Carbon Footprint vs. Emissions Inventory?

You may encounter slightly different vocabulary when reading about carbon accounting. There are “carbon footprints,” but also “emissions inventories,” and “greenhouse gas inventories.” What’s the difference?

The short answer is – not much. As this industry has evolved, different phrases have developed to describe the same thing. Every organization contributes a certain amount of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere from its own operations and from the operations of its value chain partners. Measuring these emissions through carbon accounting results in a carbon footprint, or an emissions inventory, or a greenhouse gas inventory; you can use them interchangeably.

The common core of all of them is rigorous adherence to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the gold-standard methodology for carbon accounting.