Challenge
Agro Trade wanted to document its total climate impact in a climate accounting to meet increasingly stringent requirements.
Solution
A customised and user-friendly reporting tool, training on how to use the tool, and a compre-hensive background report.
Result
Reliable climate accounting documentation makes Agro Trade's climate efforts more visible and prepares the company for future regulations.
Agro Trade documents its climate impact footprint in a tailor-made climate accounting, enhancing its image, meeting customers' needs, and preparing it for future regulatory requirements.
Climate accounting: a powerful tool
For small and large companies alike, climate accounting is a powerful tool that allows them to demonstrate to their customers and others that they are working hard to reduce their CO2 emissions.
EU regulations requiring companies to document climate-related efforts are becoming increasingly common. But what should a climate accounting include, and where does the data come from? Agro Trade, a biofertiliser manufacturer, has found answers to these questions.
From ash to fertiliser – a piece of the circular economy
Biomass plays a significant role in Denmark's transition to renewable energy and in reducing CO2 emissions. Biomass is an organic material, such as wood pellets, wood chips, and straw, that is converted into energy at facilities like combined heat and power plants. The Danish-Polish company Agro Trade specialises in collecting ash, a by-product of biomass combustion, enriching it with gypsum and other substances, and using it as fertiliser for agriculture in Poland. This way, Agro Trade prevents the leftover ash from ending up as waste, which is either landfilled or used in noise barriers. Its nutrients, including phosphorus and calcium, are lost if that happens.
Instead, the biomass is part of a new production cycle at Agro Trade, utilising nutrients whose other sources will eventually be depleted (e.g., phosphorus stores in mines) and reducing the need to produce artificial fertilisers. This is an excellent example of the circular economy.
Get a clear picture of CO2 emissions
A climate accounting provides an overview of a company's total CO2 emissions. It is a tangible way of identifying areas where efforts can be made to reduce the company's impact on the climate.
"At Agro Trade, we chose to develop a climate accounting to get a clear picture of how we as a company affect the environment, especially regarding CO2 emissions.
We want to show that our product has less of an impact on the climate than other solutions, and we see climate accounting as an essential step in clarifying our approach towards a sustainable and circular economy and meeting future requirements and expectations," says Mads Birkedal, management, Agro Trade.
Mads Birkedal refers to a future requirement: the EU's CSR Directive. CSR stands for "corporate sustainability reporting." The directive will take effect in 2025 and requires large companies to report on their sustainability.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises will be subject to the same requirements starting in 2027; however, SMEs supplying large companies are considered part of the "food chain" and may be indirectly affected as early as 2025. Agro Trade, itself an SME, finds itself in this very situation.
Direct and indirect CO2 emissions
In climate accounting, a company's greenhouse gas emissions are calculated in CO2 equivalents using numbers known as emission factors. An emission factor is a measure of greenhouse gas emissions per unit. For example, an emission factor can indicate how many kilograms of CO2 are emitted per litre of fuel consumed.
The CO2 emissions in a climate report are typically categorised into three scopes as defined in the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, a greenhouse gas accounting and reporting standard.
