At Plan A, we are constantly striving to develop new calculation methods and expand the range of inputs for existing calculation methods so that we can streamline your data collection journey. Whilst the Plan A Sustainability Platform covers all GHG Protocol categories, it may be the case that the data you have does not match the requirements of available calculation methods.

This could be because you don't have the data in the required format or because your data corresponds to a business activity that isn't captured by our calculation methods yet.

This guide sets out how to approach both situations and how to request new calculation methods.

In this scenario, the business activities reflected by existing calculation methods do not reflect the full range of options. Examples include a particular form of transport that isn't available in the Employee Commute templates or a particular type of waste material that isn't available in our Waste Generated in Operations templates.

In these cases, there are several things you can do.

The vast majority of emissions come from an organisation's value chain. If the relevant business activity involves a supplier, check with them to see if they can provide emissions estimations for the goods and services they provide. These can then be uploaded using the 'Bring Your Own Emissions' upload option.

If this is not possible, check if there is another similar option that would likely have a similar emissions impact within the same emissions category. In these instances, it is better to go with an option that is more emissions-intensive; using a less emissions-intensive option will falsely shrink your emissions, making decarbonisation actions less identifiable.

For instance, for Employee Commute, if you have employees using an electric car, we suggest entering 'car'.

If you have data that matches the requirements of a calculation method in a complimentary category within the same scope, you can upload the data to the alternative category and add a tag to the entry to identify and extract this when reporting.

This is usually possible to do using the Purchased Goods and Services spend-based calculation as most business activities have a cost attached, which can be uploaded using the spend-based calculation method. Check the available Plan A Categories to see if there is an applicable spend category.

For example, if your organisation pays to recycle metal waste, you can upload the spend amount in conjunction with the Plan A Category, 'Recycling of waste and scrap' and a custom tag (e.g. GHG Protocol Category = Waste Generated in Operations):
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This will allow you to separate the data on the Measure page by breaking down by your custom tag, GHG Protocol Category, or by filtering through data when you export your data.

In any case, please get in touch with Support to request coverage for your business activity.

In this scenario, you have data on a business activity that is captured by Plan A; however, it is not in a format that corresponds to the requirements of available calculation methods.

For instance, you may have spend data rather than consumption values for a particular business activity.

In most cases, we prioritise the development of calculation methods based on a consideration of what the most accurate approaches are as well as which data is usually most available. In this regard, the first step is to see if your data is more or less granular than the 'recommended' calculation method:

Ideally, as a placeholder until you can get more granular data, you can utilise National Averages for the following categories:

For more information, see our guidance on National Averages.

Similar to the above, if you have data that matches the requirements of a calculation method in a complimentary category within the same scope, you can upload the data to the alternative category and add a tag to the entry to identify and extract this when reporting.

This is usually possible to do using the Purchased Goods and Services spend-based calculation as most business activities have a cost attached which can be uploaded using the spend-based calculation method. Check the available Plan A Categories to see if there is an applicable spend category.

For example, if your organisation pays for the collection and treatment of its waste but isn't able to obtain the weight values required by the 'Amount per waste type' or 'Total waste weight' calculation methods, you could upload the spend amount as Purchased Goods and Services using the Spend-based method, spend amount in conjunction with the Plan A Category, 'Waste management and remediation services' and a custom tag (e.g. GHG Protocol Category = Waste Generated in Operations):

This will allow you to separate the data on the Measure page by breaking it down by your custom tag, GHG Protocol Category, or by filtering through data when you export your data.

In any case, please get in touch with Support to request new calculation methods which utilise your available data.

If either of the situations above apply to you, please get in touch to let us know by requesting new business activity coverage or new calculation methods. Doing so will help us prioritise calculation method development, ensuring we can better serve your needs.

Please note that developing calculation methods and expanding the business activities accounted for in existing calculation methods takes time. As such, it is important to implement the steps suggested above in the meantime.

To make a request, follow these steps:

The Plan A Support Team will then endeavour to contact you if we implement your request.