ESG and Sustainability Settings
View and Edit your ESG and Sustainability Settings
Last updated
View and Edit your ESG and Sustainability Settings
Last updated
Emissions factors are a key component of carbon accounting. Brightest has a database of emissions factors from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the UK Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (formerly DEFRA and BEIS) and many more. You can add emissions factors from the Brightest emissions factors library to your account or set up a library of your own custom activity and spend emissions factors.
To learn more about using, choosing, and uploading emissions factors, check out these articles:
Configuring and Customizing Emissions Factors
In the GHG Tab:
If you would like your purchased natural gas heating emissions allocated to Scope 1 - Stationary Combustion, toggle the switch "on" and select "Save" to save your changes.
If you would like to allocate water-related emissions to Scope 3 - Purchased Goods & Services (PGS) toggle the switch "on" and select "Save" to save your changes.
If you would like Brightest's AI to auto-estimate activity data from scanned invoices (OCR), toggle the switch "on" and select "Save" to save your changes.
If you would like Brightest to automatically estimate your employee commuting emissions, toggle the switch "on". If you would like to calculate your own employee commuting emissions, toggle the switch "off". Select "Save" to save your changes.
Estimates will be based on the asset's address, location type, and percentage of remote workers.
In the Reporting Tab, use the drop-down menu to select all relevant reporting standards for your organization. If there are any that you don't want to use, you can select the "x" next to the reporting standard you would like to delete.
Toggle the switch "on" if you would like to enable internal auditing of ESG reports before submission.
Select "Save" to save your changes.
In the Materials Tab, you can add or upload materials that your organization sources, produces, or works with. The materials can be linked to emissions factors, linked to suppliers, and assigned tags. You can add materials manually or bulk import via CSV.
In the Waste Tab, you can set your waste measurement method, create custom waste types, choose if you'd like use Brightest's Easy Waste Allocation, and assign custom emissions factors.
First, decide how your organization will measure waste and use the drop-down menu to select the appropriate measurement method(s).
If you need to create a custom waste type:
Click the "Add New" button.
Fill out the form (required fields: Name, Category, Emissions Factor or kgCO2e per unit)
Click "Save"
If you'd like to use Brightest's Easy Waste Allocation
Toggle the switch "on." In the waste chart, you'll then be able to assign emissions factors and allocate a specific percentage of your waste to each category.
If you don't want to use easy waste allocation, toggle the switch "off" and you can still assign a custom emissions factor using the drop-down menus next to each waste category.
Select "Save" to save your changes.
If your organization uses industrial refrigerants, you can assign each type of refrigerant an emissions factor using the drop-down menus and a use percentage using Brightest's Easy Refrigerant Allocation by toggling the switch "on".
If you do not want to assign percentages, toggle the switch "off". You will still have the option of assigning custom emissions factors for each refrigerant type.
Select "Save" to save your changes.
Use the Data & Units Tab to customize your carbon costs, set a data variance threshold, and edit measurement and metric units.
Your first setting will be Carbon Cost (Per metric ton (MT) of carbon) and cost currency. Each country has their own cost associated with carbon emissions. For example, in the U.S. the Biden Administration has set the cost of carbon at $51 USD per metric ton. You'll want to make sure that your carbon cost correlates to the correct country.
Set a data variance percentage. The acceptable percentage of variance allowed with newly uploaded data compared to your historical data. Anything over your variance threshold will trigger an account alert to check the data's accuracy. Enter as a number between 0 and 100.
Set your measurement and default metric units using the drop-down menus.
Use custom date ranges: If you receive utility bills for irregular time periods or wish to enter data for custom date ranges (outside of monthly intervals), enable this option "on". This will allow you to enter data for custom date ranges for your asset footprint data.
Select "Save" to save your changes.
In the Financial & Operating Data Tab, you can enter company historical or forecast data by year and category under Scope 1, 2, and 3. The other option for entering historical data is at the asset or object level under the Sustainability Module.
To add Annual Revenue and Annual Revenue Growth, select the Company Data Tab, click "+ Add New Row". Enter your data into the table and select "Save", or "+ Add New Row" to enter another year's data.
If you would like to enter your historical emissions data by category, select the Emissions Data Tab and use the drop-down menus to select the year and correlating emissions scope. Toggle the "Enter GHG Emissions Data" switch "on", then enter your data for each category in the table. When you're done, select "Save" to save your changes.
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To add a material manually select "+ Add Material". You'll then be able to name the material, link emissions factors, add a supplier (if you've ), and . If you need to edit the data for an existing material, select the icon next to the material.
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