By Howie Chong,President & Founder of Carbonzero

Based on international carbon accounting standards the measurement of an organization's emissions starts and stops at the organization's doorstep.  For any particular company, its carbon footprint is generally measured by accounting for electricity and heating usage, refrigeration and transportation.

However, though these corporate emissions are relatively easy to measure, companies with substantial supply chains require outside help to properly determine the indirect emissions associated with their particular business.

In June of last year, Dell Computers announced that they had hit their goal of 'carbon neutrality' five months ahead of schedule.  This target was achieved by reducing and neutralizing the emissions associated with the company's boilers, company vehicles, building electricity use and employee business travel.  Despite achieving this difficult goal, the electronics manufacturer faced loud criticism when the Wall Street Journal correctly identified that Dell's footprint did not account for the emissions from Dell's suppliers, or from the shipping of supplies and goods to and from manufacturing sites and stores.

To be fair to the global computer giant, assessment of these indirect emissions are not required under international carbon accounting standards.  The reason for a clear distinction between direct internal greenhouse gas emissions and indirect, embodied emissions would be that no double-counting of emissions would occur if and when all companies in the economy begin to measure their footprint.

The Reality of Carbon Accounting versus Life Cycle Costs

With so much focus on the indirect environmental costs of our consumer lifestyle, the public has logically concluded that companies with large supply chains should take greater responsibility for their life cycle emissions.

The fashion industry should use the Dell example as a cautionary tale. Though standard carbon accounting practice is to take into account only the direct emissions owned by a particular company, there is a risk that stakeholders might demand more.  Since literally every man-made item has embodied emissions built within it, it can be difficult to determine which indirect emissions sources should be counted.

A carbon accounting expert can help an organization differentiate between substantive indirect emissions - which in the case of a fashion or apparel business, means embodied emissions from clothing materials - and those indirect emissions not key to the company's success (eg. the embodied emissions from an office desk).  This can only help you when you decide on how your report your emissions to your customers and stakeholders.

Read more about Howie Chong