What is the price for getting my carbon footprint calculated?

As environmental awareness continues to grow, organisations are increasingly interested in understanding and reducing their carbon footprints. One common question that arises is, "How much does it cost to get my carbon footprint calculated?" In this blog, we will explore the factors influencing the cost of calculating your carbon footprint and provide some insights into the potential expenses involved.

The cost of calculating your carbon footprint can vary depending on the service provider you choose. Some organisations offer free online carbon footprint calculators, making it accessible for individuals and SMEs to get a basic estimate. However, if you require a more detailed and comprehensive assessment, you may need to pay for more sophisticated software or hire a professional consulting firm. These services typically come with a fee due to the expertise and resources involved in conducting a more thorough analysis.

We believe in totally transparent pricing. To create a Carbon Reduction Plan our price is a simple one-off fee that includes everything you need. An effective Net Zero Plan is a bit more complex but we still publish all our prices on our website here.

To understand how other businesses charge for their services it would be best to reach out and inquire about their pricing structure to get a more detailed breakdown about the services they offer and any associated costs.

Here though is a summary of the most common factors affecting carbon calculating pricing:

Key pricing factors

Scope of Analysis:

The complexity and extent of the analysis required to calculate your organisation’s carbon footprint will have an impact on the price. Basic carbon footprint calculations may focus solely on direct (Scope 1) emissions, for example from your direct energy use and (Scope 2) indirect emissions, for example from the generation of purchased electricity, while some providers, like ourselves, go even further and calculate value chain (Scope 3) emissions, generated. Scope 3 emissions include the carbon produced by your supply chains, employee commuting, or business travel. Essentially, the broader the scope the more detailed and accurate the analysis, but also potentially the higher the cost.

Data Availability:

The availability and quality of data can also influence the cost. If you already have accurate and detailed data on your energy consumption, travel patterns, and other relevant factors, it can help streamline the analysis process and potentially reduce the cost. On the other hand, if you require additional help with data collection, it may increase the overall cost.

Organisation Size:

Most service providers operate on a sliding scale of costs based on the size of your organisation or the scale of the project, though not all of them publish the scale. Larger entities or those with more complex operations might require additional data collection, analysis, and reporting, leading to higher costs compared to individuals or smaller businesses.

Level of Detail:

Some service providers offer different tiers of analysis, each with varying levels of detail and accuracy. Basic calculations may provide rough estimates, while more advanced assessments use specific data and methodologies to deliver more precise results. Naturally, higher accuracy levels usually come at a higher price.

Target setting and action planning:

Calculating your carbon footprint is only the starting point. A carbon reduction plan also requires you to set reduction targets and create an action plan. Doing this correctly and effectively requires specialist expertise, which can increase the overall cost.

Reporting Requirements:

The specific reporting requirements or standards you need to adhere to can affect the cost. For example, if you need to comply with regulatory reporting frameworks or pursue science-based target validation, then additional documentation, verification, or validation processes may be necessary, which can lead to higher expenses. This can also be true when you come to Go Climate Positive since the precise requirements of the third-party framework may vary.

Stakeholder engagement:

For most businesses, the majority of their carbon emissions are outside their direct control. So to reduce their carbon footprint they need to engage with key stakeholders, such as their suppliers. This may include sending surveys, doing internet research or even running workshops, all of which may increase costs.

Net Zero planning:

A meaningful net zero transition plan is a complex document involving project planning, reduction forecasts, risk assessments, resource planning and governance. It requires a significant amount of work and expertise, which typically come with a significant price tag.

Additional Considerations:

Consultant vs Software:

Some solutions are “software” only, which means the user must figure out for themselves which activities and emissions categories are relevant. Often the software has to be fed data in a specific format, which may require additional resource to “pre-format” the data ready for entry. Other solutions are entirely consultant led and bespoke, ensuring a personalised service and someone to guide you through the complexities of the standards and helping you to understand what all the numbers mean as well as providing guidance on target-setting and action planning. As you might expect, a bespoke service typically comes with a much higher price tag.

Certification:

Some organisations may require carbon footprint certifications for compliance or reporting purposes. This could involve additional costs for third-party verification of the calculated footprint or validation of targets.

Long-term Partnerships:

If you anticipate regular carbon footprint assessments or ongoing sustainability initiatives, it might be beneficial to establish long-term partnerships with service providers. They may offer discounted rates or packages for recurring assessments, helping to reduce costs over time.

Added extras:

Are features you might expect to get as standard, such as target-setting and action planning included as standard or is there an extra fee charged.

Fixed price or Daily rate:

Many consultants charge a daily rate, so you won’t know what you are going to be charged until you receive the invoice.

Go Climate Positive Pricing

Our goal is to make it as easy and accessible as possible for SMEs to calculate their carbon footprint, create a plan to reduce their impact on the climate and produce a report that demonstrates this. For those that are ready to go further we provide a complete toolkit to engage their suppliers and employees in the carbon reduction effort and guide them through the process of writing a comprehensive net zero plan.

Fixed-fee pricing

We use fixed-fee pricing, so businesses know exactly what they are paying and we typically implement the full Green House Gas (GHG) protocol corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard, including Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions, to provide a thorough, detailed and accurate report of your organisation’s Carbon Footprint. The fundamentals of an effective carbon management process are always included in the standard fee.

Each year, members of our Road to Net Zero programme receive Go Climate Positive certificate, to validate their carbon footprint measurement, which is included in their membership package.

Where we do charge extra, such as for support with a third-party reporting framework, running engagement workshops or writing a net zero plan, we are up-front about this and publish our prices.

We know it's not easy to go on this journey alone, so when you join with us you, will also become part of a community of like-minded businesses that are determined to make a difference to climate change.

Coach-led, software-enabled

Once you join, your nominated Carbon Coach will guide you through every step of the journey, helping you make sure you comply with the best practice standards and guidelines and giving you advice on the best way to reduce your carbon footprint over time.

Our service is delivered using our in-house designed software solution we call “the portal”. This ensures that your data is always secure and that your carbon reports and action plans are always available online. The portal also streamlines our process, helping us to keep our fees as low as possible.

Types of service

Carbon Reduction Plans

This is our streamlined service designed to give you a compliant Carbon Reduction Plan with a minimum of fuss.

Road to Net Zero

The “Road to Net Zero is our comprehensive monthly membership programme that will help you implement all the components of a meaningful Net Zero plan step-by-step – allowing you to build your Net Zero journey at the pace that is right for your organisation – in the knowledge that everything you do is aligned with the global Net Zero transition.

Supplier Carbon Reduction Programme

If you have already calculated your carbon footprint you will probably have discovered that most of your emissions are in your supply-chain. Our supplier carbon reduction plan will help you give your suppliers a practical solution to measuring and reduce their carbon footprint, which will in turn reduce your own Scope 3 emissions.

You can read more about our service packages and view our pricing here

Payment options

We offer a variety of payment options to help you manage your cashflow including:

• Monthly billing (Road to Net Zero members only)

• Credit card payments

• Direct debit payments

Conclusion

Calculating your carbon footprint is an essential step towards understanding and mitigating your environmental impact. While the pricing can vary depending on factors such as service providers, scope of analysis, organisation size, and level of detail, reaching out to service providers directly will provide you with the most accurate information. Consider your specific needs, future sustainability goals, and budget when making your decision and make sure you understand what the price of any optional extras are. At Go Climate Positive, we aim to make this easy by publishing our prices here..

Remember genuine climate action requires consistent and determined action over a period of many years and we would love to be your long-term carbon management partner.