Academy
Carbon Accounting Essentials
Inventory Boundaries

A Brief Overview

Updated: 
May 28, 2024
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Overview

Overview

To accurately report on GHG emissions, a company must first determine two key things:

Organizational Boundary

This is an approach for consolidating GHG emissions and determining which facilities or operations will be included.

  • What parts of the organizational structure will be accounted for in the GHG inventory?

Operational Boundary

This is the scope of direct and indirect emissions for operations that fall within a company’s established organizational boundary

  • Within the selected organizational boundary, what emission sources will be accounted for in the GHG inventory?

These pieces combined are known as the inventory boundary.

An inventory boundary must be established as the foundational layer — this happens before any carbon accounting can take place.

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Organizational Boundary
Learn how to establish organizational boundaries for GHG inventories, choosing between control approaches (operational or financial) or equity share approaches based on ownership and control.