If you spend $1500 on a product from Apple, how much carbon is emitted?
Or how about $50 to fill up your tank at Chevron?
Or $25 on products from P&G?
How do you know how much carbon is emitted when you buy a product?
What if I told you that each of those purchases would be equivalent to approximately the same amount?
Based on the publicly reported carbon emissions from these organizations, we know that those purchases would represent approximately 140kg of CO2e of the annual emissions from the respective organizations. They would be your scope 3 emissions, but they include these companies' scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
We know this thanks to climate intensities. Climate Intensity is a simple metric calculated by dividing an organization's annual emissions by another metric for the same year. This example used the Revenue Intensity, but there are countless other relevant intensity metrics. Our report includes profit and number of employees as well.
Ranking the Fortune 100 by climate intensity
We see climate intensity by revenue (gross quantity of CO2e emitted per dollar of revenue) at the baseline climate-related metric for comparing organizations. It is deliberately over-simplified. No 'net zero' or 'carbon neutral' applies, just gross emissions excluding offsets or market mechanisms.
It's a quick way to compare organizations across industries, countries, and any other differences based on how much your purchases matter. If the organization is advanced in decarbonization, their intensity is low and therefore your share of emissions is smaller relative to alternatives. If they are laggards, or their climate strategy is focused on offsets, it becomes very clear that there may be lower-impact options out there.
Ultimately, we need to eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources. Procurement departments and individuals who have access to the right information can help speed this along by preferring organizations who are really making changes in their operations to eliminate sources of carbon emissions.
I encourage you to read through the list and see what surprises you!
Are you ready to measure your organization's carbon emissions? Try Breeze, our leading carbon accounting tool, today.
