Climate Action - Carbon Calculator Tool

CARBON CALCULATOR FOR

BUSINESSES

WHAT YOU NEED STARTED TO GET

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Co2 Benchmarks: How does my business INTERNATIONALLY?

MEASURE UP

Why measure your carbon footprint?

From recent Fáilte Ireland research, we see that tourists (both domestic and overseas) tend to be more sustainability-minded than the general public. However, they don’t yet fully understand how they can travel in a more sustainable way. It is therefore important for the tourism industry to lead the way and gain a competitive advantage in attracting tourists who demand sustainable choices.

In addition, with rising energy and fuel prices, it has never been more important for your business to be energy efficient.

You can’t manage what you don’t measure!

Estimating your carbon footprint (and understanding your energy, water, waste and travel use) is an important step in the journey to net zero. Fáilte Ireland recommends using the government-developed carbon calculator (Climate Toolkit 4 Business). International Benchmarks will help put your performance into context, while a national baseline is developed. A tailored action plan, provided as part of the calculator alongside Fáilte Ireland guides, will help give direction on where to take action to reduce your greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

This guide covers three sections:

1 What you need to get started: Measuring your carbon footprint is relatively straightforward if you have all the necessary information to hand. Use the Energy, Waste & Water Tracker to make this process easier. Page four provides a list of all the information you need to collect.

2 How to access international benchmarks: Evaluate how your business measures up. This section outlines what is required to compare your carbon footprint against the international benchmark.

3 Step-by-step guide: This takes you through the process of entering your information into the carbon calculator (Climate Toolkit 4 Business) and accessing your sector specific international benchmark.

SKELLIG MICHAEL, CO. KERRY COVER IMAGE: BEARA PENINSULA, CO. CORK

What you need to get started

What you need to get started

YOUR BUSINESS DETAILS

Asset Ownership Information

What structures/buildings are owned and/or rented by the business?

Employee Figures

How many employees and contractors are directly hired by the business (to the closest Full-Time Equivalent (FTE))?

COLLECT DATA FOR THE PREVIOUS 12 MONTHS

Bills for the previous 12 Months (individual bills may be monthly or bi-monthly)

The calculator looks at consumption by:

(1) Kilowatt-hour [kWh], Kilograms (kg), Tonnes (t), and/or meters (m3) or

(2) Cost per year (€).

1. Energy Use – Total kilowatt-hour (kWh) used per year for

 Electricity - each unit used represents 1 kWh

 Natural gas - if only available in m3, conversion required to kWh

 Heating oil (home or commercial heating oil)

 LPG / Biofuel LPG

 Heavy or furnace oil (industrial heating oil)

 Coal

2. Waste Produced - Total kilograms (kg) of waste per year for  Landfill

 Bulk Recyclables (mixed)

 Food Waste

3. Water Use - Total volume (m3) of water used per year

See Irish Water bill, if metered

Commercial Travel Conducted - Total kilometres (km) travelled

By non-freight commercial vehicles fuelled by petrol or diesel engines or the total cost of each fuel type (petrol or diesel) per year.

Business Flights - Number of flights per year

Each return flight is counted as 1 unit

 Short haul: Within the UK or EU

 Long haul: Beyond the UK & EU

REMEMBER

Use the Energy, Waste & Water Tracker to help collect the information listed below

It is important to note the UNITS REQUIRED by the calculator for each category as there is no option to convert units within the web application.

If in doubt use the "Cost per year" field option.

Accessing international benchmarks

INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARK

International benchmarks are calculated on a per guest night/visitor/m2 basis to allow for comparability across different business sizes and guest/visitor volumes. However, the carbon calculator provides a carbon footprint at a whole business level, therefore, to be able to compare your business against international businesses, for the 12-month timeframe used in the carbon calculator, please provide....

Hotels:

 Total number of bedrooms

 Total number of guest nights

[No. of guests (adult & children) multiplied by no. of nights stayed

For example: a twin room (2 guests) occupied for 3 nights= 6 guest nights]

- This data is available from business responses to Fáilte Ireland's monthly occupancy survey

- It may also be useful to refer to your booking platform dashboard/s

 For greater accuracy of benchmarks:

1. Total number of staff nights onsite (if applicable & excluding staff working night shifts)

2. Day guests (non-resident guests using hotel facilities - meetings, conference, golf, spa etc)

3. Non-resident restaurant covers

Guesthouses and Bed & Breakfasts:

 Total number of bedrooms (both for household and for tourism let)

 Total number of occupied nights (guest nights & household nights)

1. Total no. of guest nights: total guests (adult & children) multiplied by no. of nights stayed

For example: a twin room (2 guests) occupied for 3 nights= 6 guest nights)

- This data is available from business responses to Fáilte Ireland's monthly occupancy survey

- It may also be useful to refer to your booking platform dashboard/s

2. Total no. household nights (where applicable)

For example: total no. of household members (4) multiplied by estimate of no. nights spent (320) e.g. factoring in holidays and other trips = 1,280 household nights

Caravan & Camping Sites, Self-catering Properties and Hostels:

 Total number of guest nights

[No. of guests (adult & children) multiplied by no. of nights stayed

For example: a pitch, cottage or dorm occupied by 4 guests for 3 nights = 12 guest nights]

Visitor Attractions and Activity Providers:

 Total number of visitors

Tour Operators/DMCs/PCOs:

 Floor area of the full business premises (m2)

Much of the energy, waste and water usage of tour operators, DMCs and PCOs falls in the scope 3 category of emissions. As there is no agreement on global standards on how to benchmark scope 3 emissions, the only available benchmarks for tour operators, DMCs and PCOs relate to their administration offices.

