Environmental Science (3110007)

BE | Semester-1   Winter-2019 | 16-01-2020

Q5) (b)

Distinguish between primary and secondary carbon foot print.

  • Direct emissions of a carbon footprint: Greenhouse gas emissions are classified as direct' when they are generated from company owned or controlled sources and activities. These are called Scope 1 emissions and are accounted for as such scope 1 emissions largely include fuel burned in company owned assets and air conditioning and refrigerant use. For example: boiler with gas as fuel used by the company would produce greenhouse gases. It can be considered as primary emissions for calculating the footprint.
  • Indirect emissions of a carbon footprint: 'Indirect' greenhouse gas emissions sources are those emissions related to the company's activities, but that are emitted from sources owned or controlled by a third party. These are categorized as either as Scope 2 emissions for purchased electricity or as Scope 3 for other non-owned or controlled emissions e.g. air travel ,use of paper, use of packing material manufactured by other companies etc. Many types of software and online calculators are also available for calculation of carbon footprint.