Case study: measuring carbon footprint

How Net Zero Now gave direction and clarity to one firm’s efforts to do the right thing

For Dan Harrison MAAT, founder and owner of Harrison’s Accountancy in Hertfordshire, Net Zero Now helps give direction and clarity to his firm’s efforts to do the right thing.

His aims are clear: to reduce impact on the environment as soon as possible, make real changes with buy-in from the whole team and then purchase any offset to become a net zero practice. Harrison points out that while it’s easier to reduce the firm’s environmental impact at home – for example by recycling more, using less energy, walking rather than driving and so on – it’s more difficult as a business.

Without knowing actual impact, attempts to offset carbon emissions have been estimates. The Net Zero Now project provides the opportunity to make a real difference in the business, and share findings with clients.

So how does Net Zero Now help businesses?

Arriving at an accurate measurement of carbon footprint is intricate, and smaller firms face difficulties. The protocol helps firms understand what to include, explaining the different scopes of emissions. Scope one encompasses the directly used fuels and gas at the building and through any vehicles; scope two, covers mains electricity; and scope three covers everything else.

The platform has a sector-specific approach that takes in the varied nature of each business’s carbon footprint – how to account for it, how to measure success and how to achieve net zero certification.

The system is simple: users enter their operational data onto the online SaaS platform, from which a real-time carbon footprint is generated. Analysis of the results provides more detail, followed by a reduction plan. If firms commit to and follow through on this plan, that can lead to certification.

A better understanding

For Harrison’s Accountancy, it’s been difficult in the past to understand the actual impact the firm generated – and even to get some buy-in to environmental matters.

One of the firm’s biggest challenges was trying to reduce emissions in areas where it had no control, such as accounting software providers’ emissions. Cost is still a concern, but greener projects are worth more investment.

The Net Zero Now platform lets you enter and update a huge amount of data to ensure you’re getting an accurate representation. Businesses can split up and segment their carbon usage to get a really detailed view as well as put in place effective measures to reduce emissions and adopt sensible offsetting measures. The system is very simple to work, and gives a sense of the direction in which the business is moving.

The development of more intuitive analysis heralds a new era for businesses hoping to get on top of their emissions.

Business benefits

Adopting a more proactive approach towards achieving net zero may be driven by a number of factors. For Harrison the main driver has been primarily to ‘do the right thing’, given his passion for the issue. There are still business benefits, though – mainly through publicity as they can promote their net zero status.

Once the firm has reached the necessary level of reduction the endgame is for businesses using the Net Zero Now platform to have access to recognised Certification Marks to communicate their progress to customers, employers and other stakeholders.

It may also lead to additional services to offer clients, for example calculating their impact and reporting on their current position and improvements.

AAT has been working with Net Zero Now, an online analysis and certification provider that works with accounting firms to understand, measure and reduce their carbon footprint. In developing a programme of protocols for accountants, the AAT worked with Net Zero Now alongside a number of other industry bodies to ensure the right impacts were measured, with corresponding mitigation measures calibrated to match.

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