Sustainability Peer Network: How to Use a Carbon Footprint Calculator

As schools reopened their doors for the new academic year, we welcomed the Sustainability Peer Network back to Greyhound Box. Attendees from local SMEs joined us for the third session in the programme, designed to advise and guide business leaders on embedding sustainable practices into their operations. Our host, Lisa Lister, was joined by Adrian Balcombe, a Business Sustainability Manager. Their aims were three-fold:

1. To boost the audience’s understanding of the emissions produced in manufacturing
2. To educate our local network on how to spot ways to reduce energy use and generation with a carbon footprint calculator
3. To encourage businesses to put together carbon reduction strategies that have real impact

Read on for all the knowledge they shared!

An End-to-End Approach to Sustainable Manufacturing

You’ll understand that businesses are at different stages in their sustainability journey. So, there’s plenty of variation between their carbon footprints. But one thing they all have in common is the awareness that truly sustainable operations can’t be achieved alone. It’s a sentiment our MD, Louise, was keen to remind the audience to kick off the session.

“At Greyhound Box, we’re aware we have some customers who are also manufacturers. They, too, need help on their sustainability journey. That’s from packaging designs that uses less materials to sharing knowledge and advice on things like waste regulations.

We encourage our team to live and breathe sustainability in every facet of the business so they’re empowered to support and teach our clients – and build their own knowledge of best sustainable practice, too.

“Progress is about looking for new ways to improve processes and reduce our collective negative impact on the environment. For instance, we now outsource our transport to McDowell’s, a more efficient and sustainable method than running this in-house. Whilst it’s an investment, you can’t shy away from spending money to find efficiencies and reduce CO₂ emissions!”

Supporting Clients on their Sustainability Journey

Claire, our Business Development Manager, took to the floor to expand on Louise’s point around supporting clients on their sustainability journey – and why it’s so important.

“Some Greyhound Box clients are new to sustainability, so we step in to help them develop a packaging solution that’s an environmentally friendly alternative to what they use currently.

Our in-house capabilities, like CAD design and bespoke cardboard engineering, mean we can produce more sustainable replacements to single-use or unrecyclable packaging elements. For instance, replacing polystyrene corner fitments with ones made from corrugated cardboard (which can then be recycled or repurposed).

“One of our customers previously used these polystyrene corners to protect their products, but one of the main issues with it was they had to order it in huge amounts. Thanks to our cardboard alternative, they’ve been able to free up inventory space – as well as using a more environmentally friendly material.”

Attendees listening to Lisa Lister at the third Sustainability Peer Network event

The Sustainable Manufacturing Spectrum

Both Louise and Claire know that many manufacturers have strived for more sustainable operations for years. The simple fact is the sector still lacks the resources to accommodate the activity. But as you’d expect, one slice of the market does have access to these tools – industry giants.

They’ve been able to make tangible progress to greener operations, which puts pressure of smaller businesses, like our local SMEs, to keep up. When the resource availability of businesses differs so much, how can they catch up?

Why Manufacturers Should Use a Carbon Footprint Calculator

Well, that’s exactly why we had Adrian on hand! One of his top tips for businesses setting out to reduce the figure generated by a carbon footprint calculator is to identify energy hotspots. They’re the areas of the business that use and generate the most energy, and so produce the most carbon. When you know where your biggest carbon offenders are, you can make an action plan to bring this down. Not to mention, reap the rewards:

• Significant cost-savings – implementing energy-efficient measures and transitioning to renewable energy sources is a sure-fire way of making funds go further
• Increased investor confidence in your sustainability strategy
• Access to new markets and eco-conscious customers
• Enhanced reputation and brand image to both clients, employees, and applicants
• Regulatory compliance
• A competitive advantage over competitors
• Resilience to climate risks

Understanding Carbon Footprint

Once you’ve identified your energy hotspots, it’s onto working out the carbon footprint.

“A carbon footprint calculator should measure the total greenhouse gas emissions caused both directly and indirectly by a person, organisation, event, or product. Emissions are broken down into three Scopes:

• Scope 1 emissions come from tailpipes – for instance, boilers or fleet vehicles.
• Scope 2 emissions are from energy you purchase and how that’s generated, like electricity.
• Scope 3 emissions include everything upstream and downstream of your operations – a whopping 80-90% of a business’s total carbon footprint.”

Adrian Balcombe, Business Sustainability Manager

How to Calculate Your Business’s Carbon Footprint

One of the simplest ways to understand your business’s carbon footprint is to calculate it. There’s plenty of tools available online that’ll give you an idea of the emissions your manufacturing (and wider business) activities generate. But it’s important to remember that these don’t account for the emissions your products contribute – for instance, the greenhouse gases produced during a product’s entire lifecycle.

It was then back to Adrian to share with the room how simple it is to use a carbon footprint calculator to understand the greenhouse gas emissions generated across the West Yorkshire businesses in our audience.

1. Head to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) carbon footprint calculator.
2. Complete the date range you’d like to base your calculation on.
3. Add the corresponding number of employees and turnover amount for this period.
4. Enter the total amount of energy, transport, and volume of water used, and mileage produced, in the same period.
5. Add the export value of any electricity your business has generated in the timeframe.
6. Click calculate, and there you have your business’s carbon footprint!

Adrian also explained the best way to track and understand the progress your business is making in reducing its carbon footprint.

Have a baseline year to compare all following years to! After a few years of making the calculation, you should really start to see the improvement. 

“Whilst there’s a fair amount of data to put into the calculator, the good news is you don’t have to finish all at once. If you’ve got all your data to hand, it’ll take you around an hour to make the calculation. You can easily save your progress and come back to it later. It’s worth reviewing how you collect and process the types of data required in the first place to make whole activity as efficient as possible.”

Business Benefits of Knowing Your Carbon Footprint

Once you’ve got the value of your business’s carbon footprint, you can use WYCA’s website to generate customised reduction targets. This supports you to create a realistic carbon reduction plan, which in turns, empowers you with:

• The setting of realistic reduction goals
• The identification of energy hotspots and areas for improvement
• Supply chain optimisation and working with suppliers to reduce emissions along the entire value chain
• Transparent reporting, meaning you’re in a better position to communicate carbon reduction efforts and progress stakeholders

Carbon Reduction Support from WYCA

To round off the session, Adrian shared the support that’s available from the WYCA to SMEs across the region. That’s from the free carbon footprint and tracking tool to:

• 50% of funding towards an external sustainability related consultancy
• A free resource efficiency audit
• Dedicated support from a Business Sustainability Manager
• A capital grant funding of 30% to help reduce energy bills and CO₂ emissions

All in all, it was an informative and educational session and we’re looking forward to hearing how attendees used the advice to reduce emissions in their business!

Sustainability Peer Network: What’s Next?

If you’re interested in joining the Sustainability Peer Network, the next event is on Monday 1^st October from 2pm to 4pm at our factory. Find out what we’re covering and get your free ticket by clicking here.