Environmental auditing: Estimating and reducing corporate greenhouse-gas emissions using monitoring and targeting software systems

Abstract

Current concerns about global warming, the alleged increasing greenhouse effect, environmental instability and sustainable developments have prompted organisations to devise and implement environment audits. These are undertaken in order to assess the impact an organisation's activities have on the environment and should include obtaining estimates for the airborne pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions produced. Recommendations are normally made to lessen detrimental effects on the environment and these aims are increasingly incorporated in organisations' environment policies. Reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and improving corporate profitability can be mutually compatible. Estimating emissions from multi-site organisations (as part of a corporate environmental audit) can be a difficult and lengthy task. The present paper describes a computer model, which has been developed to estimate corporate greenhouse-gas and airborne-pollutant emissions from readily-available fuel-invoice information and/or plant details. How monitoring and targeting techniques, developed for energy-thrift campaigns, can be used to monitor and reduce corporate greenhouse-gas emissions, with little or no capital outlay, by reducing energy waste, are also described.