs | high | 310 |
| Chlorofluoro -carbons CFCs & HFCs | 553ppt | 50 – 100 yrs | very high | 5 000 |
| Relative Contribution |
| 68% |
| 15% |
| 6% |
| 11% |
Climate Change & Business Impacts & Issues
ghg
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Established in 1992, the UNFCCC is “a framework for international cooperation to combat climate change by limiting average global temperature increases and the resulting climate change…” (UNFCCC, 2014)
Paris Agreement
Re-focus and strengthen commitments under the Kyoto Protocol’s second commitment period
Nationally determined contributions
Funding mechanism for developing nations
Flexibility in achieving goals: joint implementations, carbon mechanisms, etc.
Do some research!
Provide two reasons why the Paris agreement may fail and two reasons why the Paris agreement may succeed
Impact on Business
So, what does this all mean for business?
The primary process for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is for each country to prepare and communicate national climate plans
These plans will provide businesses and investors with a forecast of the regulatory environments in which they operate or seek to operate
Incentive for low carbon innovation and investment
Carbon Markets: Cap & Trade vs Carbon Tax
Carbon markets allow business to determine how best to reduce greenhouse gas emission
There are different methods including cap and trade (Ontario until 2018) and carbon tax (British Columbia)
Reporting on Greenhouse Gases
So, why are more corporations reporting on greenhouse gases every year?
Regulatory requirements
As part of internal management efforts (ISO14001, for example!)
Consumer demand for transparency and corporate social responsibility
Investor demand for transparency: the role of the CDP
Reporting on Greenhouse Gases
A variety of standards (ISO 14064) and protocols (Greenhouse Gas Protocol) exist – the government has their own method, as well
Key considerations:
Define the operations boundary: the sources of GHGs that will be included in the inventory
Define the organizational boundary: the parts of the organization (facilities, equipment, etc.) that will be included in the inventory
Data collection
Reporting on GHG Emissions 1. Operational Boundary
Scope 1 & 2 are mandatory components of a GHG inventory
Scope 3 is optional; but, should not be ignored!
Reporting on GHG Emissions 1. Operational Boundary II
Consider the issues and opportunities associated with Walmart’s GHG inventory:
Why may it be difficult for Walmart to provide an accurate report on GHG emissions?
What opportunities exist for Walmart and their GHG reporting?
Reporting on GHG Emissions 2. Organizational Boundary
| % of GHG Emissions Attributed to the Facility | ||||
| Facility | % Ownership | Operational control? | Equity share approach | Control approach |
| Company owned | 100 | Yes | 100 | 100 |
| Leased | 0 | No | 0 | 0 |
| Leased | 0 | Yes | 0 | 100 |
| Joint venture | 50 | No | 50 | 0 |
| Joint venture | 50 | Yes | 50 | 100 |
Reporting on GHG Emissions 3. Collecting Data
| Emission Source | Scope | Data Source Examples |
| Stationary fuel consumption (i.e. natural gas or oil) | 1 | Invoices from utilities or fuel providers |
| Mobile fuel consumption (i.e. transportation of company vehicles) | 1 | Vehicle fuel consumption logs /read odometer at regular intervals |
| Process emissions (metals industry) | 1 | Consumption records of relevant inputs, such as lime, coke, etc.) |
| Fugitive emissions | 1 | Refrigerant recharge records/industry averages |
| Purchased electricity | 2 | Invoices from utilities |
| Purchased goods and services | 3 | Data from suppliers or LCA databases |
| Employee commuting | 3 | Survey employees/research |
Reporting on GHG Emissions 3. Collecting Data II
Estimation of missing data should be avoided; however, there are no clear guidelines on dealing with missing data
Some examples of how to deal with missing data:
Use an average of the previous and following months’ values
Use the value from the same month during the previous year
So, now that we have the data, we are ready to calculate the GHG emissions!
Calculating GHG Emissions
There are two general approaches used to calculate GHG emissions:
Direct Measurement Approach: monitoring GHG concentrations and flow rate
used by very large emitters only
Emissions Factor Approach: used by most organizations
Emissions factors and GWP are published by leading reporting organization (GHG Protocol, etc.) and are updated to reflect advances in science/changes in electricity mix
CO2e = Amount x Emission Factor x GWP
Summary & Next Steps
What is the greenhouse effect, how is it connected to global warming/climate change and why it this business critical?
What motivates organizations to manage ghg?
How can an organize measure and monitor ghg?
Next class – Waste Management
Look at key topic #3: Waste and sustainable operations
Complete the assigned reading via E-Conestoga
Show up prepared to conduct an in-class waste audit
