You can only improve what you can measure! First, you need to start analysing your current carbon footprint and to define how to report it in order to properly measure and communicate progress.
This step will be the foundation of your carbon management journey.
Accuracy is not the primary goal here: future improvements in measurement can be part of your action plan. It is advisable to have a broad overview of the GHG emissions generated by your activities: this will increase the potential for future reductions.
The first step in your corporate carbon management journey is to map your activities and define the operational boundaries for your carbon footprint assessment. It is useful to use Scopes 1, 2 and 3 as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the most widely used greenhouse gas accounting standard in the world:
- Scope 1 emissions are the direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by your company, such as company vehicles, your factories or buildings burning fuel.
- Scope 2 emissions are the indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heat and cooling consumed in facilities or operations owned or controlled by your company.
- Scope 3 emissions are the indirect emissions from transporting your products to the point of sale, your employees' business flights and commutes, the raw materials you use in your products...
To facilitate your carbon emissions inventory, start with a simplified list of your company's business physical flow:
Include your Scope 3 emissions in your inventory from the start, even if you think it will be difficult to properly collect all the relevant quantitative data. At least you will have a qualitative overview of your carbon emissions inventory. You may then decide to start with a partial Scope 3 calculation for the first few years and then gradually include the full inventory.
This baseline overview of your carbon emissions inventory will be your starting point for defining the next steps for data collection and management.
To compile all the data for company level reporting, you will need to choose a methodology and build or use an existing carbon footprint calculator or ESG Management Platform. There are free software tools available online to help your company understand and calculate the emissions from its own operations, as well as ESG Management Platforms.
Here is an overview of the criteria to consider before choosing which tool to use:
1/ Reporting standards and methodologies
Depending on your reporting objectives, you may need to choose a specialised tool that allows you to follow standards for regulatory compliance (e.g. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol) or to integrate your carbon footprint management into a broader sustainability reporting, such as ISO management.
2/ Training and certification
It is important to take the time to be properly trained on the chosen tool. You will need to check what type of training is available.
Please note that:
To take your journey further, it is advisable to have a trained project leader in-house or to be accompanied by specialists.
See some online calculators below and more on The Matcha Initiative toolbox. Many ESG Management apps are also now available. Some are listed below in the suppliers section and more in our supplier directory.
Once you have mapped your activities and selected the appropriate tool, you will focus on collecting data activities and emission factors to measure carbon emissions.
# Data activities
You can try to identify the best available data or proxy to do this, and think about how to improve the measurement later. Accuracy is not the primary objective here: a range may be sufficient to enable you to identify the key levers for reducing your carbon footprint. Make sure you define and document your methodology for measuring your carbon footprint baseline, so that you can monitor and fine tune your future reduction action plan.
# Emission factors
You can start with default emission factors from the UN Emission Factor Database (EFDB) which takes into account the 2006 IPCC Guideline for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories and its supplements among others. The Singapore grid emission factor used in the calculation is based on grid emissions published annually by the Energy Market Authority (EMA).
Throughout the process, you will identify areas for progress in data collection and emission factor definitions. Of course, improving your carbon footprint measurement methodology could be part of your future carbon management action plan!
To complete this step, it may be useful to obtain a carbon assurance statement from a third party to verify the accuracy of the GHG emissions data.
See some emission factors databases below and more on The Matcha Initiative toolbox.
The « sustainability journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.
Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.
Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.
I am the founder of Sustainao, a sustainability consulting firm based in Singapore. With 10 years of experience in the field, I help businesses develop impactful sustainability and decarbonisation strategies, embed sustainable practices into operations, and report their performance to stakeholders in a meaningful way.
Previously, I worked as a sustainability auditor at KPMG France, where I conducted audits across 15 countries within Europe, Africa, and Asia.
I hold an MBA in Corporate Sustainability, a Master’s in Environmental Management, and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Biology.
As the Senior Programme Manager for Sustainability Validation and Verification at TÜV SÜD, Mei Yee helps organisations add credibility and assurance to their greenhouse gases (GHG) emission assertations and GRI reports by providing third-party verification reports to support organizational claims.
She has six years of experience in the standards development of ISO 30500 and ISO 31800, testing, and certification for non-sewered sanitation systems. Prior to that, Mei Yee spearheaded World Toilet Organization's Rainbow School Toilet projects in China and Sanishop in Cambodia. She is passionate about driving corporate social responsibility and sustainability and has spent more than 18 years in various fields working internationally across teams and cultural boundaries before turning her focus on Singapore to helping companies with their carbon reduction journey. She holds a Masters in Community Water and Sanitation and a Science Degree in Earth Science, majoring in geology and physical geography.
