CCP Organizational Carbon Footprint 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of a greenhouse gas is measured relative to which reference gas over a 100-year time horizon?
- Methane (CH₄)
- Nitrous oxide (N₂O)
- Carbon dioxide (CO₂) (Correct answer)
- Sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆)
Correct answer: Carbon dioxide (CO₂)
GWP is defined relative to CO₂, which has a GWP of 1 by definition over the 100-year horizon used in most corporate reporting.
Question 2: Which emission factor source is generally preferred when calculating Scope 1 emissions from stationary combustion in the United States?
- IPCC Tier 1 default factors
- EPA's Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule emission factors (Correct answer)
- IEA electricity emission factors
- CDP sector-average benchmarks
Correct answer: EPA's Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule emission factors
The EPA's emission factors (published in AP-42 and the Mandatory GHG Reporting Rule) are the most appropriate primary source for US stationary combustion calculations.
Question 3: A logistics company wants to include Scope 3 emissions from third-party trucking contractors. Which calculation method is most data-intensive but most accurate?
- Spend-based method
- Average-data method
- Supplier-specific method (Correct answer)
- Hybrid method
Correct answer: Supplier-specific method
The supplier-specific method uses actual activity data and emission factors provided directly by the supplier, making it the most accurate but also most data-intensive approach.
Question 4: What does the term 'emission intensity' mean in the context of an organizational carbon footprint?
- Total absolute GHG emissions per year
- GHG emissions per unit of economic or physical output (Correct answer)
- The rate at which emissions increase over time
- The percentage of Scope 3 emissions relative to Scope 1+2
Correct answer: GHG emissions per unit of economic or physical output
Emission intensity normalizes GHG emissions against a business metric (e.g., revenue, production units) to enable performance comparisons across different scales.
Question 5: Under ISO 14064-1:2018, what is the term used for the process of checking that GHG inventory data is internally consistent and correctly calculated?
- External verification
- Internal audit
- Quality control (QC) (Correct answer)
- Materiality assessment
Correct answer: Quality control (QC)
ISO 14064-1 uses 'quality control' to describe internal checks and procedures that ensure data accuracy and consistency before external verification.
Question 6: Which of the following gases has the highest 100-year Global Warming Potential among commonly reported industrial gases?
- Methane (CH₄)
- Nitrous oxide (N₂O)
- HFC-134a
- Sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆)
SF₆ has a 100-year GWP of approximately 23,500 (AR5), making it the most potent commonly reported industrial GHG.
Question 7: A facility's natural gas bills show consumption in therms. What conversion is needed before applying a CO₂ emission factor expressed in kg CO₂/MMBtu?
- Multiply therms by 10 to get MMBtu
- Divide therms by 10 to get MMBtu
- Multiply therms by 0.10 to get MMBtu (Correct answer)
- No conversion needed — therms and MMBtu are equivalent
Correct answer: Multiply therms by 0.10 to get MMBtu
One therm equals 0.10 MMBtu, so you multiply therms by 0.10 (or divide by 10) to convert to MMBtu before applying the emission factor.
CCP Organizational Carbon Footprint 3
The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of a greenhouse gas is measured relative to which reference gas over a 100-year time horizon?