Measuring your company’s carbon honestly

Sustainability · 2026-02-28 · 8 min read

By Ravi Patel, Sustainability & agriculture

A number that only ever improves is a number nobody is measuring properly.

Emissions accounting splits into what you burn directly, the electricity you buy, and everything else in your value chain. That third category is usually the overwhelming majority and the least measured, which is why so many reports look flattering.

Most early estimates rely on spend-based factors: multiply money spent in a category by an average intensity. It is a legitimate starting point and it means your footprint falls when you negotiate a discount, which tells you how rough it is.

Improving the estimate means asking suppliers for real numbers, starting with the handful that account for most of your spend. That conversation is slow, and it is the only path from an estimate to a measurement.

Offsets deserve scepticism, particularly avoided-emissions credits with generous baselines. Reductions you can point at inside your own operations are worth more than certificates, both in reality and increasingly in regulation.

The credible report shows the method, the uncertainty and the years the number went up. Anyone publishing a smooth downward line without restatements is presenting a narrative rather than an inventory.

Tags: carbon, reporting, business

Ravi Patel — Ravi reports on agriculture, food systems and sustainability for ESPYCRUX, with a habit of following the money before the technology. He grew up around a family farm and it shows in the questions he asks.