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 environmental management 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.