Carbon Management Software




Carbon Management Software











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Carbon Management Software

by James G. Barr

Copyright 2022, Faulkner Information Services. All
Rights Reserved.

Docid: 00018016

Publication Date: 2203

Publication Type: TUTORIAL

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Climate change, induced by the ongoing accumulation of
greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) in the
atmosphere, represents a major, perhaps existential, threat to life on the
planet. To help reduce climate risk by reducing their carbon footprint,
enterprise officials are investing in a relatively new field called
carbon management. Carbon management encompasses a wide range of
processes and technologies designed to measure and manage – in order to
reduce – carbon emissions. One such technology is carbon management software.

Report Contents:

Executive Summary

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Climate change, or global warming, induced by the ongoing accumulation of
greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) in the
atmosphere, represents a major, perhaps existential, threat to life on the
planet.

 

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In August 2021, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) declared “Code Red” for “human driven global
heating.” See Figure 1. According to IPCC co-chair Panmao Zhai,
“Stabilizing the climate will require strong, rapid, and sustained
reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and reaching net zero CO2 emissions.”1

Figure 1. Temperatures Change in the Last 50 Years

Figure 1. Temperatures Change in the Last 50 Years

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Acknowledging corporate complicity in today’s climate emergency – and
responsibility for arresting if not reversing carbon buildup – the
15th Annual Emerging Risk Survey, sponsored by the Canadian Institute of
Actuaries, the Casual Actuarial Society, and the Society of Actuaries,
revealed that climate ranks as the highest emerging risk among risk
managers at 26 percent, even higher than cyber risk.2

To help reduce climate risk by reducing their “carbon footprint,”
enterprise officials are investing in a relatively new field called
“carbon management.” Carbon management encompasses a wide range of
processes and technologies designed to measure and manage – basically,
reduce – carbon emissions. One such technology is carbon management software.

Reflecting the urgency of public and private initiatives to lower carbon
levels, the carbon management software market is expected to grow by $8.6
billion during the period from 2021 to 2025, according to Technavio. Even more optimistically, a July 2021 report from Mordor Intelligence
entitled “Carbon Management System Market – Growth, Trends, COVID-19
Impact, and Forecast (2021 – 2026),” predicts that the carbon management
system market will grow from $10.93 billion in 2020 to $19.83 billion by
2026, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.31 percent
during the forecast period.

Among the principal market participants are:

  • ENGIE Impact
  • GreenStep Solutions
  • Greenstone+ Ltd
  • IBM
  • Microsoft
  • Salesforce.com
  • SAP
  • Schneider Electric

What Is Carbon Management?

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Carbon management encompasses a wide range of processes and technologies
designed to measure and manage carbon emissions.

Carbon management is principally enabled by carbon management software,
like the popular ENGIE Ellipse: Zero Carbon Platform. The goal of carbon
management software is to help reduce an enterprise’s carbon footprint.
The carbon footprint is a metaphor for the negative “impression” left by
carbon-producing activities. The larger the footprint, the more carbon
produced and the more harm done to the environment. Figure 2, for
example, is a simple illustration of the relative amounts of carbon
dioxide produced by the transportation sector, from right to left,
bicycles (human-powered, no artificially-generated CO2, no
footprint) to air travel (jet engine-powered, tons of CO2, a
Bigfoot-sized footprint).

Figure 2. Relative CO2 Production By Various Transportation Means

Figure 2. Relative CO2 Production By Various Transportation Means

Source: commons.wikimedia.org

As described by analyst Stanislav Krotov, carbon management software
automates the following processes:

  • “Tracking and monitoring emissions across the entire [enterprise] by
    facility, business unit, emission scope type (direct/indirect),
    greenhouse gas type (CO2, methane, etc) and other parameters.

  • “Creating reports of emissions data to be sent to regulatory bodies,
    shareholders, and other stakeholders, or to be integrated in annual or
    sustainability reports.

  • “Ensuring compliance with all applicable environmental regulations.
  • “Making use of carbon emissions data to facilitate participation in
    various cap-and-trade programs and emissions trading schemes around the
    world.”3

Carbon Management Certifications

One of the goals of carbon management exercises is to attain external
endorsements or certifications. Among these are the Route to Net Zero
Standard, the PAS 2060 Standard, and the ISO 14001 Standard.4

Route to Net Zero Standard – Developed by the Carbon Trust, the
Route to Net Zero Standard helps enterprises measure and manage their
emissions, create carbon reduction strategies, and set targets for the
future.

PAS 2060 Standard – Developed by the British Standards Institute
(BSI), the PAS 2060 Standard details how to demonstrate CO2 neutrality.

ISO 14001:2015 Standard – Developed by the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO), the ISO 14001:2015 Standard helps
an enterprise achieve the intended outcomes of its environmental
management system.

Office of Carbon Management

At the US federal level, carbon management activities are advocated for –
and administered by – the Department of Energy’s Office of Carbon
Management (OCM). The OCM’s mission is to facilitate a just and environmentally sustainable
transition toward a net-zero carbon economy by focusing on carbon dioxide
– its storage, containment, and capture. The OCM addresses emissions
associated with the power and industrial sectors, as well as legacy
emissions in the atmosphere, and seeks to permanently store and/or convert
carbon dioxide (CO2) to reduce negative climate impacts.

Activities to deliver the OCM’s mission center on investments in
technological readiness and analysis. The OCM researches a portfolio of
carbon management approaches, with an emphasis on facilitating development
of approaches that meet the technical, justice, and sustainability
requirements for commercialization. The OCM’s goals are to improve their
performance, reduce costs, and scale the deployment of the technologies to
decarbonize the power and industrial sectors and to remove CO2 from
the atmosphere.