Restaurants & Pubs (serving food):

 Total number of covers/customers

STEP 2: ENERGY

Total Kilowatt hours (kWh) used in the last year. On the bill: each unit used usually represents 1 kWh ------- or -------

Total cost per year

Total Kilowatt hours (kWh) used in the last year. If only available in m3 online converters are available ------- or -------

Total cost per year

Total litres (l) of heating oil used in the last year ------- or -------

Total cost per year

Total litres of LPG/Biofuel LPG used in the last year ------- or -------

Total cost per year

Total litres of Heavy fuel oil (industrial oil) used in the last year ------- or -------

Total cost per year

Total tonnes of coal used in the last year ------- or -------

Total cost per year

If using 100% renewable energy, please input '0' (zero) into the kWh per annum field

STEP 3: BUSINESS TRAVEL

Estimate of kilometres (km) travelled in the last year for business purposes by petrol vehicles ------- or -------

Total cost per year

Estimate of kilometres (km) travelled in the last year for business purposes by diesel vehicles ------- or -------

Total cost per year

Each return flight is counted as 1 unit.

Short haul: within the UK & EU Long haul: beyond the UK & EU

If freight is used as part of a business' transport model, consider a separate transport emissions analysis. Due to the complexity involved in commercial logistics, it is outside the scope of this calculator.

If no travel usage is made by the business, input '0' (zero) into the Petrol or Diesel Business Mileage Per Annum box before moving to the next step.

STEP 4: MATERIALS AND WASTE

• Most tourism businesses sell predominantly services (even if there is some food offering provided)

• However, hospitality businesses i.e., restaurants, cafés, pubs etc. sell mainly products (i.e., food etc.).

Total kilograms (kg) of waste produced in the last year (where applicable)

• Black bin: Landfill

• Green bin: Bulk Recyclables (mixed)

• Brown bin: Food Waste

If no waste is generated by the business, input '0' (zero) into the Weight Per Annum boxes.

STEP 5: WATER

Metered Bill: ‘Your usage for this period’ table will show the estimated (E) or actual (A) volume of water used in m3 for the period. Irish Water: Understand Your Bill

Unmetered Bill: please contact Irish Water or your Local Authority for an estimate of water usage.

YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT ACTION PLAN

 Once you've completed the 5 steps of the calculator, click on:

 This step provides the annual carbon footprint of your business in tonnes of Co2-e.

 An important step: log in and save your report, this will allow you to access your carbon footprint and action plan throughout the year.

 Each action plan has multiple steps to complete with a tracking system to monitor whether the action is: Complete, In Progress, or Not applicable to your business.

 Measures that are cost-saving, energy-related, or high-impact are highlighted with the following icons:

ACCESS INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKS

Each of the four metrics (energy, travel, waste and water) requires a Co2 calculation (even if it's zero), in order to access the international benchmarks.

It is important to input a usage value in each section of the calculator and not to leave any section blank - input '0' (zero) in the event of no usage - in order to generate an accurate carbon footprint.

 Now compare your carbon footprint against other international tourism businesses to make sense of your performance.

 Access Fáilte Ireland International Benchmarks by clicking the 'REQUEST BENCHMARKS' link after your carbon footprint.

 Fill out the online form and click submit to receive an email containing steps to help you access your business sector specific international benchmark.

MONITOR YOUR PROGRESS ANNUALLY

Mark this date next year in your calendar to repeat this exercise to monitor your reduction in carbon emissions.

Next Steps

Climate Action Guides

Take action: Now you have a measure of your carbon footprint – take action! Start and/or continue your journey to reduce that footprint (and cut costs).

Explore our series of guides as part of Fáilte Ireland’s Driving Action on Climate Change in tourism businesses. You can find links to all the others in the series to help you on your climate action journey here.

CLIMATE ACTION ROADMAP

Explore our key tool designed to help you navigate the climate action journey of cost and carbon reduction.

ERRIGAL MOUNTAIN, CO. DONEGAL

WATER MANAGEMENT

Explore our guide for suggestions on how your business can reduce water consumption, resulting in a lower water bill.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Find out how waste management can reduce your carbon footprint which can directly lead to cost-savings.

CLIMATE ACTION STORY

Learn how to promote your Climate Action initiatives to the consumer.

CARBON OFFSETTING

Read our advice for tourism businesses who wish to complement their reduction strategies by offsetting emissions.

BIODIVERSITY

Find out how enhancing biodiversity in your business or location is a great place to start actioning climate change.

MEETINGS AND EVENTS

Learn how to run a climate-friendly meeting or event that incorporates environmental considerations.

FESTIVALS

Discover more about the importance of festivals for climate action from applying influence and inspiration to engaging with audiences.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Learn how minimising energy consumption using renewable energy alternatives will save costs and reduce carbon emissions.

Step-by-Step Guide

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