We have gone over Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and the EU LCA-framework PEF (Product Environmental Footprint). 

But we'll hazard a guess that getting an in-depth assessment of your product’s environmental impact throughout its life cycle is not what everyone is looking for. 

Instead, carbon accounting might do the trick. 

What’s the difference between carbon accounting and LCAs? 

LCAs cover a bunch (up to 16, actually) of different of environmental impact indicators, such as CO2 emissions, water usage, chemicals, and so on. 

Yes, very comprehensive. 

In comparison, carbon accounting focuses only on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 

One of the most common ways of doing it is following the GHG Protocol, which divides emissions into three scopes – Scope 1 (own direct emissions), Scope 2 (own indirect emissions), and Scope 3 (value chain emissions). 

We are sure that you have heard about this by know, so we won’t go into more detail about the scopes here. 

Should you go with carbon accounting or an LCA (or neither)? 

LCAs are expensive. They are time-consuming. And they are comprehensive. 

An LCA is no small matter seeing they look at the environmental footprint of your product from cradle-to-grave or cradle-to-gate. 

Carbon accounting only takes one of the aspects from an LCA into account – GHG emissions. 

But they are less expensive and time-consuming than LCAs. 

While both can highlight significant areas where you can make a change, doing a large-scale analysis of the entire organization is easier and faster with carbon accounting. 

So, if one of your goals is to get an idea about where to focus your ESG efforts and start designing for impact without spending a lot of money and time, carbon accounting might just be the thing for you. 

You’ve decided on carbon accounting - what do you do from there? 

Great question. 

Because where should you start? 

What data should you collect and where do you get it from? 

We may have made carbon accounting sound super simple, but calculating Scope 3 emissions can also be a hurdle. 

Luckily, there are companies popping up all around specializing in just that – for instance, check out Made2Flow. 

And you don’t have to worry, you’ve also got us. 

We can help you throughout the entire process, from data collection to report writing. 

So, what are you waiting for? Reach out now by clicking the button below!