GHG Inventory Verification
What is GHG Inventory Verification?
Many businesses are beginning to calculate, report, and declare their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an effort to play their part towards the UK Government's commitment to reach net-zero by 2050.
By working towards and achieving Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Verification, organisations can ensure that their carbon footprint calculations are accurate, thorough and developed to conform with ISO 14064-1.
A combination of legislative, tender and customer requirements has led to a growth in organisations needing to determine and report their GHG inventories. The benefits of understanding these also helps to support companies in their risk management, cost analysis, and reputation management strategies.
To help you ensure your GHG Inventory (carbon footprint) claims are credible, NQA provides 3rd party verification in accordance with ISO 14064-1. This is a specification for the quantifying of emissions and removals.
Additional approaches may be adopted to support your compliance, including:
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GHG Protocol
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DEFRA Environmental Reporting Guidelines
See below the key steps towards achieving GHG Inventory Verification:
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Setting the scope or boundaries of what is being measured
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Quantifying your emissions and removals
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Reporting
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Independent verification
Helps you with
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Satisfying statutory requirements for mandatory reporting
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Demonstrating best practice and meeting customer, stakeholder, industry and legal expectations
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Preparing for any potential future legislation
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Supporting the development of PPN06/21 carbon reduction plans for major UK government contracts
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Demonstrating transparency with their quantified GHG inventory
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Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving overall performance including cost efficiency
Verified GHG Inventory Journey
Prepare
In order to work towards verification it will be useful for you to understand the requirements of a GHG Inventory, along with the requirements of ISO 14064-1.
For the entity to be verified, you will need to determine what the boundaries are. Typically, you should consider whether you have operational, financial or equity control over an organisation and its activities which generate emissions.
You will also need to collate relevant data sources, and consider your Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions to an extent relevant to your set boundary.
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Scope 1 - direct emissions from owned or controlled sources
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Scope 2 - indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling
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Scope 3 - all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain (waste treatment, purchasing of goods, employee travel etc.
Determine
Information gathered both from your organisation and your upstream and downstream stakeholders can be used to determine your GHG inventory. This information forms the basis of the calculations of your greenhouse gas emissions. Typically business activity is translated to GHG emissions using conversion factors.
Report
Reporting of GHG inventories must be complete, consistent, accurate and transparent. You are required to create a report detailing how you have approached developing your GHG inventory as well as emissions data.
Verify
NQA will conduct an independent 3rd party verification on your GHG Inventory to ensure this is accurate, reliable and robust.
This enables you to communicate both internally and externally, and make future decisions with the confidence that your GHG inventory will stand up to inspection.
Why Achieve 3rd Party Verification?
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A verified GHG Inventory verification with NQA will stand up to scrutiny and provide robust assurance to protect your organisation against claims of greenwashing
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Provides a high degree of confidence in the GHG Inventory from which decision making and investment in carbon management can take place
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Reduces risk of operational or reputational damage caused by a potential error or misstatement
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You can promote your independent verification and utilise the relevant NQA logos / promotional materials
NQA Verification Process
NQA will conduct the 3rd party verification in accordance with ISO 14064-3.
The stages of the verification are as follows:
Stage 1 (Pre-Verification)
The Pre-Verification assesses your readiness for a full verification. Additionally it is used to understand the entity’s characteristics, activities, and processes which drive GHG emissions, enabling the development of a risk-based verification plan which will be implemented at Stage 2.
Stage 2 (Verification)
The purpose of this assessment is to carry out a full and comprehensive audit of your GHG Inventory in accordance with ISO 14064-1 guidelines. This will include a thorough review of your methods for data capture, analysis, conversion and reporting. Typically, the Stage 2 will involve an NQA verifier visiting your location(s) for site visits.
Independent review (Post-Verification)
This assessment aims to complete a secondary review on the workings from all parties at the verification stage, and to provide further assurance and integrity. This is informative only and no client presence is required.
To discuss your verification requirements with a member of our team please get in contact here.