Operations - how are calculated my emissions?

SUMMARY

• Marketing and communication - direct access
  • Paid online advertising - direct access
  • Free social media - direct access
  • Email - direct access
  • Other advertising expenses - direct access
  • Organised events - direct access
• Software and telecommunications - direct access
  • Software used - direct access
  • Telephony - direct access
  • Videoconferencing - direct access
• Downstream/customer deliveries - direct access
• Add an emission factor - direct access

 

 

 

Marketing and communication

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Paid online advertising

You can add multiple online advertising expenses from a list of services for greater accuracy (Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Snap Ads, etc.).

Details of Carbo's EF calculations:

We calculate the emission factors of online advertising platforms based on their location-based GHG Protocol carbon footprints and their revenue.

Sources: Meta 2021 Sustainability Report, Google 2022 Environmental Report, Microsoft 2022 Environmental Sustainability Report, Snap 2022 Citizen Snap Report.

These emission factors (EFs) have an uncertainty of +/- 70%. We estimate that we improve accuracy by around 10% compared to using the EFs from the ADEME Footprint database.

FE calculation scope: in addition to the ADEME calculation scope (shown in this article), we take into account item 3.3, i.e. employees' commuting. We therefore take into account all scopes, except for the downstream part of indirect emissions scopes.

When online advertising platforms do not take scope 3 sub-items into account in their carbon footprints, we estimate them based on the carbon footprints of other companies in the same sector.


Scope 3.01 estimation methodology - Energy-related emissions outside scope 1 & 2

Scope 3.01 is related to scope 2 emissions.

When electricity is consumed, part of the CO2e emissions are due to combustion at the power plant (scope 2.01). Another part is due to fuel transport and electricity loss in the grid (Scope 3.01).

We have therefore developed a ratio to estimate Scope 3.01 based on Scope 2.01.

Ratio formula: tCO2e_3.01 / (tCO2e_3.01 + tCO2e_2.01)

Methodology for estimating scope 3.03 - Fixed assets

We assume that fixed assets (scope 3.03) - i.e. the construction of buildings and the manufacture of machinery and equipment - represent a fraction of the purchases and services of significant companies in the sector.

We analysed the carbon footprints of several players in the online advertising sector.

This enabled us to establish a ratio for estimating scope 3.03 based on scope 3.02.

Average = ( (tCO2e_3.03 - tCO2e_3.02) / tCO2e_3.02)

 

 

Free social media

With regard to media publication (photos or videos), we rely on studies estimating the electricity consumption associated with this publication by platform type (Facebook, Instagram, etc.).

The emission factors take into account consumption due to data centre hosting and network consumption. We exclude the web server component (management of memory inputs and outputs), which depends on user usage.

Calculation details

Data centre = data volume * power consumption of data storage / 1000 * number of hours in the month * US electricity mix

Network = data volume * data electrical intensity * US electricity mix

Assumptions:

Photo: data volume = 2 MB

Video: data volume = 200 MB

Values from studies (see Digital usage):

Power consumption of data storage: 0.8 W/TB

Data electrical intensity: 0.43 kWh/GB

US electricity mix: 0.416 kgCO2e/kWh

Sources: theshiftproject.org, greenspector.com

Email

This emission factor was calculated by ADEME using the Life Cycle Logic methodology. Click here to open the ADEME guide. 

 

Other advertising expenses

This is a monetary emission factor measured by ADEME. Find out what it means and how it was calculated by clicking here.

 

Organised events

Depending on the number of participants, we estimate the impact using average emission factors calculated using a calculator based on the ADEME Carbon Database.

Software and telecommunications

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Software used

We estimate the impact of all the tools used by employees to manage, process and transform information in order to create content.

For software consumption, we use the carbon footprint of the companies that supply it, when known: we then apply a pro rata calculation between your budget and the turnover of that company to determine the share allocated to you. Where applicable, we use the emission factors in monetary ratios provided by the ADEME carbon database.

This is a monetary emission factor measured by ADEME. Find out what it means and how it was calculated by clicking here.

Telephony

Traditional telephony:

If you provide information on your traditional telephony budget, we will estimate its impact using the monetary emission factor provided by ADEME.

This is a monetary emission factor measured by ADEME. Find out what it means and how it was calculated by clicking here.

VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol):

If you use a VoIP service, enter the number of telephone lines, which is multiplied by the average electricity consumption per line and by the FE of the French electricity mix.

Consumption of a telephone station: 0.09 kWh/station/year (source: Journal of Industrial Ecology - Life Cycle Assessment of ICT)

Videoconferencing

The emission factors for the various videoconferencing services were calculated based on the energy consumption associated with the use of the tools. Source: Greenspector

The methodology used to measure the impact of employee emails is the same as that used for marketing emails.

 

Downstream/customer deliveries

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The tonne-kilometre unit:

To estimate the impact of deliveries, we use tonne-kilometre emission factors that combine the weight transported with the distance to measure freight transport activity. To improve the accuracy of emissions calculations, we calculate tonne-kilometres separately for different transport services. To obtain the total tonne-kilometres for a set of shipments, the weight and distance travelled are multiplied for each shipment, and then the individual tonne-kilometre values are added together.

To know more about the tonne-kilometre unit, read our article.

We do not display all of the emission factors from ADEME's Carbon Database v21.1 here. For the sake of transparency, you can download all of the emission factors used for your carbon footprint on the export page of the Analyse tab.

Methodology for FE outside ADEME Carbon Database:

Our calculation is based on two values and the following assumptions:

• An emission factor from the manufacturer or the Carbon Database in kgCO2e/km, including vehicle manufacturing and consumption. For electric vehicles, we use an FE of 0.113 kgCO2e/t.km
• The vehicle's payload in kg, data obtained from manufacturers.
• Load factor: we use the same assumption as ADEME, namely a truck load factor of 35%. This includes a loaded outward journey and an empty return journey. Source.

Example of an FE calculation:

FIAT Doblo Frigo 2m3

Payload: 470 kg (source)

FE = 0.129/(0.470*0.35) = 0.784 kgCO2e/t.km

To make it easier for you to collect data when you do not know the exact type of transport, we have measured average FEs.

These emission factors were measured by Carbo's Data team using the emission factors from ADEME's Carbon Database. They are either an average of all emission factors in the category or the most representative emission factor.
 

Additional methodology: file import & distance calculation

Carbo allows you to directly import your files containing:

• Either by transmitting the weights transported and the distance per delivery,
• Or by transmitting the weights transported and the departure and arrival cities/addresses.

Add an emission factor

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Would you like to request the addition of an emission factor specific to your activity? Please refer to this article.