What is a baseline year?
Your baseline year serves as a reference point for monitoring and measuring greenhouse gas emissions over a period. If the business activity data in a financial year is accurate and dependable enough, it can be used as the baseline for setting your emissions reduction goal.
How do I choose a meaningful baseline year?
Choose a recent financial year where all four quarters are complete and the data is:
Accurate and complete
Consistent with your usual operations
Free from major disruptions (e.g. restructures or acquisitions)
If a year includes significant changes, incomplete information or inconsistencies, consider selecting a different year or adjusting the data to ensure it remains representative.
Setting a baseline year
To set your baseline year, within Modules select 'Set baseline year'.
Choose your baseline year and select Apply. Your baseline year’s emissions are calculated based on the business activity data entered. Before selecting a baseline year, ensure the data in that year is complete and accurate.
If any modules have been saved with no data for any quarter within the year you’re selecting, you’ll get the following message but can still select it as a baseline year:
This message serves as a prompt to ensure all spend and usage data in the selected financial year is entered in full.
Find out more: A list of the modules in Sage Carbon Accounting