📶ESG and Sustainability Settings

View and Edit your ESG and Sustainability Settings

Table of Contents

• Emissions Factors

• GHG

• Reporting

• Materials

• Waste

• Refrigerants

• Data & Units

• Financial & Operating Data

Select "Edit ESG and sustainability settings" in Brightest Settings

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Emissions Factors

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:

Emissions Factors

Configuring and Customizing Emissions Factors

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GHG

The GHG settings section has multiple options for customization for your organization's carbon accounting methodology and data entry:

Require Approval for Submitted Asset Data

Enables or disables an approval workflow for submitted activity data related to your organization's assets and their footprints. When enabled, activity data submitted for approval will be in a pending state until it's approved by a license admin or manager.

Natural Gas and Heating Carbon Accounting Category

• 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.

• By default Brightest allocates natural gass to Scope 2 emissions.

Water Carbon Accounting Category

• 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.

Third Party Electricity Carbon Accuonting Category

Allocate electricity-related emissions from non-operationally controlled and third party sources to Scope 3 purchased goods and services (PGS). GHG Protocol Corporate Standard defines Scope 3 as indirect or value-chain emissions. Use the toggle here to allocate these electricity-related emissions to Scope 3 - PGS category within your GHG emissions inventory.

Enable FERA (Fuel & Energy Related Activities) Scope 3 EGrid Emissions

Turn on FERA (Fuel & Energy-Related Activities) Scope 3 emissions for eGRID emissions. Brightest will auto-calculate FERA emissions for your organization's assets' electricity usage for countries where accurate FERA factors are available.

Note, Brightest has default FERA emission factors for select countries which have available factors.

Enable Biogenic Emissions

Turn on accounting for biogenic emissions. Brightest will calculate and show Biogenic emissions outside of Scopes 1, 2, and 3 for applicable emissions activities and as a part of your overall emissions inventory.

Only applies to certain fuel types: Wood, Biofuel, etc.

Auto-Estimate Activity Data from Scanned Invoices (OCR)

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.

Auto-Estimate Scope 3 Commuting Emissions

• 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.

Custom GWPs

In the GHG tab, select the "Manage Custom GWPs" at the bottom of the page. You'll then be directed to the Custom GWP Values area where you can set custom Global Warming Potential (GWP) values for refrigerant types and time periods. This will override the default GWP values for your organization's carbon calculations during the specified date range.

You can create custom GWP values either manually using the "+ Add New" tool or in bulk via the CSV import option, where you’ll select the appropriate refrigerant type, enter the GWP value, define the start and end dates for which it applies, and upload any supporting source or documentation.

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Reporting

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.

Choose your reporting standards and require internal auditing of ESG reports in the Reporting Tab

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Materials

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.

To add a material manually select "+ Add Material". You'll then be able to name the material, link emissions factors, enter sustainability and recycling information, link a supplier (if you've added them as a partner), and add tags. For more information on adding materials, please visit our Products and Materials documentation page.

If you need to edit the data for an existing material, select the icon next to the material.

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Waste

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:

1. Click the "Add New" button.

2. Fill out the form (required fields: Name, Category, Emissions Factor or kgCO2e per unit)

3. Click "Save"

Click the "Add New" button.

Fill out the form (required fields: Name, Category, Emissions Factor or kgCO2e per unit) and 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.

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Refrigerants

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.

Assign custom emissions factors to refrigerants. If you'd like, choose Easy Refrigerant Allocation to assign usage percentages.

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Data and Units

Use the Data & Units Tab to customize your carbon costs, set a data variance threshold, and edit measurement and metric units.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Set your measurement and default metric units using the drop-down menus.

4. 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.

5. Select "Save" to save your changes.

Set your carbon cost, data variance threshold, measurement, and metric units in the Data & Units Tab

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Financial & Operating Data

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. You can also set custom exchange rates for specific currency pairs and time periods. This will override Brightest's default FX rates for the currency pair while the date range is active.

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.

Add revenue data in the Company Data Tab in Financial & Operating Data Settings

If you would like to set custom FX rates, select the FX Rates Tab. You can use the "+ Add New" tool to enter rates manually or the CSV importer to bulk upload exchange rates, specifying the initial and new currencies, the exchange rate, the start and end dates for which it should apply, and any relevant notes or documentation.

Add custom FX rates in the FX Rates Tab in the Financial & Operating Data Settings

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.

To enter your historical emissions data by category, select "Emissions Data", toggle the switch "on", enter your data, and select "Save".

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