An 'Emissions Intensity' is a unit to express emissions relative to a specific business metric, such as production output or financial performance of the company.
A commonly used emissions intensity is Carbon Intensity (CI) which is the amount of emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) released per unit of another variable such as gross domestic product (GDP).
Why do businesses need to pay attention to their Carbon Intensity?
An emissions intensity reflects how efficient a given business is by relating the volume of its emissions to the amount of money it produces.
Given that Carbon Dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas -- and all carbon footprints are calculated in terms of Carbon Dioxide equivalent -- carbon intensity is therefore the most common measure of emissions intensity.
Businesses can (and should) choose to monitor a broad range of data on their emissions, but Sage Earth believes that alongside a standard-compliant carbon footprint, a carbon intensity is important to know. This is because it gives a sense of the emissions efficiency of the entire business.
To illustrate this: if a carbon intensity is low, then a business produces less CO2 per £ of income produced, and vice versa. Businesses therefore can use their Carbon Intensity as a useful way of comparing their emissions efficiency relative to other peers in their industry.
How do Sage Earth use Carbon intensity in the platform?
Sage Earth uses Carbon Intensity in a number of ways - but you will notice it most prominently on your dashboard. We give you a Carbon Intensity measured as CO2 emitted per £ of income, and illustrate whether this has increased or decreased since the last reporting window (this can be either annual or quarterly). We also show the average carbon intensity for businesses in your industry beneath.
When starting out in sustainability, it's not always easy for any business to wrap their head around the scale of the numbers produced. After all, how many tonnes of CO2 is too much for a business in my industry?
Such an understanding comes through comparison and contextualisation - this is why we calculate a carbon intensity for each business, and compare it against the industry average.
In the UK, the average carbon intensity per business is calculated and maintained in a data set managed by the UK Office of National Statistics called Atmospheric emissions: greenhouse gas emissions intensity by industry.