She is a certified WSQ Advanced Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP) Train-The-Trainer (TTT). Since then, she has facilitated many companies in the training for Green Compass – An environmental assessment framework targeted at SME/ manufacturing industries.
Mun Wei is the founder and principal consultant of SustainableSG, which provides advisory and training services in sustainability, strategy, risk and entrepreneurship.
He has worked with corporate, government and non-profit clients on strategy and implementation, reviewing organizational programmes and targets related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, benchmarking and communicating sustainability and other corporate programmes and achievements, promoting inclusive hiring, developing compliance policies and reports, and formulating innovative business models.
He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
Passionate about sustainability and technology, I have spent the last 12 years in Asia-Pacific working on Energy and Sustainability. I am passionate about both of those areas and dedicate some of my time to conducting trainings.
After working for several MNCs and startups, I have founded Qanopy Consulting, a Singapore-based company providing a suite of sustainability services. We use a tailored approach to assist companies at various stages of their sustainability journey.
Ching Hu is currently head of the Net Zero Transition Department at Singapore Business Federation, which objective is to drive initiatives to decarbonise Singapore and enterprises, including publishing the Singapore Emission Factors Registry and sector-specific decarbonisation programme for SMEs.
Previously, he worked at Terrascope, which offers an end-to-end decarbonisation SaaS platform enabling enterprises to measure and manage their emissions across operations, supply chains, and portfolios. Prior to Terrascope, he launched the Singapore office of EcoVadis - a global ESG ratings company - which served more than 800 companies within its first year of operations. The ratings include environmental, social, ethics and sustainable procurement metrics.
He started his career with the Singapore Government, spanning portfolios including manpower, education, transport and decarbonisation. Ching Hu graduated from the London School of Economics, SciencesPo Paris, and Oxford University. As an undergraduate at Oxford, he helped launch the inaugural Oxford Climate Forum - the UK's largest student-run climate change event.
I worked in Asia for 12 years (Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore) within the digital and technology space. I'm now the Europe Regional Managing Director at Palo IT.
I have founded and run several companies in different sectors such as IT Consulting, Education, and the F&B business.
I am passionate about how to use technology as a force for good.
I have more than 20 years experience leading change and transformation in Europe, Africa and Asia. I have had the privilege of managing and contributing to diverse industries, organisation (Humanitarian and corporate) to secure engagement and impact. In my last role I worked in a large MNC supply chain environment engaging external partners to increase our impact in sustainability.
Marita has over 25 years of experience in transforming businesses in the Asia Pacific and internationally, across multiple industries. She combines her experience of starting, growing and running businesses with a passion for sustainability and technology solutions. Her approach to sustainability is a balanced blend of professional methodologies, cultural perspectives, and individual values that drive an organisation to its highest potential, all the while fostering sustainable outcomes for growing businesses.
Most recently, Marita has been helping business start their sustainability journey by understanding their existing carbon footprint and policy settings, and identifying the material categories of emissions and governance gaps. Accurately knowing where you are starting from helps map out an achievable way forward.
Leading business expansion across Australia and Asia has honed her 'startup' skills and further heightened her interest in boosting team capabilities for growth and sustainability. Marita’s technical background and passion for innovations can be leveraged to find new ways of working to generate sustainable outcomes.
Graduated in IT and marketing, Nicolas started his career at SAUTER, a Swiss BMS Supplier, in the HQ in 2008 and has been a product manager for several years. After the successful launch of the first BMS Cloud in Europe, he became business developer in the APAC region in 2015. He relocated to Shanghai for 20 months to be closer to the markets, before moving to Singapore in 2018 where he created and directed the SAUTER APAC Competence Centre until June 2022. Since then, he has taken on the role of CEO at beez-fm, a green tech startup he founded in December 2019.
In 2023, I co-founded Greenfinity, a Singapore-based supply chain sustainability venture focusing on sustainable and low-carbon transformation for supply chains. The objective is to help people and companies strategize their sustainability action plans to make a difference for the planet, the people, and the business.
I have a background in industrial engineering and supply chain management and 20 years of multi-national company experience in Europe and Asia, driving best-in-class logistics, manufacturing, customer services, and planning processes (S&OP/IBP). With climate change becoming an additional consideration to supply chain management over the past decade, I decided to help supply chain professionals juggle between achieving the best service, optimal cost, cash efficiency, and now decarbonization.
