Carbon Business Assessment 2023 update
Earthy Nail Polish in association with Tunley Engineering and Birmingham University publish our Carbon Business Assessment and the roadmap to net zero.
Introduction
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The Business Carbon Assessment was completed to the international standard BS EN ISO 14064-1 and the GHG protocol. Quantification of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions arising from business activities and product processing are completed by emission factors of the Greenhouse gas reporting; conversion factors published by DEFRA, the UK Government Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for 2023.
Carbon equivalent data conversions were calculated by greenhouse gas reporting: 2023 published by the UK Government Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Additionally, the inventory of Carbon and Energy has provided carbon equivalent data conversions for complex materials. Emission Factors were taken from Environmental Protection Declaration(EPD) documents of relevant materials or estimated using data from Defra 2023, with reasonable assumptions.
The assessment is based on data categorised into three scopes defined by the greenhouse protocol. The assessment provides detailed qualification of GHG emissions due to:
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(i) Scope 1: Direct Emissions, such as those arising from
travel or company-owned vehicles and fuel consumption by heating
(ii) Scope2: Indirect emissions from purchased electric usage
(iii) Scope 3: other indirect emissions. This includes the usage of water, office-based materials, plastics, and transportation activities carried out by external companies.
Specifically, the business carbon assessment aims to:
(iv) Quantify total emissions as part of a business carbon assessment to highlight the critical contributors to Cosmetic Consulting Companies' annual emissions.
(v) Breakdown data by scope and by source to emphasise the origin of emission and potential ways to address these
(vi) Compare carbon emissions from Bamboo and plastic to highlight the environmentally beneficial solutions.
This Business Carbon Assessment was completed for Cosmetic Consulting Company, and their brand's Earthy Nail Polish, Mother Nailture and Celeste Make Up for 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2023.
Data and Analysis
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Scope 1 Emissions
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As CCC does not own company vehicles or company cars in the test period, the only applicable scope of emission is fuel consumption by heating.
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We note an increase in emissions of 0.35 tonnes. This is due to the change in conversion factors from the UK Government Department for Energy Security. Consumption remains the same; if 2022 conversions were applied, emissions would be constant.
Scope 2 Emissions
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Scope 2 emissions have a smaller number of contributing factors than scopes 1 and 3, and as a result, is a more straightforward section to review. The sole emission source for Cosmetic Consulting Company for scope 2 was electricity usage
We note an increase in emissions of 0.08 tons. This is due to the change in conversion factors from the UK Government Department for Energy Security. Consumption remains the same; if 2022 conversions were applied, emissions would be constant.
Scope 3 Emissions
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in an organisation's upstream and downstream activities. This is where the majority of CCC's carbon emissions are produced. To identify the carbon emission, we must first determine the life cycle of our products.
We recognise the fact that not all our finished goods are returned to us by the end consumer – this may be due to the product still being in use (the product has a shelf life of 24 months once opened) or the end user has decided to dispose of the cap rather than return to CCC.
The scope of the three breakdowns can be categorised below.
The reduction in air freight has increased other freight emissions, albeit at a lower rate. 78% of all CCC emissions relate to freight.
Discussion and Emission reduction
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Scope 1
Gas Heating related to 3.02tco2e of scope one emissions. It is possible to reduce these emissions by installing electric heating, though this would only result in a net decrease with a 100% renewable certified energy tariff. This would mean that your energy is provided by renewable options only, instead of fossil sources, thus reducing the carbon burden.
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Scope 2
CCC scope two emissions arise from electricity consumption. As cutting consumption is frequently an unreasonable demand, a logical solution is to use a multipronged method to lower the emission value. Solar panels can have an impact. If CCC's electricity were used to supply solar energy, this would reduce the emission burden by 1.17 to 2e.
Scope 3
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CCC scope three emissions are generated mainly from freight, and a reduction of the ocean would see a 1916 tco2e reduction in emissions. The use of EV road vehicles would have the possibility of reducing 2236.92 tco2e
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Using Bamboo as material instead of plastic has resulted in a beneficial 55.18 tco2e.
Roadmap to Net Zero
Total carbon emissions for CCC for the year ending 31st December 2023 was 7590 tCO2e. As we have already established, most carbon emissions are due to freight and a change in how goods are moved. To that extent, CCC will make the following changes as part of the roadmap to net zero:
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(1) All Freight is to be freighted by rail instead of the road – saving 1,058 tCo2e
(2) All Freight out to be freighted by rail instead of road – saving 2,095 tCo2e
(3) Increase return and reuse from 16% to 26%, saving 666 tCo2e
(4) To reduce the remaining amount, CCC will carbon offset
Offsetting can be purchased using the gold standard projects such as:
https://marketplace.goldstandard.org/products/sustainable-carbon-projetos-ambientais-ltda-buenos-aires-renewable-energy-project
Conclusion
In conclusion, Cosmetic Consulting Company has followed its roadmap to net zero and has successfully reduced its carbon footprint by 33% or 3747tCo2e2 from 2002 to the end of 2023.
As of the end of 2023, Cosmetic Consulting Company has total emissions of 7,598 tC02e, which can be broken down by scope.
There have been increases year on year for scopes 1 & 2; however, these have been due to annual government conversion factors changes, and usage has remained constant.
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Multiple carbon reduction options have been explored, with the emission reductions for implementing these calculated and applied to the CCC roadmap to net zero. It is envisioned that by implementing some or all of these options, CCC can significantly reduce its annual emissions.