Climate: European project Clim’Foot, to calculate carbon footprint, is at the start

Italy, together with ENEA and its spinoff Ecoinnovazione, is taking part in the European project Clim’Foot to calculate greenhouse gas emissions produced by companies and entities. The objective is to gather useful data to develop CO₂ reduction strategies and policies; public and private organizations will be involved on a voluntary basis.

It’s an international project, called Clim’Foot, to measure and calculate the sum of all greenhouse gas emissions induced by an organization, the so called CFO (Carbon Footprint for Organization).

Scientific institutions of five European countries – Italy, France, Croatia, Greece and Hungary – are taking part in the initiative, including the French ADEME (Agence de l’environnement et de la MAITRISE de l’energie), ENEA and its spinoff Ecoinnovazione srl.

The objective of “CliFootprint”, is to support the implementation of public policies and actions for greenhouse gas reduction. The carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases produced  by an individual, organization or product. In the case of an organization, like an institution or a company, it’s an indicator of the amount of CO₂ emitted as a result of its operations.

ENEA has already started a campaign to select public and private organizations willing to measure and calculate their carbon footprint. In addition, the Agency will define a methodology to develop national emission factors databases. In the next five years the five Countries will work together to enable companies and institutions to measure their carbon dioxide equivalent emission (CO₂eq^[1]) associated with their activities. The project also aims at preparing informative material and courses to train experts in CFO calculation, implementing national databases comprising  greenhouse gases from different sectors and creating a cooperation platform with knowledge sharing materials and resources.

Each country involved will also take care of training a national policy maker for the implementation of  CFO reduction policies on the basis of voluntary programs involving the participation of about 90 public and private organizations in the transport, waste, construction and agri-food sectors.

The project, financed within the “Climate Governance and Information Area” of the European program LIFE 2014-2020, could constitute a valid tool for monitoring the effectiveness and efficiency of the environmental management policies and meeting the goals of the environmental sustainability of organizations, inevitably turning into objectives of competition (thanks to energy consumption control), business management, Corporate Social Responsibility and communication.

For more information please contact:

Paolo Masoni, Bologna Research Center,paolo.masoni@enea.it

Simona Scalbi, Bologna Research Center, simona.scalbi@enea.it

[1] A carbon footprint (CO₂eq) measures the amount of greenhouse gases measured in units of carbon dioxide (CO₂), such as  methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), etc.