There is growing pressure from both shareholders and consumers for companies to provide more transparency around greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), so much so that calculating and reporting GHG emissions is now fundamental to all levels of an organization. GHG emissions might be used in investor reports, organization goals, marketing material, procurement decisions, capital project evaluations, or risk management plans. Such a fundamental metric needs a robust management systems to ensure relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, and accuracy.

Foresight starts all GHG management by learning about your organization and the associated underlying emissions data. We set a boundary based on your scope of assessment and dig into the emissions related data like utility bills, vehicles miles, and refrigerant inventories. We research your facilities’ energy grids and calculating overall usage across sources throughout the year. We synthesize all of this data to put together a full inventory of emissions generating activities within your boundary. This becomes your annual footprint and can be used to complete any assessments by various governing bodies or create a company’s custom sustainability report.

• Ability to create a custom sustainability report or complete a CDP response
• Transparency for shareholders and consumers
• Measurable progress in sustainability
• Improving brands’ visibility

Client Profile
Global manufacturer with over 70 locations worldwide averaging over $4 billion in revenue

Before Foresight
Like most large manufacturers, this company was not aware of its energy sourcing options and purchased a blend of renewable and non-renewable energy for their second-largest facility. They assumed that fully renewable energy would be more expensive than their current contracts. However, they were interested in both measuring and reducing their GHG emissions. Faced with a mountain of data to analyze and synthesize, the company reached out to Foresight for guidance.

After Foresight
Foresight was already collecting and organizing their utility bills each month, so it was a natural next step to enlist our team of experts to analyze this data for both scope one and scope two emissions. Considering their plants’ utility bills, other uses of propane and gasoline, and emissions from their electricity supplier, we could determine their carbon equivalent for the year. With accurate GHG numbers in hand, the team strategized and pursued more sustainable options. We were able to rewrite their entire energy portfolio by researching sustainable options, facilitating bids from suppliers, and negotiating new contracts. Now, their facility uses 100% renewable wind energy through a regionalized supplier. In addition to renewable energy in their portfolio, Foresight helped save them $400,000 over the five-year contract. Our client found renewable energy that scaled to their needs, reduced their carbon footprint, and decreased operating costs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Reporting of greenhouse gas emissions should happen annually. It can often be a scramble to collect all of the data at the end of the year to report in the first quarter of the new year. We recommend a robust data collection process and management system.

Managing emissions is like managing energy. It is not required, but it can save you money, provide resiliency to swings in the market, and make you more attractive to customers.

If we are already collecting the data, GHG analysis is generally between $5,000 and $20,000 per year, depending on the company’s size and complexity. A GHG Management System has to be built in conjunction with excellent data collection.