Flexible CO2 calculator with versatile features

The calculation boundary, i.e. the selection and classification of the data to be included and excluded, has been carried out together with the tourism industry. All emissions are divided into four categories: business premises and real estate, logistics, administration and procurement. Under each of these categories, consumption data is allocated to the component of the correct emission source and further to emissions. In addition, when the time and the correct location are combined with the data, the calculator is able to automatically generate different carbon footprint calculations.

You can find more information about the calculation boundary, justifications and emission factors in the material bank.

The information required for the calculation typically belongs to a specific location. In order to be able to record the data clearly and to structure the results of the calculation in a useful way, each company defines its own location structure.

At its simplest, location structure can be a single location whose name is the name of the company, the type of location is “company,” and the location is the municipality where the company is. On the other hand, a multi-location company can have up to dozens of locations and associated units. In the material bank and in the frequently asked questions, you will find instructions on how to create a location structure (Finnish only).

The carbon footprint is calculated based on the consumption data provided by the company. These are recorded in the calculator via the form on the Consumption data page, on a monthly or annual basis, depending on the emission source. Typical consumption data and its sources include kilowatt-hours and energy sources found in heat and electricity bills or energy company reports, transport and travel kilometers or fuel volumes, tonnes of waste, accounting for euro purchases and for example, kilograms of food purchased.

Due to the wide variation in the operations of tourism companies, it is typical that in addition to consumption data, a company also has to find out the emission factors of its own suppliers and purchases. Instructions for these situations can be found in the material bank.

The climate impact of a matter per unit of measurement is summarized in the emission factor. On the Emission factors page, you can view the general emission factors for the calculator and define new ones. If you add your own factors to the calculator, they will only be available and visible to your company.

To help viewing the list of emission factors, the list can be filtered using the search box and its contents can be sorted by clicking on the column headings.

The company's carbon footprint calculation results are generated on the Carbon footprint page. The page compiles calculations and automatically generates charts for each calendar year.

In addition to the charts and summaries, the page shows the distribution of the carbon footprint by application area, the location-specific carbon footprints and climate KPIs for the years for which both the value of the KPI and consumption data can be found. The KPIs are, for example, the carbon footprint per euro of turnover, per customer or per product.

In the company settings of the calculator you can find basic company information such as business name, business ID and industry, location structure, KPIs, list of emission sources and a library of emission factors. The calculator has ready-made forms for the KPIs for turnover, water consumption, days of accommodation, products and services sold, number of employees, number of customers and opening days. In addition to these, it is possible to create your own KPIs.

On the user management page, it is possible to invite new users to the company, cancel an invitation that has already been sent, and remind invited users to join. Deleting an active user is only possible as a maintenance procedure (e-mail to stf@businessfinland.fi).

The calculator can be used with a desktop browser (Chrome, Firefox and Safari are recommended) as well as mobile devices. The guiding principle of the design of the calculator has been that its use does not require previous experience in carbon footprint calculation, but of course interest and time to get acquainted are needed.

The calculator meets the AA criteria for accessibility, which means that, for example, the contrasts are sufficient, the keyboard shortcuts can be used for navigation and the readability of the graphic elements is in accordance with the standards. If you notice something to be improved regarding accessibility, please don't hesitate to report your findings either through the feedback form or to the e-mail address stf@businessfinland.fi.