Working out your emissions
Turning bills, mileage, travel, waste and spend into kg CO2e, one activity at a time, with the current factors.
28 posts
- Water use in your carbon footprint: should you count it?
The 2026 water supply and wastewater factors, which scope they sit in, a worked example and why hot water matters more.
- Cloud, servers and laptops: counting and cutting IT emissions
Where laptops, cloud hosting and server cupboards sit in your footprint, a worked example with Defra's multipliers, and how to cut them.
- What recycling really saves compared with landfill
Why the government waste factors only credit recycling for materials that rot, what recycling saves in the real world, and who gets the credit.
- Train or plane: the carbon numbers for UK and European trips
Return trips from London to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam by air and by rail, with the 2026 government factors.
- Rooftop solar: what it does to your Scope 2
How solar you use on site cuts Scope 2, why exports don't count under the GHG Protocol, and a worked example with the 2026 grid factor.
- REGOs explained: what your green tariff actually buys
What a REGO certificate is, what it does and doesn't change in your Scope 2 figures, how to check your tariff, and the GHG Protocol review.
- Agencies and consultancies: when the footprint is mostly people
Counting commuting, homeworking, travel and bought-in freelancers for an agency or consultancy, with a worked example and where to cut.
- The carbon footprint of an event or conference
What to include in an event footprint, how to collect the data, and a worked example for a one-day, 200-person conference.
- Hauliers: tonne-km reporting for customers
How to give each customer their share of your fleet's emissions per tonne-km, with chilled loads, subcontracted legs and a worked example.
- Restaurants and cafés: food purchases and kitchen gas
How to count the food and drink you buy, kitchen gas, refrigerant and food waste, with a worked example for a 40-cover restaurant.
- Cleaning companies: chemicals, vans and travel between sites
What a cleaning firm's footprint is made of, how to count chemicals and consumables from spend, and a worked example.
- Construction sites: diesel, generators and plant hire
Whose Scope 1 site diesel is, how to count generators and dry or wet hired plant, which factor to use since the red diesel change, and a worked example.
- HVO: does it really cut your Scope 1?
HVO's 2026 Scope 1 and well-to-tank factors next to diesel and gas oil, a worked fuel switch and why the supply chain figure keeps moving.
- Transmission and distribution losses: Scope 2 or Scope 3?
Why grid losses are Scope 3 category 3 for electricity users, the T&D factor for every year since 2019 and how to calculate it.
- Well-to-tank emissions explained
The supply chain emissions behind your gas, fuel and electricity: Scope 3 category 3, the 2026 factors and a worked example.
- What CO2e means and why methane counts more
Carbon dioxide equivalent in plain English: global warming potentials, the 2026 values for methane, nitrous oxide and refrigerants, and a worked example.
- Location-based vs market-based: does a green tariff cut your footprint?
The two Scope 2 figures, what REGOs do, and which number goes in your Carbon Reduction Plan.
- Purchased goods and services for a small firm: a worked example
What goes in Scope 3 category 1, the four calculation methods, and a worked example showing which purchases matter most.
- Spend-based Scope 3: using the government's free multipliers
Turn your purchase ledger into a Scope 3 estimate with Defra's spend-based emissions multipliers: what to leave out, a worked example and how to improve it.
- Electric vans and cars: how to count charging at home, work and on the road
Which scope EV charging goes in, the 2026 per-mile factors next to petrol and diesel, and how to avoid counting depot charging twice.
- Refrigerant leaks and air conditioning: the Scope 1 most firms miss
Kilograms topped up times the 2026 factor for the gas, where your F gas records come in, and why one leak can outweigh a year of electricity.
- Working from home emissions: should a small firm count them?
The 2026 homeworking factor per full-time-equivalent hour, what it covers, a worked example for a hybrid team, and where it sits in Scope 3.
- Flights for business: why the radiative forcing uplift matters
What radiative forcing is, how much it adds to the 2026 flight factors, and the 8% distance mistake to avoid.
- Hotel stays and business travel: how to count them in your footprint
Room nights times the government factor for the country: the 2026 figures, a worked example, and the mistakes to avoid.
- Waste emissions for small businesses: using your waste contractor's data
Tonnes by waste stream and disposal route, the 2026 waste factors, and what to do when you only know the number of bin lifts.
- Employee commuting emissions without surveying everyone
Survey a sample, scale it up to your headcount, add homeworking, and explain the method in your plan.
- Company car and grey fleet emissions: how to calculate them
Litres or miles, which 2026 car factor to use, and why company cars are Scope 1 but employees' own cars are Scope 3.
- How to convert gas meter readings to kWh and CO2e
Metric and imperial meters, the volume correction factor, calorific value and the 2026 gas factor, with a worked example.