Where do you start calculating CO2 as a metal or manufacturing company?
You start with the invoices you already have: the energy bill for your premises and production facility, the fuel receipts from your fleet, and if you have them, the consumption data from energy-intensive machinery such as smelting furnaces, rolling mills or galvanizing lines. From these documents you can determine your gas consumption, electricity consumption and fuel consumption over a specific period. You multiply that consumption by an established emission factor, and out comes a CO2 figure.
The reason this is considered the first step is that these are the data closest to scope 1 and scope 2: the emissions from your own combustion and from the energy you purchase. For most manufacturing companies, this is the part of the questionnaire that is quickest to answer, because the sources are already in the administration. What lies further along the chain — the raw materials you purchase, processing by a supplier — requires a different approach, which is covered further on in this article.
Energy-intensive processes: still scope 1 and 2
A smelting furnace, a heat treatment or a galvanizing line feels different from the gas for office heating, but in reporting usually falls under the same two categories. If you burn natural gas or another fuel in your own installations, that is scope 1. If you purchase electricity for those same processes, that is scope 2. The difference from a regular office building is not in the classification but in scale: an energy-intensive process consumes considerably more, and that consumption is usually shown separately on the meter or bill from your energy supplier.
If you have multiple meters or a separate connection for the production facility, it is worth keeping that consumption separate from office consumption. Not because the standard requires it as such, but because it makes your own figures more reliable and future questionnaires quicker to answer. The VSME standard describes which basic data are sufficient for this; what a specific customer asks for beyond that is a different matter, which is tested in the esgia capcheck.
The origin of raw materials: scope 3, and not always required
Steel, aluminium, plastic granulate or alloyed components that you purchase bring emissions with them that do not occur at your location but at your supplier. This falls under scope 3, the emissions in the value chain before and after your own activity. This is usually the most difficult part of a CO2 calculation, because to get a reliable figure you need data from your supplier, and these are not always available.
The VSME standard does not automatically require a full scope 3 calculation from an SME; which elements are and are not to be requested depends on what is material for your company and what the standard itself considers core. A customer who nonetheless requires a detailed analysis of the origin of raw materials may be asking for more than the chain obligation allows for a supplier with a thousand employees or fewer. Whether that is the case in a specific situation is described per question in the capcheck; that is also where you can verify it without an account.
From figure to file
An energy bill provides one consumption figure, fuel receipts provide another, and both must be converted using an emission factor established on a fixed reference date. That conversion is where many companies get stuck: not because the data are missing, but because it is unclear which factor applies to which consumption and which part is scope 1, scope 2 or scope 3. esgia converts these steps into a file in which you confirm what has been read from your documents, so that the figure remains traceable to the source.
That dossier is also why the next questionnaire takes less time: this year's energy bill usually has much the same structure as last year's, and what has been established once does not need to be looked up again. If you want to see which topics are relevant for a metal or manufacturing company, you will find that overview on the page with topics per situation. If you first want to know where the figures and sources that esgia uses come from, that is explained on the explanation of how it works.
Initial indication without obligation
Whether your company is subject to the reporting obligation of a customer, and which part of the CO2 questions apply in your case, varies by situation and by sector. A number of targeted questions already provide an initial direction. This can be done free of charge and without an account via the quick-scan that provides an indication in a few questions, and frequently asked questions about what is and is not mandatory are compiled on the frequently asked questions page.
A calculation of your own emissions is not a legal assessment and not an audit; for the explanation of the standard itself and for questions about your specific situation, the official text, or a lawyer, remains the appropriate point of contact.