The Different Types of Carbon Footprint

A carbon footprint measures the total emissions let off by all areas of an organisation’s value chain, an individual’s daily routine, or even a product’s life from start to finish.

Measuring these footprints can require comprehensive carbon accounting softwares, and allows actors to strike a baseline from which they can work to reduce their carbon footprint over time.

This could be companies impacted by increasingly stringent regulations like SECR, or simply an individual understanding the toll innocuous everyday habits take on the planet over time.

This article covers the purpose of carbon footprints, the difference between primary and secondary, then going on to explore corporate, individual, and product carbon footprints in more detail.

The Purpose of Carbon Footprints

A carbon footprint is a total measurement of the greenhouse gas emissions released by all areas of activity. Not a flat figure but an ongoing measurement, emissions are released across various sources and require accurate tracking to assess impact effectively. It provides a way to quantify environmental impact, highlighting the areas where emissions are highest and where reductions can be made most effectively.

The carbon footprint can be calculated using three emission scopes, as defined by the GHG Protocol.

Scope 1 includes direct emissions from sources controlled by an entity. These emissions, often stemming from fossil fuel combustion, are generally easier to identify, measure, and manage.
In contrast, Scope 2 emissions encompass the indirect emissions let off by generating electricity, steam, heating, or cooling. While control over these sources tends to lie with providers, changes to greener operators can help lower emissions.
Scope 3 encompasses all other indirect emissions that occur throughout a value chain, both upstream (e.g., raw material extraction) and downstream (e.g., product use and disposal). Upstream emissions occur before a service or product reaches its end user, while downstream emissions occur after it is used or disposed of.

By breaking emissions into clear scopes, businesses, governments, and individuals can identify targeted solutions and make informed reduction decisions.

Accurate carbon footprint calculations are essential for identifying and reducing emissions. With carbon being the leading driver of climate change, reducing emissions is critical to addressing the climate crisis. Greenhouse gases trap heat and raise the planet’s surface temperature, causing extreme weather events, rising sea levels, biodiversity loss, and ocean acidification.

Carbon footprints provide a framework for understanding the impact of emissions and where they can be reduced. They encourage individuals, governments, and organizations to make changes that support a sustainable future. Reducing carbon footprints is key to mitigating climate change and preserving the planet for future generations.

Primary Carbon Footprint

The primary carbon footprint revolves around Scope 1: direct emissions from sources (such as driving a car or heating your house).

These emissions, often stemming from fossil fuel combustion, are generally easier to identify, making them prime targets for reduction or offsetting efforts. This is because the data is readily available in electricity bills and fuel usage reports, allowing baselines to be immediately set and reduced with targets.

Daily energy consumption habits significantly influence an individual’s or organization’s primary carbon footprint. Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources plays a pivotal role in reducing emissions and can be the most impactful step toward minimizing a primary carbon footprint, potentially reducing it to near zero.

Secondary Carbon Footprint

A secondary carbon footprint encompasses the indirect emissions let off by generating electricity, steam, heating, or cooling. It’s not primary as it comes from an external provider instead of directly from the actions. For example, coal-burning power plants release both carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, contributing to the overall carbon intensity of the grid. The providers can make smart changes to the greener operators as a way to lower emissions.

Carbon intensities also vary by grid, making the same activity more energy-intensive in different areas. South Africa, India and China have high carbon intensity with more coal reliance, whereas Sweden, Iceland and Norway have low carbon intensity with more renewable technology.

Encouraging investment in renewable energy infrastructure can significantly lower secondary emissions while promoting long-term environmental sustainability as well as energy independence.

The global shift to renewable energy is actively reducing the carbon intensities of grids, with increasing availability of wind and solar energy making transitions more realistic and accessible. Consumers should support this shift by opting for green, transparent suppliers with decarbonisation both in their ethos and actions.

Corporate Carbon Footprint

A company’s carbon footprint is a total measurement of the greenhouse gas emissions released by all areas of the business. Emissions are released across all parts of the company, such as company-owned vehicles and on-site fuel combustion for Scope 1, or electricity or heating for Scope 2.

Beyond this, Scope 3 emissions are the hardest to track. This includes everything from business travel to supply chain emissions—requiring a comprehensive carbon accounting software such as Gaia’s for businesses looking to comply with regulations, reduce emissions, and enhance transparency.

Employees may be engaged in reduction strategies, such as advocating for increased public transport or carpooling between geographically close workers.

Product Carbon Footprint

A product carbon footprint measures the total amount of emissions let off in a product’s lifetime; both upstream (e.g., raw material extraction) and downstream (e.g., product use and disposal).

Upstream emissions occur before a service or product reaches the company (such as the

mining of metals for architecture) and downstream emissions occur after the product or service leaves the company (such as the emissions from a product’s use or disposal by the end consumer).

This is the focus of Scope 3—considering all bases of business activities from the extraction of the raw materials to the systems in place at the end of the product’s life.

Countering emissions may look like designing products sustainably, incorporating circular economy practices, and generally improving distribution, such as optimising delivery routes or opting for low-carbon transport.

This involves focusing on the early stages of the supply chain and the beginning of a product’s life, placing an emphasis on sustainability of inputs, as well as quality.

Individual Carbon Footprint

An individual’s carbon footprint determines the entire amount of emissions caused by their activities every day—such as diet, transport, energy use, products purchased, and recycling (or lack thereof).

Hours upon hours of TikTok scrolling, with many videos advertising fast fashion products and influencing users to buy in a click with Apple Pay, is fueling overconsumption, increasing textile waste, and significantly contributing to carbon emissions from manufacturing and shipping.

To find out yours, there are many web-based, free-to-use tools online. Carbon footprint calculators allow people to gain an approximate calculation of the carbon footprint of certain activities, such as electricity use, flights, food consumption, waste management, or car travel.

These tools crucially raise awareness about people’s unseen environmental impact and urge people to make small life swaps to achieve a significant emissions cutdown.