Glossary

What is the carbon footprint of companies?

What is the CO₂ footprint?

The carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the activities of a private individual, a product, a service or a company. These emissions are measured over a specific period of time - usually one year.

The term "carbon footprint" originated in the 1990s, when an oil company brought the term to people's attention. To divert attention from its own machinations, BP 's PR agency used the carbon footprint to shift responsibility for climate change onto private individuals. Today, not only oil companies, but also other companies, organizations and government agencies use the term carbon footprint.

What types of CO₂ footprint are there?

  • The carbon footprint or ecological footprint of private individuals is based on information from the areas of living, travel, mobility and other sources of emissions. CO2 calculators help you get an overview of your own emissions and calculate your personalcarbon footprint.
  • The product carbon footprint refers to theCO2 emissions ofa product. These emissions are generated during production, within the life cycle of a product or during disposal. 
  • The corporate carbon footprint, as the footprint is also known in the corporate context, describes the total emissions of a company.
Example CO2 footprint for a company

Importance of the CO₂ footprint for companies

In the context of sustainability and increasing political guidelines, calculating the carbon footprint is becoming increasingly important for companies. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) makes the carbon footprint mandatory for many companies: retroactively for the 2024 financial year, the majority of companies across Europe must report on their carbon management.

In addition, a lower carbon footprint not only signals a commitment to climate protection, but also improves competitiveness by increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

How can companies calculate their carbon footprint?

With the help of specialized consulting companies or CO₂ calculators in the form of software solutions, companies can calculate their CO₂ footprint. This requires a precise analysis of all operational processes, from energy use to transportation routes and material procurement. The emissions are then calculated on the basis of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol according to Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3. These scopes define the different categories of greenhouse gas emissions and divide them into indirect and direct emissions.

CO2 footprint calculator within the Planted software

Reduction of the corporate carbon footprint

By calculating theircarbon footprint, companies get an overview of theirCO2 hotspots and can reduce theircarbon footprint through various measures. Software solutions such as Planted not only help to calculate emissions, but also enable companies to set up a long-term reduction path with specific targets and reduction measures. 

Reducing thecarbon footprint is particularly important for companies, as these individual measures in particular actively contribute to climate protection and CO2 emissions in individual areas can be avoided altogether. The reduction is therefore a central component of a company's holistic sustainability strategy.