Carbon Footprint
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions, expressed as CO2 equivalent, generated directly or indirectly by an individual, organisation, product, or activity.
Definition
A carbon footprint measures the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with an entity — commonly an organisation, product, event, or individual — expressed in CO2 equivalent (CO2e) to account for gases beyond carbon dioxide, such as methane, on a comparable basis. For organisations, a carbon footprint typically aggregates Scope 1, 2, and sometimes Scope 3 emissions into a single headline figure.
Why It Matters
A carbon footprint is often the single figure stakeholders — customers, investors, regulators — ask for first, making it an important summary metric even though the underlying scope-by-scope detail is where the real management action happens.
How ecolyptus Helps
ecolyptus's Sustainability Footprint feature calculates an organisation's carbon footprint automatically from connected consumption data, breaking it down by scope, site, and time period.