Prepared by the McGill Office of Sustainability based on the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard

November 2021

Greenhouse Gas Inventories 101

What is a Greenhouse Gas Inventory?
A greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, also known as a carbon footprint assessment, is a quantified list of
an organization’s greenhouse gas emissions and emission sources. It is a strategic tool for
understanding, managing and communicating emissions resulting from an organization’s activities.

The GHG Protocol

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and World Resources Institute (WRI)
Greenhouse Gas Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (2004) is considered
international best practice for greenhouse gas accounting for organizations. It is articulated around the
following principles:

• Relevance: The inventory appropriately reflects the emissions of the organization and is compiled
in the spirit of serving decision-makers internal and external to the organization.

• Completeness: All “material” Key Terms

(significant) emission sources
Materiality: when the inclusion or exclusion of information
and activities within the chosen
influences the organization’s decisions or actions
boundary are accounted for
and reported, and any Boundary: the limit defining which emissions to include in a
exclusions are disclosed and greenhouse gas inventory
justified.
Base year: the year against which emissions are compared
• Consistency: Consistent over time
methodologies are used for Double counting: when multiple organizations report the
meaningful comparison over same emissions or emission reductions
time. Changes to data,
inventory boundary, methods or relevant factors are transparently documented, and previous
years including the base year are updated when “materially significant”.

• Transparency: All relevant issues are addressed based on a clear audit trail. All relevant
assumptions are disclosed, and accounting and calculation methodologies and data sources are
appropriately referenced.

• Accuracy: Quantification of emissions is systematically neither over nor under actual emissions, and
uncertainties are reduced as much as possible. Decision-makers should be reasonably assured as to
the integrity of the reported information.

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 Prepared by the McGill Office of Sustainability based on the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
November 2021

Scopes
Greenhouse gas emissions are broken down into three categories, known as “scopes”, that delineate
emission sources and avoid “double counting” between organizations, particularly at the level of national
reporting.

• Scope 1: direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the reporting organization
• Scope 2: indirect emissions from purchased grid electricity and other grid energy such as steam,
hot water and chilled water
• Scope 3: other indirect emissions upstream and downstream of the organization’s activities

The GHG Protocol requires including all “material” (significant) Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions since an
organization has the most ownership and control over these activities.

Organizations are encouraged to include Scope 3 sources that are critical to their activities and strategic
decisions. The decision to include Scope 3 emission sources is often based on a value chain analysis to
determine their relevance and “materiality”. Relevant emissions are defined by McGill as: large, or
believed to be so, relative to Scope 1 and 2 emissions; contributing to the university’s emissions and
exposure to climate risk; deemed critical by key stakeholders; and showing potential for reduction.

Greenhouse Gases and Global Warming Potentials

All seven Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gases should be included where applicable and “material”
(significant). This includes biogenic carbon dioxide, which is created from the combustion, harvesting,
decomposition or processing of biological rather than fossil sources.

Global warming potentials (GWPs) are factors describing the radiative forcing impact of one unit of a
specific greenhouse gas (e.g., methane) relative to one unit of carbon dioxide. They are used in
greenhouse gas accounting to convert individual greenhouse gas emission totals to a single standardized
unit for ease of comparison, namely carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2e.

McGill applies 100-year GWPs without climate-carbon feedbacks to all emissions data in its inventory to
calculate total emissions in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). GWP values are sourced from
the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report available. Table 1 lists the
Kyoto Protocol greenhouse gases and their respective GWPs.

Table 1. Kyoto Protocol GHGs and GWPs, IPCC 2021

Greenhouse Gas Chemical Formula 100-Year GWP

Carbon dioxide CO2 1
Methane CH4 27.9
Nitrous oxide N2O 273
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) Various Various
Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) Various Various
Nitrogen trifluoride NF3 16,100
Sulphur hexafluoride SF6 25,200

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 Prepared by the McGill Office of Sustainability based on the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
November 2021

The Basic Equation

𝐶𝑂2𝑒 = ∑ 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑖 × (𝐸𝐹𝐺𝐻𝐺,𝑖 × 𝐺𝑊𝑃𝐺𝐻𝐺 )

𝑖=1

Where:

CO2e = total greenhouse gas emissions in carbon dioxide equivalent

Index i = each activity

n = the total number of activities

𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑎 𝑖 = the amount of fuel (mass or volume) consumed, kWh of electricity consumed,
passenger-kilometres traveled, etc., depending on the activity in question, during the reporting period

𝐸𝐹𝐺𝐻𝐺,𝑖 = the emissions factor for CO2, CH4, N2O and other greenhouse gases for Activity i. Emissions
factors are either developed in-house or published by third parties like environment ministries

𝐺𝑊𝑃𝐺𝐻𝐺 = the global warming potential of CO2, CH4, N2O and other greenhouse gases

Greenhouse Gas Reporting at McGill

Since 2015, McGill has produced annual greenhouse gas inventories to inform targets related to
sustainability efforts, emissions reduction, monitoring and reporting and compliance. Figure 1 shows
which Scope 1, 2 and 3 emission sources McGill includes in its greenhouse gas inventory.

Figure 1. Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reported by McGill

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 Prepared by the McGill Office of Sustainability based on the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard
November 2021

The Office of Sustainability reports McGill’s greenhouse gas emissions annually to the Board of
Governors as one of three strategic key performance indicators linked to progress on sustainability. Data
and emissions from our inventory are also reported to mandatory and voluntary external reporting
programs, including:

• Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program for GHGs run by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
We report emissions from the Downtown campus and voluntarily report emissions for
Macdonald campus.

• National Pollutant Inventory Report for airborne contaminants excluding GHGs run by
Environment and Climate Change Canada. We report CO2 and NOx for the Downtown campus
and voluntarily report on all other Part 4 substances (e.g., sulphur dioxide, particulate matter,
VOCs) for both Downtown and Macdonald campuses.

• Inventaire québécois des émissions atmosphériques, which includes both airborne

contaminants and greenhouse gases. We report greenhouse gases and Part 4 contaminants (see
above) for Downtown and voluntarily report them for Macdonald campus.

• Inventaire des sources fixes d’émissions atmosphériques, a municipal program managed by the
City of Montreal that includes our Downtown and Macdonald campuses. Reporting is
mandatory and includes the volume of fossil fuels consumed at each campus.

• Relevé énergétique du réseau universitaire managed by the Ministère de l’Enseignement

supérieur du Québec. It is mandatory for all university-owned buildings and includes all sources
of energy used in those buildings.

• AASHE STARS, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s
Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System. It is a voluntary self-reporting framework
for colleges and universities. McGill currently has a Gold rating and is committed to achieving a
Platinum rating by 2030.

Read our latest greenhouse gas inventory report here.

Online Resources
McGill's greenhouse gas inventories

The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard

US Environmental Protection Agency’s “GHG Inventory Development Process and Guidance”

Carbon Trust’s “Practical steps for reporting on greenhouse gas emissions”

The World Resources Institute guide for office-based organisations