A Methodological Proposal for Corporate Carbon Footprint and Its Application to a Wine-Producing Company in Galicia, Spain

Penela, Adolfo Carballo; García-Negro, María do Carme; Quesada, Juan Luís Doménech

doi:10.3390/su1020302

Cited by 49 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In them, MC3 was applied to seven companies. Results of this research raised the quality of the method being published in several papers (e.g., Carballo-Penela 2009;Carballo-Penela et al 2009;Coto et al 2008). At this moment Multi-University Working Group is carrying out different pilot studies for obtaining unitary footprints for products.…”

Section: Development Of the Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Companies interested in offsetting emissions from a product can invest in land capable of absorbing CO 2 emissions, despite the desirable reduction of their footprint by being more efficient and by curbing consumption (Carballo-Penela et al 2009). In the case of forest land, an average absorption rate of 3.7 CO 2 t/ha/year is suggested (IPCC 2007).…”

Section: Offsettingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The pilot studies are based on the energy intensities usually used by the MC3 (Carballo-Penela, et al 2009) besides results from other life cycle studies that estimate the emissions of CO 2 or the demand of surface from primary data (e.g., Ibañez Etxeburúa 2001; Mayor Farguell et al 2003).…”

Section: Goal Of Mc3mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Managing the carbon footprint of products: the contribution of the method composed of financial statements (MC3)

Penela

Doménech²

2010

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Carbon footprints (CF) provide companies, customers, and other agents with information related to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the life cycle of products, identifying key points in the supply chain, potential risks, and opportunities of improvement. This paper briefly examines how the method composed of financial statements (MC3) (MC3, as coined from the name of the method in Spanish, i.e., método compuesto de las cuentas contables.) approaches to specific requirements related to the assessment of product GHG emissions, pointing out the contribution of this method to assessing and communicating the carbon footprint of products. Materials and methods The MC3 was developed between 2000 and 2002 by J. L. Doménech who designed a tool for assessing ecological and carbon footprint of organizations. Nowadays, MC3 is supported by the MultiUniversity Working Group on Corporative Footprint. One of the recent achievements of this group has been the development of MC3 for products carbon footprinting. The MC3 approach has been recognized by the Spanish Observatory for Sustainability as a valid methodology for assessing and reducing GHG emissions arising from companies under the frame of the Spanish GHG Voluntary Reduction Agreement. Results MC3 offers guidelines for assessing the CF of products. Guidelines include specific requirements for issues such as system boundaries, temporal boundaries, and goal setting. Information on specific issues such as emissions from land use change, capital goods or carbon storage clarifies the approach to be taken by organizations implementing product carbon footprinting. Discussion Consumers and organizations all over the world are interested in obtaining information regarding the carbon footprint of products they consume and produce, being needed further standardization of methods for carbon footprinting. However, it is difficult that one approach provides for optimal results in a wide range of situations. MC3 is one of the existing approaches to assess the CF of products. MC3 has been developed under the premise of being a simple and practical method. The role of markets as the main source of communicating CF information on products among the members of the supply chain is an important strength of the method. Conclusions MC3 provides for an internationally standardized method for the assessment of GHG emissions from the life cycle of products built on the LCA guidance and key principles of relevant approaches of the field of LCA. MC3 offers useful information for sustainable development, carbon management of organizations and sustainable consumption, being a flexible, transparent, and easy-toapply method.Keywords Carbon footprinting . GHG (greenhouse gas) assessment . LCA . MC3 (one of the existing approaches to assess the CF of products) . Supply chain Responsible editor:

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Section: Development Of the Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Offsettingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Managing the carbon footprint of products: the contribution of the method composed of financial statements (MC3)

Penela

Doménech²

2010

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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“…As for the geographical context, this paper analyses case studies in France, Italy, Spain, USA and Australia …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon footprint as an instrument for enhancing food quality: overview of the wine, olive oil and cereals sectors

Pattara

Russo

Antrodicchia

et al. 2016

J. Sci. Food Agric.

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The quantification of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions represents a critical issue for the future development of agro-food produces. Consumers' behaviour could play an important role in requiring environmental performance as an essential element for food quality. Nowadays, the carbon footprint (CFP) is a tool used worldwide by agro-food industries to communicate environmental information. This paper aims to investigate the role that CFP could have in consumers' choices in three significant agro-food sectors in the Mediterranean area: wine, olive oil and cereals. A critical review about the use of CFP was carried out along the supply chain of these three sectors, in order to identify opportunities for enhancing food quality and environmental sustainability and highlighting how environmental information could influence consumers' preferences. The analysis of the state of the art shows a great variability of the results about GHG emissions referred to agricultural and industrial processes. In many cases, the main environmental criticisms are linked to the agricultural phase, but the other phases of the supply chain could also contribute to the increased CFP. However, despite the wide use of CFP by companies as a communication tool to help consumers' choices in agro-food products, some improvements are needed in order to provide clearer and more understandable information. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

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“…There is a growing body of scientific literature that reports institution‐level efforts for GHG emission reduction and exercises of carbon accounting and carbon management. Various institutions have been scrutinized, including universities (Parsons, ), private companies (Lee, ; Penela et al ., ), and even entire public and economic sectors, such as health care (Chung and Meltzer, ), tourism (Dwyer et al ., ) or fisheries (Iribarren et al ., ). The outcomes of such studies are case‐specific and represent a wide range of methodological options.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability in Development Cooperation: Preliminary Findings on the Carbon Footprint of Development Aid Organizations

Almeida

Verbist

Achten

et al. 2012

Sustainable Development

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This study assesses for the first time the environmental sustainability of development organizations involved in North-South cooperation by quantifying the carbon footprint as a widely adopted indicator. Our objectives are to (1) analyze the criteria that should be met for correct greenhouse gas accounting of development organizations, (2) gain insight into the emission profile for a limited sample of development organizations from Belgium and Germany, and (3) set forward policy options for more sustainable practices. Carbon footprints are calculated following official guidelines and include available data from different institutions. Mobility of staff is on average responsible for 60% of total annual emissions of the organizations under study, mainly owing to air travel (40%), followed by electricity and heating of offices. These emissions may be partially offset through voluntary carbon market transactions or within development projects themselves. Either approach requires the adoption of high standards of carbon accounting by development organizations. Copyright

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A Methodological Proposal for Corporate Carbon Footprint and Its Application to a Wine-Producing Company in Galicia, Spain

Cited by 49 publications

References 12 publications

Managing the carbon footprint of products: the contribution of the method composed of financial statements (MC3)

Managing the carbon footprint of products: the contribution of the method composed of financial statements (MC3)

Carbon footprint as an instrument for enhancing food quality: overview of the wine, olive oil and cereals sectors

Sustainability in Development Cooperation: Preliminary Findings on the Carbon Footprint of Development Aid Organizations

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