Carbon Down

Carbon Down's 'The Carbon Footprint of Victoria's Small and Medium Enterprises Victorian' report has found electricity to be the largest single source of emissions for Victorian small and medium sized businesses (SMEs).

The newly released report has analysed data from the Energy, Water, and Environmental Management (EWEM) survey, carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which collected information on energy and water use, as well as the environmental management practices of Australian businesses.

The report has found that electricity is a primary emissions source for most industry sectors, accounting for 69% of emissions across all industry sectors analysed. The exceptions are the construction sector and the transport, postal and warehousing sector, for which diesel is the largest emissions source.

Out of the industries analysed in the report, the manufacturing sector has the highest emissions, including by business average, per employee, and by emissions per unit of economic output. When compared by tonne per employee and average emissions per dollar of economic activity, the difference between the manufacturing sector and the other sectors is not a great as the difference between the average business emissions.

When comparing small with medium sized businesses, the report found that although medium size businesses have higher carbon emissions on average, their carbon emissions per employee are 29% lower than the small business group.

Individually, the average carbon footprint of small to medium size enterprises may not be considered significant. However, when aggregated, this footprint is significant, accounting for 30% of Victoria's total emissions, which is 24% larger than the total residential emissions for the same time period.

Key findings of the report include:

• Victorian SMEs emit approximately 36.1 million tonnes of CO2‐e per annum, or 30% of Victoria's total emissions from Australia's 2009 National Greenhouse Accounts.

• The average emission of an SME (0‐199 employees) is 107.3 tonnes per annum. Total average emissions are 68.9 tonnes per small businesses and 894.9 tonnes per medium enterprises.

• Electricity is a primary emissions source for most industry sectors, accounting for 69% of emissions across all industry sectors analysed.

• The manufacturing sector has the highest average carbon footprint per business, emitting 2189.7 tonnes per annum, which is 10 times the average of the industry groups presented

• The least intensive sector, in terms of emissions per unit of economic contribution, is other commercial services.

• Small businesses emit more per employee than medium businesses.