From the course: Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability: ESG and the Future of Business

Understanding carbon emissions

From the course: Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability: ESG and the Future of Business

Understanding carbon emissions

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- [Instructor] Measuring and tracking where an organization stands in the pantheon of carbon emissions is a crucial first step in developing a mitigation strategy. Let's take a look at the three main scopes of carbon emissions. Scope one. These are emissions from operations that are owned or controlled by the reporting company. Examples include emissions from combustion in owned or controlled boilers, furnaces, vehicles, et cetera. Scope two. These are emissions from the generation of purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heating, or cooling consumed by the reporting company. Examples include use of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and or cooling. Scope three. These include all indirect emissions not included in scope two that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions. Examples include production of purchase products, transportation of purchase products, or use of sold products. Scope three emissions are generally considered to be more than 80% of a company's total carbon footprint. Now that you understand the main scopes of emissions, let's discuss some of the key regulations around ESG sustainability.

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