CO2e – Carbon Dioxide Equivalence

Different business activities emit different kinds of greenhouse gases. For example, driving your car emits carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as trace amounts of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Smelting aluminum emits perfluorocarbons (PFCs), along with other gases.

To make it easier to understand and compare an organization’s environmental impact, it helps to consolidate these different gases into a single, standardized metric. This is done by expressing the impacts of all the different greenhouse gases in terms of the impact of one specific gas, carbon dioxide. In other words, all non-CO2 gases are converted into a “CO2 equivalence,” or CO2e, based on how much they warm the atmosphere in comparison to how much carbon dioxide warms the atmosphere.

So, instead of reporting quantities of every greenhouse gas individually – CO2, CH4, etc., – almost all organizations report their emissions in terms of CO2e. Gravity does all of this consolidation behind the scenes, so you have the most easily consumable and actionable emissions results.

Gravity converts to CO2e using Global Warming Potential values based on a 100-year time horizon. This is the approach recommended by the GHG Protocol. Gravity sources GWP values from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report, 2014 (AR5), also as recommended by the GHG Protocol.