National, regional and local governments as well as individual departments are reviewing their operations, purchase spend amount and local situation (e.g., existing energy sources used, infrastructure, product distribution options in the region, etc.) to determine the areas of spend that produce the most carbon emissions. The areas of spend producing the most emissions are often called “carbon hotspots”.
Carbon hotspots are determined by assessing a range of information sources including lifecycle-based studies, market and scientific research, expert opinion and stakeholder concerns. Many public sector entities and departments have completed hotspot analysis and have used the output of the analysis to prioritize procurement actions and to identify potential solutions to support low-carbon spending. Goods and services commonly selected for procurement actions include: IT equipment, paper, office furniture, vehicles, street and indoor lighting, water services, building and building services including reconstruction, renewable energy, water services, road and other infrastructure services.
Every entity is different and therefore will have different carbon hotspots. Here are a few examples:
By identifying carbon hotspots and supporting low-carbon procurement for goods and services defined as hotspots, you can significantly reduce your organization’s carbon footprint and better support Manitoba’s Climate and Green Plan.
Below are some tools to caluclate carbon emissions for specific goods:
Example: If your organization has 1,000 HP EliteBook 840G6 Notebooks in the finance department, the average carbon footprint of each notebook is 375kg CO2e over the lifetime of the product (four years). Therefore, the carbon footprint for these computers is approximately 375 metric tons of CO2e (1,000 Units*375kg CO2e/1,000 = 375 metric tons of CO2e).
Example: Your organization used 40,000 reams of 8.5x11 copy paper in 2018. The paper was purchased without post-consumer waste content. Using the Paper Calculator:
Review the calculated GHG (carbon) emissions associated with the paper, which will be expressed in pounds of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalents). Convert pounds to metric tons to determine the emissions associated with this purchase. In this case, 40,000 reams results in a carbon footprint of 1,800,000lbs of CO2e, which is 818 metric tons of CO2e.
Fuel Type: |
Emission Factor (CO2e kg/L) |
Gasoline |
2.29 |
E10 |
2.21 |
Diesel |
2.66 |
B5 |
2.65 |
B10 |
2.62 |
Note: Visit the Natural Resources Canada website to obtain the most recent emission factors.
Example: If 1,000,000 litres of diesel fuel is purchased annually, the carbon footprint associated with the fuel purchase is 2,660 metric tons CO2e (1,000,000L*2.66kg/L CO2e/1,000 = 2,660 metric tons CO2e)
Example: If a small deli purchases a variety of meats totaling 127,000kg per year, the carbon footprint associated with each meat commodity and total emissions associated with meat purchased is presented below:
Meat type |
Total KG Purchased |
Production GHG emission factor (kg CO2e per kg) |
Transportation GHG emission factor (kg CO2e per kg) |
Total GHG Emissions for 2018 (metric tons) |
Chicken |
53,619 |
3.73 |
0.21 |
211.3 |
Turkey |
4,504 |
4.67 |
0.21 |
22.0 |
Beef |
32,823 |
17.59 |
0.21 |
584.2 |
Pork |
24,375 |
5.45 |
0.21 |
138.0 |
Sausage |
1,032 |
9.34 |
0.2 |
9.8 |
Pepperoni |
800 |
13.06 |
0.2 |
10.6 |
Ham |
1,866 |
9.31 |
0.2 |
17.7 |
Eggs |
8,004 |
1.85 |
0.2 |
16.4 |
Lamb |
25 |
24.89 |
0.21 |
0.6 |
Total |
127,047 |
|
|
1,010.7 |
Example: An office building has 19,400ft² of carpeted area. The carpet installed was Interface FLOR modular carpet with a pile weight of 41oz/yd² and made of Nylon 6.6 material. The listed GWP per ft² for this material is 1.07kg CO2e/ft². The total emissions associated with the existing carpet material is 20.8 metric tons CO2e (19,400ft²*1.07kg CO2e/ft² / 1,000 = 20.8 metric tons CO2e).
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