Set Emissions Inventory

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Describe the need for inventory records.
• Explain how Net Zero Cloud calculates emissions inventory.
• Create an annual emissions inventory record.

Why Do You Need an Emissions Inventory?

An emissions inventory is the accounting of emissions from a particular source for a certain period. Total emissions inventory is the sum of emissions from all sources for a specific period. Science–based targets (SBTs) are developed based on the emissions inventory of the base year, which is the year from when you want to set your targets.

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) recommends that companies select the most recent year for which data is available as the inventory year. An accurate emissions inventory serves as a strong foundation to generate precise short-term and long-term targets.

Sam Rajan wants to calculate the emissions inventory for Northern Trail Outfitters (NTO), which is in line with the latest Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. This protocol is the most used global standard for measuring, managing, and reporting GHG emissions. 

The out-of-the-box computation capabilities of Net Zero Cloud can make Sam’s life easier! Let’s see how.

How Can Net Zero Cloud Help?

Net Zero Cloud aggregates emissions across a company’s assets and procurement activities for a year to provide the total annual emissions inventory. The application uses the individual emissions of the company’s scope 1 and scope 2, and scope 3 emissions from the relevant scope 3 categories for the inventory year. 

There are two approaches for inventory creation. In the Calculate inventory from Net Zero Cloud approach, Net Zero Cloud uses the underlying carbon footprints and calculates the inventory automatically. In the Enter carbon emissions inventory values approach, Sam must manually specify the carbon emissions values. 

Let’s follow along as Sam explores each approach.

Approach 1: Calculate Inventory from Net Zero Cloud

With this approach, the automated workflow in Net Zero Cloud calculates the inventory using the relevant underlying carbon footprint (CF) and waste footprint (WF) records.

Emissions from CF and WF records are aggregated into the annual emissions inventory if they meet the following conditions.

• The Reporting Year on a CF or WF record matches the Year that is selected during inventory creation.
• The Footprint Stage on a CF or WF record matches the Footprint Stage that is selected during inventory creation.
• The Annual Emissions Inventory on a CF record is associated with an inventory record.

Let’s follow Sam as he evaluates each of these conditions.

Condition 1: If the Reporting Year on a CF or WF record matches the year that is selected during inventory creation, emissions from the record are aggregated into the annual emissions inventory.  

The reporting year is based on the reporting year type, which can be either calendar year or fiscal year. By default, the reporting year type is Calendar Year. To check the reporting year type, Sam can navigate to Setup → Net Zero Configurations, and check the value for Set Default Reporting Year Type.

If the reporting year on the CF or WF record is blank, Net Zero Cloud determines the reporting year using the start and end dates on the record. If these dates fall within the reporting year boundary, as defined by the reporting year type, the CF or WF record is considered in inventory calculation. 

If Net Zero Cloud is unable to determine the reporting year for a CF or WF record, then that record is excluded from the inventory. For example, if a CF record does not have start and end dates, or if any of these dates overlaps the reporting year boundary, meaning that they don’t fall within the same year. 

Let’s look at an example. Sam wants to create an inventory for the year 2021. The reporting year type for NTO is Calendar Year. This table lists the underlying CF records for which Sam hasn’t provided reporting year values. 

Net Zero Cloud uses the start and end dates on these records to compute the reporting years. For Q1 Procurement CF record, the end date is 2/1/2022, which falls outside the 2021 calendar year. Hence, Net Zero Cloud ignores this record in the inventory.

Condition 2: If the Footprint Stage on a CF or WF record matches the Footprint Stage selected during inventory creation, emissions from that record are aggregated into the annual emissions inventory.

Consider that the stage of complete CF and WF records in NTO is Internal Audit. When Sam creates an inventory record with Internal Audit selected as the carbon and waste footprint stage for its emission sources, only CF and WF records that are marked with this stage are considered for inventory creation. Footprint records in stages other than Internal Audit will be ignored.

Condition 3: If the Annual Emissions Inventory on a CF record has an associated inventory record, emissions from the CF record are aggregated into that inventory.

