Where's My Data? Estimating Leased Facility GHG Emissions with Imperfect Information

摘要

Collecting data for a greenhouse gas emissions inventory is a difficult process for every organization. Very few organizations beginning the greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting process have access to a perfect dataset that clearly tracks all the activities that emit GHGs or information necessary to develop an accurate GHG inventory. In addition, obtaining data from leased facilities can often pose a particularly vexing problem for companies. Simply purchasing a software package to calculate emissions will not solve this problem. At ICF, we have spent considerable time developing methods to fill gaps in existing datasets by estimating values using proxy data. Many companies come to us with a strong desire to track and reduce emissions, but are hampered by the difficulty of obtaining data. This paper outlines the methods used, the reasons for their use, and their applicability to a variety of GHG inventories.