Carbon Management Software

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While a number of firms offer carbon management software and services,
the leading contenders in mind – if not necessarily market – share are
ENGIE Ellipse: Zero Carbon Platform, GreenStep’s Carbon Bust Your
Business, and Greenstone’s Environment module.

ENGIE Ellipse: Zero Carbon Platform

As detailed by the vendor, ENGIE Ellipse: Zero Carbon Platform enables
enterprise to:

  • Build an Accurate Emissions Footprint – The first
    step to decarbonization is understanding emissions data. By [employing]
    artificial intelligence …, Ellipse aggregates and analyzes dynamic
    data streams for a highly accurate view of emissions across an
    [enterprise’s] entire value chain.
  • Integrate Project, Goal and Target Tracking – Intuitive
    visualizations within the platform connect project performance to
    expected outcomes, measuring return on investment, carbon impact and
    more.
  • Develop Engineering-Grade Scenario Modeling – Machine
    learning algorithms, built on insights from over one million facilities,
    enable carbon-first decision making amidst rapidly evolving market
    conditions.
  • Create a 360° View of Emissions – By gathering vast
    amounts of data, [enterprises] can identify hot spots and model
    supplier-specific mitigation scenarios.

GreenStep’s Carbon Bust Your Business

As detailed by the vendor, GreenStep’s Carbon Bust Your Business is a
training and certification program [that] provides [a client] with the key
steps to measuring the carbon footprint of [their] business, and then
uncovering the opportunities to both reduce emissions and save money.

The training includes instructional presentations, worksheets, homework,
a one-year subscription to [GreenStep’s] carbon software, and a
final review of [the client’s] work and carbon footprint.

Greenstone’s Environment module

As detailed by the vendor, Greenstone’s Environment module enables
[enterprises] to measure, understand, and communicate their global
environmental performance and impact. The Environment module [permits
clients] to:

  • Report on environmental performance and [greenhouse gas (GHG)]
    emissions
  • Provide transparency to consumers, investors, and other stakeholders
  • Reduce impacts on the environment
  • Achieve sustainability goals
  • Meet requirements of global reporting frameworks
  • Track and monitor performance against targets
  • Save cost through a reduced administrative burden compared to an
    offline / Excel based processes

Recommendations

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Invest in Decarbonization

We all bear responsibility for the high-carbon conditions inducing
climate change. For their part, enterprise officials should invest in
“decarbonization”, leveraging carbon management software to:

  • Inform the creation of an actionable and cost effective
    Decarbonization Plan
  • Integrate carbon management into enterprise governance,
    decision-making, and compliance
  • Mobilize employees, customers, business partners, and even competitors
    to join in decarbonization efforts5

Deploy Energy-Efficient IT

As one vital element in their Decarbonization Plan, enterprise officials
should commit to an energy-efficient information technology environment.
Specifically, they should:

  1. Mandate the procurement of ENERGY STAR-qualified PCs, monitors, and
    other IT equipment.
  2. Configure enterprise equipment with Power Management features enabled
    by default.
  3. Educate employees on the importance of observing energy saving
    protocols. Post these protocols – prominently – in all public areas.
  4. Revamp and revitalize the IT procurement process by incorporating
    energy as a total cost of ownership (TCO) element.
  5. Consider any add-on energy costs when evaluating potential cloud
    sourcing opportunities.
  6. Cooperate with other enterprises of similar size and business
    orientation to identify – and implement – energy efficient computing
    best practices.
  7. Charge the IT Department with the responsibility for establishing and
    achieving aggressive – but reasonable – energy reduction goals.
  8. Evaluate the climate impact of proposed cryptocurrency-related
    projects.

Support Carbon-Cutting Research

For example, in his book, Electricity: An Optimist’s Playbook For
Our Clean Energy Future, engineer Saul Griffith argues that we
should “clean up electricity”6 and then “electrify everything:”7

  • Clean up electricity entails replacing power generation plants
    that burn fossil fuels, like coal and natural gas, with facilities that
    utilize clean counterparts, like wind, water, solar, even nuclear.
  • Electrify everything involves placing everything on the
    power grid by converting fossil fuel-burning systems, like cars and heating
    units, into electrical appliances.

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References

    1 “IPCC Report: ‘Code Red’ for Human Driven Global Heating,
    Warns UN Chief.” United Nations. August 9, 2021.

    2 “Climate Risk Emerges As the Top Concern for Risk Managers.”
    Continuity Central. January 27, 2022.

    3 Stanislav Krotov. “Top 3 Carbon Management Software.” Cllax.
    January 14, 2022.

    4 “What Is Carbon Management Software? Trends and Technologies?” ESG
    Enterprise. 2020.

    5 Nicolas Lefevre-Marton, Malavika Bambawale, Mark Chadwick,
    Diego Ibarra, Freddie Hospedales, and Sesilia Plavina. “Bridging the Gap
    Between Net Zero Optimism and Operational Reality.” ENGIE Impact. 2021:9.

    6 David Roberts. “The Key to Tackling Climate Change:
    Electrify Everything.” Vox Media. October 27, 2017.

    7 Saul Griffith. Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook For Our
    Clean Energy Future.     MIT Press. 2021.

About the Author

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James G. Barr is a leading business continuity analyst
and business writer with more than 40 years’ IT experience. A member of
“Who’s Who in Finance and Industry,” Mr. Barr has designed, developed, and
deployed business continuity plans for a number of Fortune 500 firms. He
is the author of several books, including How to Succeed in Business
BY Really Trying, a member of Faulkner’s Advisory Panel, and a
senior editor for Faulkner’s Security Management Practices.
Mr. Barr can be reached via e-mail at jgbarr@faulkner.com.

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