Carbon footprinting has been suggested as an indicator tool which can be adapted to assess corporate environmental performance
in physical terms.
So-called carbon footprints are measures of greenhouse gases
produced by activities and are usually expressed in equivalent tonnes of carbon dioxide.
They are measured as a carbon dioxide equivalent emission weight for any level of activity over a period of time for a particular entity e.g. tonnes of carbon
dioxide emitted for a supply chain over a year.
The aimfor an entitymade aware of its footprint is reduction on the basis that this will help reduce the identified problemof global warming.
Many carbon calculators are readily available online for this purpose
but have been criticised for their lack of consistent results and the need for transparency in their assumptions.
Integration of carbon emission concerns into operations relating to procurement,
production, inventory management and their impact on costs in supply chains can contribute towards clean technology investment decisions.
Lee points out, pragmatic environmentalmanagement accounting and eco-control tools developed for decision making about carbon emissions in the Korean automobile industry supply chain provide a useful case for better carbonmanagement, but wider empirical evidence is needed.
Large sample quantitative studies across supply chains in different industries are recommended.
However, measurement issues remain a formidable obstacle to
the development of reliable carbon footprint data for decision making.
A snapshot of some such upstream and downstream issues is provided by Arzoumanidis et al.
when examining accounting for biogenic exchanges in the wine industry.
These include forest management, agricultural practices and land use, soil erosion, the inclusion of all parts of a tree, the inclusion of the end-of-life phase, etc.
and require knowledge that goes well beyond that available to the conventional accountant.