HOW TO ADD VALUE TO THE CARBON FOOTPRINT

Abstract

Carbon footprint (CFP) is defined as sum of greenhouse gas emissions and removals in a product system or due to any company's activity. General interest about CFP goes further than energy costs savings because of emissions improvement; it is also about brand and company image in a world more and more concerned by environmental issues. Because of this context, authors consider of general interest a method to manage the CFM business by mean of the integrated management system of the company in order to get a better performance and competitive advantage. The authors have analyzed matters such as people perception regarding environmental issues and CFP, the evolution of the amount of environmental management systems certifications, public administrations initiatives, trends of the automotive, agricultural and food industry, bad practices and papers about CFP like competitive advantage. The results obtained, from the information collected on those issues, lead to a model based on an strategic approach to de CFM, avoiding any bad practice and using benchmarking as an initial tool, managing the CFP business by its integration in the integrated management system of the company and taking benefit of the present time situation of the CFP.