How to calculate your company’s climate footprint

Calculating your company’s climate footprint is an important step toward understanding and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Today, more and more companies are expected to conduct climate calculations in line with the GHG Protocol¹ and report emissions in Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3² — driven both by customer expectations and regulatory requirements. The good news is that you don't need to be an expert to get started. With the right approach, your company can produce a credible, transparent, and repeatable carbon footprint.

In this guide, we explain:

• what a corporate carbon footprint is
• how Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 work
• how to practically calculate greenhouse gas emissions
• the difference between manual, tool-based and automated calculations

The goal is to help you create a climate calculation that is not only compliant, but actually useful for decision-making and emission reductions.

What is a corporate carbon footprint?

A company’s carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated by its operations. The footprint is usually measured in **CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalents)**³ and typically includes emissions from:

• energy use
• fuel combustion
• purchased goods and services
• business travel and transport
• upstream and downstream value chain activities

The most widely used framework for corporate climate accounting is the **GHG Protocol (Greenhouse Gas Protocol)**¹.

Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 – the foundation of the GHG Protocol

The GHG Protocol divides corporate emissions into three categories: Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3². To calculate your company’s carbon footprint, you need to understand all three.

Scope 1 – direct emissions from owned or controlled sources

Scope 1 includes direct emissions from sources that your company owns or controls², such as:

• fuel burned in company vehicles, machines or equipment
• fuel used in boilers, furnaces or generators
• leakage of refrigerants from cooling or AC systems

Scope 2 – indirect emissions from purchased energy

Scope 2 covers emissions from the generation of purchased energy², such as:

• electricity
• district heating
• district cooling

Scope 2 is usually reported in two ways:

• location-based — based on the grid average emission factor
• market-based — based on specific contracts, e.g., guarantees of origin

These approaches are defined in the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance⁴.

Scope 3 – value chain emissions (often the largest share)

Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions across the value chain and is divided into 15 categories⁵, such as:

• purchased goods and services
• capital goods (IT equipment, machinery, buildings)
• business travel and employee commuting
• waste generated in operations
• upstream and downstream transportation and distribution
• use of sold products

For most companies, Scope 3 represents the majority of the total carbon footprint.

How a carbon footprint is calculated – the basic formula

Regardless of the method you use, climate accounting follows the same basic logic:

Emissions (kg CO₂e) = Activity data × Emission factor⁶

Examples:

• liters of diesel × kg CO₂e per liter
• kWh of electricity × kg CO₂e per kWh
• money spent in a category × kg CO₂e per currency unit

Activity data describes what happened (kWh, liters, spend).
The emission factor describes how emissions-intensive it is.

This methodology follows both GHG Protocol⁶ and IPCC guidelines³.

Three ways to calculate a carbon footprint: manual, tool-based or automated with AI

Companies usually calculate emissions in one of three ways.

1) Manual calculation in spreadsheets

The traditional approach:

• gathering invoices and receipts
• exporting data from accounting systems
• categorising spend manually
• applying emission factors in Excel

Advantages

• full control and transparency
• suitable for very small organisations

Disadvantages

• extremely time-consuming
• high risk of human error
• difficult to repeat consistently year after year

2) Online tools and forms (semi-manual)

Here you enter data into a web platform, which converts it into CO₂e and produces reports.

Advantages

• more structure than spreadsheets
• fewer arithmetic mistakes
• easier reporting

Disadvantages

• data collection is still manual
• quality depends on categorisation

This often becomes a once-a-year compliance exercise, rather than a management tool.

3) Automated calculation with AI

A more modern approach is to automate large parts of the process.

Here, systems connect to:

• accounting data
• purchase transactions
• supplier invoices

The platform then automatically:

• categorises spend
• applies relevant emission factors
• updates emissions continuously

Advantages

• far less manual work
• much easier coverage of Scope 3
• enables continuous monitoring instead of annual snapshots

Things to keep in mind

• requires access to data
• results still need review and quality assurance

👉 This is exactly the approach GoClimate’s platform is built around.

What is “good enough” in your first year?

You don’t need perfect precision from day one.

A realistic first-year target is to:

• cover all Scope 1 and Scope 2 with actual activity data
• build a baseline for Scope 3 (often spend-based)
• improve data quality over time where emissions are highest

What matters most is:

• coverage
• transparency
• repeatability

Perfection can come later — action can start now.

Start calculating your carbon footprint with GoClimate

If you want to get started quickly without drowning in spreadsheets, GoClimate’s platform can help. We automate large parts of the climate calculation by connecting your financial data to robust emission factors.

You get a climate report that:

• follows the GHG Protocol
• includes Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3
• is easy to update over time
• supports both reporting and real emission reductions

👉 Want to see how it works in practice?
Book a demo or create an account in the GoClimate platform — and we’ll help you calculate and reduce your company’s carbon footprint in a simple and credible way.