Calculating Companies’ Carbon Handprint to Measure—and Spur—Positive Climate Impacts

An emerging accounting method can help companies assess the emissions impacts from consumers using their products. Two new publications show how the calculations can be done and demonstrate the value of the approach.
 
Information and communication technology- (ICT) based solutions hold great potential to reduce carbon emissions, but quantifying the reductions can be difficult, especially downstream of the technology companies that deploy them. An ACEEE report and white paper published today examine an approach for estimating these emissions reductions—the carbon handprint—and demonstrate calculations for several applications.