Carbon Accounting is an ever-evolving discipline which requires updates to methodologies and emission factors on a continuous basis. Learn how such updates may affect your calculated emissions in this article.
To kick it off, let’s first remember how emissions are calculated on a high level and what happens to your data once you upload it to the Plan A Platform.
Determinants of Emission Results Accuracy as the foundation of Plan A’s Data Update Policy
For each emissions category, calculating your emissions starts with the data you have available as an input. This can be for example the number of employees per facility or the data about your business trips. We refer to this data as “Activity Data”.
Your Activity Data usually determines or constraints the calculation method(s) you can choose from on the Plan A Platform. To give you an example, that could be whether you would like to calculate your Business Travel-related emissions by indicating either:
Start and destination addresses,
Distance, or
Number of short- vs. long-haul trips
The accuracy of the emissions we calculate for you are directly dependent on which of these three methods you choose ( 💡 In this example, providing data on the start & destination addresses yields a much more accurate emissions result than using number of trips, as no assumption for an average trip distance has to be made).
The next two steps in the process flow depicted above show the steps taken by Plan A that can not be directly influenced by you. They do however similarly affect the accuracy of the emissions results. They also take us closer to the core of this article.
Most emission calculation methods require a couple of additional factors besides the data that you provide - called the conversion factors. For example, if you enter the following data:
2 short-haul trips by train
1 long-haul trip by plane
Plan A then completes the calculation with the following conversion factors:
Emission factors of short train ride, and a long flight of an average class in given country
Average travel distance for short train ride, and a long-haul flight
For each emission category and chosen calculation method the number of conversion factors varies. The Activity Data you provide and the conversion factors determined by the calculation method you choose ultimately determine the formula used to calculate emissions:
Now we can more clearly see which factors might make the emissions you see on your dashboards change:
Your Activity Data changes, for example, due to a new data sourcing initiative that allows you to collect more accurate data
Updates to Conversion Factors, for example, an updated emission factor is available for an economy-class flight in Germany, or an updated national average for electricity use per office employee in France
Upgrades to Conversion Factors, calculation methods or formulas, for example, emissions for short-haul train rides calculated with country-specific emission factors rather than a global average.
The latter two cases are those where our Data Update Policy comes into play since they imply a change (triggered by Plan A) on the emissions you see on your dashboards.
Plan A’s Data Update Policy
On a high level, Plan A’s Data Update Policy handles two scenarios:
Updates to Conversion Factors
Upgrades to Conversion Factors or methodologies
To ensure that our calculations run on the most up-to-date conversion factors, our Carbon Accounting Experts perform due diligence on all conversion factors used, and whether the latest research suggests any updates to these factors. Such research typically takes place once a year (new data may be published as often as twice a year) for each conversion factor, covering the “updating conversion factors” process.
Conversion factors and methodologies upgrades, determine how new calculation methods, or e.g. a new level of granularity of existing methods, affect past and future emission results.
Your emissions may change as a result of both of these scenarios (updates and upgrades) which can be a concern for your emissions reporting. What if you report on certain emissions which then change later on?
This is why our Data Update Policy defines a clear schedule when to expect changes as well as a scope for which timeframe changes should be expected. This brings more clarity and planning security on the emissions reporting efforts you take.
Effective January 1st 2023, updates and upgrades to Plan A’s conversion factors and methodologies will be rolled out on a quarterly basis, more precisely at the end of each quarter. Potential changes affect all emissions of the current calendar year to ensure that all emissions results are based on consistent conversion factors and methodologies throughout the reporting year (calendar year). The figure below visualises this:
Example:
The Carbon Accounting team reviews the latest research on emission category A on February 3rd, 2023. They decide that there is a reason to upgrade the associated conversion factors and calculations of emission category A based on the latest findings. The upgrade is released on the Plan A Platform at the end of the quarter, that is March 31st, 2023. All emissions calculated for January 2023 onwards update accordingly.
Research on emission category A continues throughout the year and findings of a publication from November 2023 change the perspective of Plan A’s Carbon Accounting team again towards the conversion factors applied to emission category A. They develop an upgrade to the conversion factors which is released on the Plan A Platform at the end of the quarter, i.e. December 31st, 2023. Again, all emissions from January 2023 onwards adjust based on the new conversion factor.
In May 2024 research reverts back from its proposed adjustment from November 2023 and suggests to apply the earlier findings from February 2023 instead. Changes on the Plan A Platform are released accordingly on June 30, 2024. The changes only affect measured emissions from January 2024 onwards, NOT emissions measured for 2023.
Stay informed about quarterly conversion factor and methodology updates
Now you know when changes may occur but you probably still wonder what the changes are - once it’s time.
The only thing to do for you is to keep an eye on your inbox -> we are aiming to send you an email outlining any updates and the expected range of changes to your emissions at least one week before they are effective on the Plan A Platform.
In addition, each quarterly update is documented on our Help Centre on the day of the release the latest.
Based on the magnitude and overall impact of a change, we may, in addition, also inform you through an in-app notification.
Special case: Error fixes
Something that should not happen but can happen since we are human after all: errors in the calculation of your emissions on our side. This could be an overlooked decimal separator at the wrong place or emission factors being mixed up.
In the very rare case that errors like these are detected, our Carbon Accounting and Product teams work on an immediate fix that is released as soon as possible. Changes in your emissions associated with error fixes are not handled within the boundaries of the Data Update Policy. Instead, you are informed on an ad hoc basis about such updates.