Carbon Accounting as a Service

Lead Participant: FERO CONSULTING LTD

Abstract

The concept behind the project is to provide a sensible and robust carbon accounting system as a core service to the carbon reporting markets. The differentiator of our product is that the system enables an entire auditing trail of carbon entries per line of data.

We have direct experience with carbon reporting systems that provide a reporting platform with good graphics. Such systems tend to be individual stand-alone systems, where the reporting teams tend to be environmentally based core teams. The methods generally do not interface well with corporate management business reporting platforms. This results in many of the current systems requiring excel based data dump to then be imported into the business accounting formats and media. Even then, the data sets tend not to be fully accounting systems.

During 3rd party audits, there is a need to access external file directories to show proof of energy, fuel or material supply invoices. Probably with a set of hard or soft compy invoices required to be at hand to demonstrate accuracy.

We aim to provide a software tool that enables a complete audit trail showing the supply invoice number, transaction date, carbon conversion factors, either location or market based, the associated component values, and the associated asset which consumes the materials and/or fuels, whilst splitting our the carbon flows into the correct allocations, Scope, 1,2, 3 and Out of Scope categories under the Green House Protocol.

But we would also like to go one stage further, providing a carbon accounting tool that simply integrates with the corporate reporting platform. Many small and midsized clients use Microsoft Dynamic Business Central or Google G suite platforms. While larger clients use enterprise suite-level platforms of such systems. Our carbon reporting platform will be adopted to mesh with these systems to enable joined-up and smooth reporting without the need to provide excel based data dumps and importing steps as currently required.

Making the task of sustainability and carbon reporting more straightforward, more accessible and less costly for businesses. Our platform will be configured to the UK business model's reporting requirements, meeting the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) needs. But within the ability to be adapted to the needs of the UK ETS system and Climate Change Agreement (CCA) schemes and Streamline Carbon and Energy Reporting (SECR) as needed.

In other words, the system will be flexible to meet the needs of the total UK market.

Lead Participant

Project Cost

Grant Offer

FERO CONSULTING LTD £49,448 £ 49,448

Publications

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