Greenhouse gas conversion factors for company reporting

2012 Guidelines to Defra / DECC's GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting
Introduction
Last updated:
May-12
General Introduction
What are Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors?
Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) can be measured by recording emissions at source by continuous emissions
monitoring or by estimating the amount emitted by multiplying activity data (such as the amount of fuel used)
by relevant emissions conversion factors.
These conversion factors allow activity data (e.g. litres of fuel used, number of miles driven, tonnes of waste
sent to landfill) to be converted into kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e). CO 2 e is a universal unit of
measurement that allows the global warming potential of different GHGs to be compared.
Values for CH 4 and N 2 O are presented as CO 2 equivalents (CO 2 e) using Global Warming Potential (GWP)
factors*, consistent with reporting under the Kyoto Protocol and the second assessment report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
What are the major changes and updates from the 2012 version?
Major changes and updates from the 2012 version are as follows:
i. The indirect GHG emission factors (emissions from production and distribution of fuels to their point of
use/combustion) have been updated reflecting the most recent analysis by JEC (2011, see
http://iet.jrc.ec.europa.eu/about-jec/). This has resulted in an increase in these emission factors for most
fuels and this is reflected in the indirect GHG emission factors across the Annexes.
ii. New emission factors have been provided in Annex 1 for Recycled Fuel Oil. This fuel is produced from
waste oil and is classified by the Environment Agency as waste and so is subject to the Waste Incineration
Directive (WID). Therefore only those companies who are compliant with WID are able to use it as a fuel.
iii. In Annex 3 the emission factors for electricity for 1990 to 1995 have been recalculated based on changes
to the NAEI timeseries and data from DUKES (2011). In addition, GHG emissions from electricity produced
in Crown Dependencies has been included across the time-series for better consistency with the data in
DUKES (2011) on GWh electricity generation.
iv. New time-series emission factors for the supply of purchased of heat/steam have been provided in Annex
3. These emission factors are based on average information from the UK CHPQA scheme since there are no
suitable data sources covering supply of heat/steam across all source types.
v. The methodology used to define the emission factors for road vehicles (except motorcycles and buses) in
Annex 6 and Annex 7 has been updated to utilise the factors used in the 2010 NAEI to account for the
age/activity of the vehicle fleet in the UK, derived from DVLA licensing data and DfT's ANPR (Automatic
Number Plate Recognition) data.
vi. The source categories for emissions resulting from different refrigeration and air conditioning equipment
have been updated in Annex 8 to reflect the updated characterisation in the UK National Atmospheric
Emissions Inventory.
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