Carbon footprint
In the early 21st century, with the Kyoto Protocol that calls for the reduction of the six gazes that have the most impact on the greenhouse effect and the global warming, the concept of carbon footprint replaced the one of ecological footprint.
In environmental chemical engineering and in the disciplines in which the impact of human activity on the environment is studied, the concept of ecological footprint was used. The ecological footprint is a weighted average with which it is established what extent of the natural area, with its resources and raw materials including the corresponding portion of the atmosphere, needs to be exploited, and in fact is exploited, per person and year.
It is evident that the ecological footprint of an inhabitant of an industrialized country is far superior to those of residents in other nations, and that there are people with an ecological footprint far superior to others, because of their lifestyle or consumption habits.
But the growing problem of the greenhouse effect, caused in large part because more carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere than it is capable of compensating through vegetation and/or through the industrial reuse of the CO2 generated, has made the concept carbon footprint more relevant.
Carbon Footprint Services
Tandem HSE conducts the study of the carbon footprint either of all your company, or of just a selected production line, according to the UNE-ISO 14064-1 standard.
The UNE-EN ISO 14064:2019 standard about the greenhouse effect gases has as the main objective to offer truthfulness to greenhouse gas emissions reports (GHG). This standard is divided into 3 families:
- UNE —ISO 14064-1 standard, in which are detailed the requirements for the design, management and development of the reports about the greenhouse gas (GHG) stocks at the organization’s level.
- UNE —ISO 14064-2 standard, focused on the projects designed to reduce or compensate for the GHG.
- UNE —ISO 14064-3 standard, that regroups the principles and the requirements to complete a validation and verification of the stocks and the GHG reduction projects.
Once we have carried out the study in accordance with the indications contained in the UNE-ISO 14064-1 Standard, we will proceed to offer you a personalized improvement plan for your company, with a series of measures to be implemented and the calculation of the percentage value of emission reduction expected in a certain period of time.
Improvement plans for the reduction of GHG emissions are usually indicative, with a series of measures that are not always feasible to adopt in the short or medium term, almost always for economic reasons, and related to the return on investment.
On the other hand, with the customized improvement plans we are already aware almost from the beginning of those limitations, and we will offer viable proposals within a period of time pre-established by you, leaving the other measures to you taking into account that the carbon footprint reduction project does not depend on them. In other words, Tandem HSE will deliver the improvement plans adapted to the resources and possibilities of your company.
What is the Carbon Footprint?
It is a numerical value that is a weighted average, calculated for each human being that lives on the planet as well as specific countries or regions.
The carbon footprint is an environmental indicator that measures all greenhouse gas emissions produced, directly or indirectly, by an individual, a country, a specific product, etc. It is expressed in mass of equivalent CO2.
To determine the carbon footprint of a product or of a chemical process, we need to conduct a series of studies that will allow to know, in addition to the numerical value, which steps are contributing most to that carbon footprint, and study if it is possible to reduce the environmental impact of those steps, or implement measures to reuse or compensate the effect of the greenhouse gases generated
