Sustainability and Carbon Accounting

Question 1

What are the 3 scopes for emissions in global accounting frameworks?

Answer 1

Scope 1: Direct emissions (associated with energy use, burning fossil fuels, heating, transport etc.)
Scope 2: Indirect emissions (from consumption of electricity only)
Scope 3: Indirect emissions (everything else, emissions embedded in materials, etc.)

Question 2

What is a system?

Answer 2

Collection of things working together as a part of a whole.

Question 3

Why do we need to measure GHG emissions?

Answer 3

There is a global commitment to minimising climate change - but we can’t manage what we don’t measure!

• To understand the magnitude of impact
• To evaluate the success or failure of mitigative and/or adaptive actions
• To be able to set policy targets

Question 4

What are resource accounting methods? (In the context of carbon emissions)

Answer 4

Amount (mass) of emissions (kg CO2) associated with a good, service, or activity.
- basic formula: kg CO2 eq = A (stuff) x EI (emissions intensity associated with A)

Question 5

What are the two main perspectives investigated when accounting for emissions?

Answer 5

Production-based accounting (at the point of production, original source, where goods pass from humans to environment, supply-side approach)
Consumption-based accounting (at the point of consumption, emssions embedded in goods/services resulting from supply chain, demand-side approach)

Question 6

What is the difference between net and gross accounting?

Answer 6

Gross emissions: Total emissions (Agricultural, energy, industrial)
Net emissions: Gross emissions + emissions removals (land use, land use changes, forestry, typically negative)

Question 7

What are examples of some sustainability frameworks?

Answer 7

Five Capitals, Planetary Boundaries, Doughnut Economics, Te Ao Maori Perspective

Question 8

What is the difference between direct and indirect emissions?

Answer 8

Direct: direct result (CO2, CH4, N2O, …)
Indirect: consequence (CO, VOC, NOx, SOx, …)

Question 9

What are the steps to consider for a systems problem?

Answer 9

1) What are the components? How does it work? How are they related?
2) What’s their function?
3) What do we measure?

Question 10

Systems analysis considers?

Answer 10

Relationships, perspectives, influence

Question 11

What is systems analysis?

Answer 11

Analysing components of a system and how they work together as part of a whole

Question 12

What is the purpose of carbon accounting?

Answer 12

• To understand direct and indirect emissions associated with an activity
• To get a measure of CO2 emisions for our NDCs
• To understand emissions across multiple life cycle stages.

Question 13

What are the different scopes of emissions?

Answer 13

Scope 1: Direct emissions associated with energy use
- Operating a diesel generator
- Running a coal and biomass-fired heating system

Scope 2: Indirect emissions (electricity only)
- Building lighting
- Charging laptop

Scope 3: Indirect emissions (everything else)
- Concrete used to contruct a dam
- Transport of materials for a construction project

Question 14

What are some questions we could address using systems analysis tools?

Answer 14

• Which components of a system are most critical?
• How might an impact on one part of our system affect other parts of our system?
• What are the influential connections between one infrastructure system and another?
• What is the risk to system components gievn projected or potential exposure to a hazard?