Climate analysis – Our impacts

What gets measured gets managed

Our Impacts is based on Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used international standard, which was developed by World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

It is a web-based tool to measure and reduce climate impacts, and suits both small and large organisations. Emissions are calculated from the data that the organisation regularly feeds in to the system through a customised questionnaire. At the click of a button the results are presented in the form of emissions diagrams per activity, operating group, scope and type of greenhouse gas. Our Impacts can also be used to regularly monitor progress towards climate targets. The reporting period can be chosen to suit company needs: annual, half-year or more often.

The tools stores your emissions data and enables comparison through the year or with other time periods. It is possible to compare different operational units (benchmarking). Key Performance Indicators are built in to the tool, making it possible to see achievement towards emission reduction targets both in relative and absolute terms.

Our impacts is very flexible. Result reports can easily be adjusted to show an unlimited number of business areas, subsidiary companies, departments, sales offices, factories etc. This enables responsibility for emissions to be apportioned and monitored. This flexibility is particularly important for companies with a matrix structure, to clarify the association between measurements, costs and profits. The tool can also analyse emissions per product or product group, or per supplier, per distribution channel or through use of a company product. Both direct and indirect emissions can be measured.

Thanks to the web-based nature of Our Impacts, measurements of greenhouse gases can be decentralised. For larger organisations with wide geographic distribution it is particularly useful to be able to share the responsibility for supplying climate data. But the system is also centralised, since all data is held by an administrator, who can follow the data collection throughout the process.

Compared to working with Excel, Our Impacts saves time and costs. It removes a major source of miscalculation and ensures that the same emission factors are applied consistently over time. Reports and emissions factors are transparent and easily accessible, enabling third party verification. The results can be easily transferred to Excel files.

Our Impacts is a great tool for companies reporting to Carbon Disclosure Project or Global Reporting Initiative, and is adapted to the questions placed in these reporting systems. The tool is also well suited to companies whose customers demand climate reporting. The reports produced by Our Impacts are available at the touch of a button, for easy attachment to tenders and quotations.

Getting started with Our Impact

A consultant from U&W [you&we] helps the customer to determine:

The scope of the measurements, that is, which direct and indirect emissions should be reported and which emission factors are appropriate

The number of control points, that is, how the total emissions should be divided amongst organisational departments, products etc.

Who should be able to input data to the system

What time period the reporting should use, that is, one, two or more reporting periods per year

We create an account based on this information. In the early days our consultant may help with data collection to ensure the relevance of the information and to train up an administrator within the customer organisation. The price depends on the number of control points and the reporting period. Consultancy costs to get started, for quality control and for a report proposing emission reduction measures is included in the package.