I am a Partner at Continewm, participating in the business development of our HVAC energy saving technology. After 20 years in Thailand pushing my own company, Woodman, specialized in the distribution of green wood solutions for buildings, I joined the Continewm team to boost the worldwide awareness and sales of this Japanese hardware.
I am in line with the values of this amazing team moved by the desire to have an impact on some of the large environment issues we are facing.
With over two decades of experience in enterprise software and consulting, I've dedicated my career to helping organizations leverage technology to achieve their business and sustainability goals. At SAP, I led the launch and growth of Sustainability Cloud solutions across 25 industries.
My expertise spans digital transformation, strategic advisory around business models and process change which is crucial for any company that wants to embed sustainability in their core business strategy and operations.
IT solutions that cover sustainability have become essential for any company, big and small, and I can guide companies to find the right one, being an expert in solutions that cover Holistic ESG steering and reporting, Climate action and carbon accounting, Circular economy processes like responsible design, waste management, recommerce, and material traceability, Sustainable procurement and responsible supply chain, Protecting employee health and safety.
Currently, I'm working on GreenFrog.ai, a program exploring 3 domains: how to make IT greener, how to use IT to greenify your business (“IT for Green”) and how AI can accelerate sustainability strategy, transformation roadmap definition, and solution identification for companies. I am keen to work with any CSO or sustainability consultant to discuss how to augment their impact using tech, and especially AI agents.
With more than 7 years of experience in the Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) Industry, I'm passionate about enabling organizations to drive improvement that produces exceptional business outcomes using international standards. I have worked with hundreds of organizations to embed international standards, drive excellence, and achieve certifications for their businesses.
I am Willoughby Niki Lee, a sustainability and technology advocate with a deep commitment to community development and digital trust-building. My journey spans roles in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, where I’ve combined my expertise in engineering and AI to create impactful social initiatives. As the founder of TinkerThings Global and a trainer with Singapore International Foundation, I work to bridge technology and community needs, focusing on projects that empower youth, seniors, and underserved groups. My goal is to leverage digital tools to foster inclusivity and resilience, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals and promoting sustainable futures.
I am a sustainability advisor and purpose-driven leader with over a decade of experience supporting organisations through sustainability transformation. My work spans sustainability strategy and reporting, stakeholder engagement, impact investing, and climate action — all grounded in a deep commitment to driving meaningful change.
My career journey cuts across consulting, the built environment, and now the media and marketing sector at Dentsu.
I lead Dentsu Good, Dentsu’s global sustainability accelerator in the Asia Pacific. I am focused on helping brands embed sustainability into their strategies and communications, transforming them into a powerful engine for innovation and impact.
My name is Tali Goldman and I am a mother, entrepreneur and businesswoman. I strongly believe that businesses have a responsibility to make a positive impact through their products and services, and that corporations are in the best position to drive this change while delivering on business objectives.
To this end, I have established Market for Good with two key objectives in mind. Firstly, I aim to help corporations implement ESG goals by using their purchasing power to empower. I also aim to enable social organizations to scale up and make a sustainable impact.
I'm a scientist who is passionate about creating, proliferating, and assessing sustainable technologies. My team and I develop tools that enable companies and governments to make data-driven choices on sustainability initiatives. Our expertise includes maturity assessments, business model innovation, energy modelling, industrial symbiosis, and life cycle assessments.
We also train companies to use these tools effectively. I’ve personally guided several companies to perform a holistic sustainability assessment of their organisation and create targeted action plans.
I'm leading a climate tech AI startup dedicated to helping companies achieve their energy and sustainability goals. My expertise is delivering circular transformation for our clients with a comprehensive portfolio of energy-efficient, resilient and sustainable solutions aligning climate ambition with corporate action.
I am a sustainability professional with a focus on carbon markets since 2004. I was fortunate to work in various roles in this field, giving me multiple perspectives: project development (Ecosecurities, Malaysia), origination (Perenia Carbon, Indonesia), investment structuring (Mitsui, Japan), validation and verification (TUV Rheinland, China & Singapore), and recently Nature-based Solutions (PUR, Singapore).
I am currently the Regional Commercial Director for Asia for PUR, an impact company that develops projects within our clients’ value chains to regenerate landscapes and protect vital ecosystems. By implementing nature-based solutions, we help companies to reduce their environmental footprint while increasing the resilience of their supply chain to climate change.