Carbon footprint di organizzazione

What does an Organisational Carbon Footprint measure?

Every economic activity generates greenhouse gas emissions. Some are directly related to the activities carried out by a company, while others occur along the supply chain, in transportation, waste management and other activities required to produce and distribute products and services.

An Organisational Carbon Footprint (OCF) quantifies these emissions through an inventory of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with an organisation’s activities, considering a specific reporting period and defined organisational and operational boundaries. The final result is expressed in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e). This value not only quantifies the total GHG emissions included in the inventory for the defined period, but also makes it possible to analyse how emissions are distributed across different sources and emission categories, providing an overview that helps identify the areas where action can be taken to reduce those “tCO₂e”.

AKU develops its greenhouse gas emissions inventory in accordance with ISO 14064-1:2018, updates it annually and has the results independently verified by a third party. ISO 14064-1 defines principles and requirements for quantifying and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and removals at an organisational level.

Here are some useful questions that can help explain how a company’s OCF is developed and interpreted.

Why are emissions expressed as “CO₂ equivalent”? What does it mean?

An OCF does not only consider carbon dioxide (CO₂). An organisation’s activities can result in emissions of different greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide, methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O), each of which has a different Global Warming Potential (GWP).

To make emissions from different GHGs comparable and allow them to be added together, each gas is converted into an equivalent amount of CO₂ based on its GWP. The overall result of the inventory can therefore be expressed as CO₂ equivalent, making the data easier to interpret.

AKU’s annual GHG inventory uses the GWP values published by the IPCC in 2021. For example, the value used for CO₂ is 1, for fossil methane 29.8 and for nitrous oxide 273.

In short… the tCO₂e unit makes it possible to combine emissions from different gases into a single value, while taking into account their different global warming potentials.

What are the boundaries of the OCF?

When we talk about AKU’s total emissions in a given year, we first need to define which activities and organisational units are included in the inventory.

For example, the 2025 inventory covers AKU’s activities at its headquarters and production facility in Montebelluna, Italy, as well as its production facility in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Within these boundaries, the different sources of emissions resulting from the company’s production and organisational activities are identified and quantified.

Defining the boundaries is therefore a preliminary step in the calculation: it establishes which activities and emissions are included in the inventory and makes it possible to maintain a consistent scope from one reporting year to the next.

Which emissions are considered?

ISO 14064-1 organises the emissions included in the inventory into different categories:

Category 1 – Direct GHG emissions
This category includes emissions from sources owned or controlled by the organisation. For AKU, these include, among others, emissions from natural gas combustion and fuel consumption by company vehicles.

Category 2 – Indirect emissions from imported energy
This category includes emissions associated with the production of energy purchased and consumed by the organisation, particularly electricity.

Category 3 – Indirect emissions from transportation
This category includes emissions associated with transportation activities considered within the boundaries of the inventory.

Category 4 – Indirect emissions from products used by the organisation
This category includes, among others, emissions associated with the production of purchased goods, such as raw material extraction, and the management of waste generated during production.

However, another classification of corporate emissions is also widely used: Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3, as defined by the GHG Protocol.

The two systems use different classification criteria and therefore do not correspond perfectly. In general terms, however, there is a degree of correspondence: Category 1 of ISO 14064-1 includes direct emissions attributable to Scope 1, while Category 2 covers emissions associated with purchased energy, corresponding to Scope 2. Emissions included in Categories 3 and 4 are indirect emissions and, under the GHG Protocol classification, fall within Scope 3, which covers other indirect emissions associated with an organisation’s value chain.

Why does AKU calculate its OCF every year?

The OCF is calculated annually to build a consistent and comparable historical dataset, monitor changes in emissions over time and analyse variations in the contribution of different emission sources. For year-on-year comparisons to be meaningful, the inventory boundaries, calculation methodology and criteria used for quantification need to remain as consistent as possible.

Annual measurement makes it possible to:

identify the main sources of emissions;
monitor changes across the different emission categories;
assess variations associated with the organisation’s processes and activities;
use the inventory results to define and monitor emission reduction measures;
track emission trends against the decarbonisation targets validated by the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative).

Where can information on previous years’ OCF be found?

Every year, AKU reports its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its Responsibility Report, presenting not only total emissions but also their breakdown by category.

The Responsibility Report also provides a year-by-year update on progress towards the emission reduction targets set by AKU and validated by the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative).