The Union of the European Lubricants Industry launched a new online tool to help companies calculate their carbon footprints. Companies along the supply chain face pressure to disclose emissions data, and the UEIL tool helps those who might not have the dedicated resources to gather data, a spokesperson for the UEIL said during a recent webinar.
The spreadsheet-based self-assessment tool is available through the UEIL website. It focuses on Scope 1, Scope 2 and relevant Scope 3 emissions, specifically those emissions that occur between the arrival of materials at the factory gate to the arrival of products at the customer’s factory gate.
“Our sustainability committee was given two sets of objectives: Externally, we aim to educate policymakers and the public about the lubricants industry,” Peter Vickers, shepherd of the UEIL’s sustainability, production and logistics working group and chairman of U.K. lubricants company Vickers, said during the online introduction of the tool. “Showing that we are part of the way to reducing energy demand, not part of the fossil fuel problem. Internally, our task is to increase awareness of sustainability and to promote good practice within the lubricants industry.”
The tool helps companies measure, calculate, report and reduce carbon emissions. It uses an imaginary lubricants company that real-life companies can use as a reference when determining their own sources of emissions.
“It’s based on our own learning,” Vickers said. “We want to share it so that you don’t all have to reinvent the wheel.”
The free-to-use tool produces a good-enough estimation of a company’s total emissions for internal purposes, before engaging a professional consultancy.
Calculating a company’s carbon footprint is both the first step on the journey and it provides input data for the product carbon footprints, which increasing numbers of customers will be requesting. “Publishing your corporate carbon footprint shows your audience that you’re taking sustainability seriously,” said Vickers. “Transparency is key. It’s crucial that we have a common methodology when accounting for our environmental impacts, so that we can generate reliable and consistent data.”