While creating a CF record, Sam can associate it with a new or existing inventory record. Net Zero Cloud aggregates emissions from all CF records that have added a lookup into the same Annual Emissions Inventory record.

For example, if Sam associates the CF record for a stationary asset with the annual emissions inventory record, NTO’s Carbon Inventory, then emissions from this CF record will be considered in the annual emissions inventory calculation. 

Approach 2: Enter Carbon Emissions Inventory Values

Using this approach, Sam can manually specify total carbon emissions for each scope in Net Zero Cloud. He can also enter the breakdown of emissions per emissions activity related to the stationary, vehicle assets, and procurement activities. Net Zero Cloud aggregates the emissions per emissions activity to compute the total scope-wise emissions and total emissions for the year. This approach gives Sam the flexibility to go ahead with inventory creation even when he doesn’t have all his carbon footprint records in Net Zero Cloud. 

Sam can use the override fields to enter the carbon emissions, such as Scope 1 Emissions from Commercial Buildings Override (tCO₂e). 

After saving the record, values from the override fields are copied over to the calculated inventory fields. 

Sam can further override the emissions. Note that values from the override fields will always overwrite the values in the calculated inventory fields. 

Sam is now ready to create the emissions inventory record for 2021. He’s already created CF records for 2021, which he plans to use. 

Let’s Inventory

To create an emissions inventory record, Sam opens Science-Based Targets. 

Here’s how Sam creates the emissions inventory record.

1. From the Lightning Console dropdown list on the Net Zero Cloud app, open Science-Based Targets.
2. Click Set Emissions Inventory.
3. On the Set Emissions Inventory page, click Newand specify the following details:
   • Name: NTO’s Carbon Inventory
   • Year: 2021
     If an inventory record exists for a year, then it isn’t available for selection in the picklist. Net Zero Cloud allows only one inventory record per year.
   • How do you want to create this record? Calculate inventory from Net Zero Cloud
     • Stationary Asset Carbon Footprint Stage: Internal Audit 
     • Vehicle Asset Carbon Footprint Stage: Internal Audit 
     • Scope 3 Carbon Footprint Stage: Internal Audit
     • Waste Footprint Stage: Internal Audit
       Only CF and WF records with the selected footprint stage are considered for inventory calculation.
4. Click Submit.

The inventory aggregation process takes place behind the scenes asynchronously and can take some time to complete. After a few minutes, Sam opens the NTO’s Carbon Inventory Annual Emissions Inventory record and reviews the sections on the page. 

The summary section gives a quick overview of the inventory record, with information about the year for which the inventory is computed, scope-wise emissions, and total emissions. Sam can use the other sections to drill down into each scope and see total scope-wise emissions and their breakup.

He can override the value of any of the emissions, if needed. He can also use these override fields to add supplemental emissions that could have gotten missed in the computation or to lower the emissions numbers if the number seems inflated.

Let’s consider an example. Sam realizes that for his inventory, he needs to account for supplemental scope 1 emissions from private jets emissions. So in the Scope 1 Emissions from Private Jets Override (tCO₂e) field in the NTO’s Carbon Inventory Annual Emissions Inventory record, he enters 50.

After saving the record, the inventory is automatically calculated. 

If Sam were to make any changes to the emissions factors that underlie his energy use records, those changes do not automatically force a recalculation of the energy use records, the CF records, the WF records, or the annual inventory records. He would need to initiate a recalculation of the energy use records by selecting Recalculate from the quick actions menu in the inventory record. The inventory, including the associated CF, WF, and energy use records, is recalculated from the ground up. 

Sam reviews the updated scope 3 emissions and is happy with the results. He locks this record to avoid any accidental updates. To do so, from the quick actions menu, he selects Lock. Locking the inventory record locks all its child CF records as well. 

The annual emissions inventory from Net Zero Cloud meets the GHG Protocol standards. It can be used to set SBTs, to understand the year-on-year emissions trend, and to forecast future trends. 

With an inventory record in place, Sam is ready to move toward the final step of setting targets. 

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Set Emissions Inventory
• External Site: Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
• External Site: The Greenhouse Gas Protocol