Getting ready for your first carbon audit: five things to organise
You’ve measured your organisation’s emissions. Now you’re preparing to have the numbers independently verified.
What should you have ready?
A little preparation can reduce the time spent finding records and answering questions during the audit. The aim is to make it easy to follow how your emissions inventory was put together, from the original information through to the reported results.
1. Be clear about what your inventory covers
Document the reporting period, the businesses and sites included, and the activities covered by your emissions inventory.
If you have leased premises, shared facilities or a mix of owned and contracted operations, explain how you have treated them. Record any exclusions and the reasons for them.
Discuss the proposed audit scope with your auditor early so everyone understands what will be covered.
2. Keep supporting records together
Your auditor will need evidence supporting the figures in your inventory. Depending on your emissions sources, this could include electricity invoices, fuel records, travel reports, freight information or waste data.
Keep these records in clearly labelled folders and make it easy to connect them to the relevant calculations. If a spreadsheet contains an annual electricity total, for example, someone should be able to find the records behind that total.
Check that the information covers the full reporting period, including all relevant sites.
3. Explain your calculations and assumptions
Document how you turned business activity into emissions figures, including the emission factors used and where they came from.
Where information was unavailable, explain how you estimated it and why that approach was reasonable. For example, if you used one month’s information to estimate another, record the basis for doing so.
A clear explanation helps someone else understand and check your work. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard emphasises the importance of this audit trail, including documentation of data sources, methods and assumptions.
4. Review gaps and unexpected results
Before sending your inventory to the auditor, take a step back and review it.
Are any months or sites missing? Have you counted anything twice? Are the units consistent?
If you have a previous inventory, look at the main movements. A large change might reflect business activity, better information, an updated emission factor or an error. Understanding the reason will help you explain the result.
For a first inventory, consider whether the totals make sense alongside what you know about your organisation.
5. Agree who will answer questions
Nominate someone to coordinate the audit and make sure they can reach the people who supplied the information.
Finance, property, fleet, procurement and travel teams may each hold part of the picture. Let them know when the audit is happening and that questions may come their way.
Keep one agreed version of the inventory, with a record of any changes made during the audit.
Make preparation part of the annual process
The work you do before your first carbon audit can make future years easier too. Clear records, documented methods and defined responsibilities give your team a process they can repeat.
Preparing for your first carbon audit?
Talk to Opportune about the process and what to have ready.