Configuring Infrastructure for the Carbon Intensity Insight

In LINQ, configuring emissions for the carbon intensity Insights allows you to track and report emissions across Scope 1, 2, and 3. By defining emission factors for different infrastructures within an organisation, LINQ’s carbon intensity insight provides you with the ability to monitor and understand activity level carbon emissions. 

Emissions are assigned to infrastructure and categorised by Scope 1, 2 and 3. This configuration utilises the structure of the LINQ model to allocate emissions against systems, at the organisation and model level, and actions at the model level. 

Putting carbon alongside other business success factors such as financial reporting, or utilisation of resources, means that carbon becomes another 'currency' used to define success for your change and transformation outcomes. LINQ will report actions which generate the most emission, and through the workspace comparison capabilities, show you the carbon impact of continuous improvement or digital transformation, prior to action being taken to acheive the desired future state.

Below are step-by-step instructions to guide you through configuring emissions for carbon intensity.

1. Set Emission Factors

An emission factor is a value used to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with specific activities or resources within an organisation. 

It represents the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions produced per unit of a particular activity, like electricity consumption or fuel usage. For example, an emission factor for electricity might be specified in kilograms of CO2e per kilowatt-hour (kg CO2e/kWh), allowing LINQ to estimate emissions based on electricity consumption rates.

In LINQ, emission factors are configured at the organisational level and categorised under different scopes to reflect their impact:

1. Scope 1 (Direct Emissions): Emission factors for emissions directly from sources owned or controlled by the organisation, such as fuel burned on-site, for example in a back-up generator.
2. Scope 2 (Indirect Emissions): Emission factors for purchased energy, typically calculated per unit of electricity consumption (e.g., kg CO2e/kWh).
3. Scope 3 (Other Indirect Emissions): Emission factors for emissions related to the broader supply chain, such as transportation or manufacturing emissions associated with purchased goods.

Infrastructure Nodes serve as a basis for carbon emission.  Once you add Infrastructure Nodes to the People and Systems Model by dragging the desired infrastructure node from the palette, you can draw an edge from the infrastructure node to the system it supports. More than one piece of infrastrucuture can support a system. For example, you may access Excel from your laptop, but the data is saved into your Microsoft 365 account hosting in the Cloud through Azure. You can now define your infrastructure's emissions by setting up emission factors.  Please refer to the People and Systems section for more information about the Infrastructure Nodes. 

Here are the step-by-step instructions for setting up emission factors: 

• Click the Infrastructure Node, go the Properties Panel on the left and locate the Carbon Section, and then click Add emissions.

• You can select and access existing emission factors that LINQ has configured, or other users in your organisation have created from the drop-down list. However, if you're setting up emission factors for the first time and they don't exist yet, you'll need to click Add factor. 

• Once you click Add factor, enter the name and description. Choose the type of emission, such as volume (measured in kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per litre), power (measured in kg CO2e/kWh) or transport (measured in kg CO2e per tonne per kilometer), etc.

• Select the appropriate scope for the emission factor:

1. Scope 1: Direct emissions (e.g., fuel burned on-site).
2. Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased electricity.
3. Scope 3: Indirect emissions through the supply chain, like manufacturing or transportation.

• Enter the Emission Factor Value based on authoritative data sources within your country or your organisation.  This will help you understand and define the appropriate emission factor values.  For example, Scope 2 electricity might be specified as 0.074 kg CO2e per kWh in your country. You will need to obtain these emission factor values from either authoritative data sources or your internal organisations. 
• Save the emission factor setup.
  

2. Apply the Emission Factor to Infrastructure

Once the emission factors are defined, you can apply them to calculate emissions for the infrastructure usage with the appropriate scope and consumption rate (e.g., kWh per hour for power usage) for your model.  This is linked to the capacity and availability of personnel using that infrastructure. 

This approach allows LINQ to distribute emissions proportionally across systems, roles, and actions, and calculate emissions in a way that aligns with time and financial allocations which have been set up in the People and Systems model.  

For information on setting up the number of people using the infrastructure, number of units, annual cost per unit, hourly cost and annual cost per person.  Please refer to the People and Systems Section.

To apply the emission factor to infrastructure and to show the calculate emissions for the infrastructure usage with the appropriate scope and consumption rate, follow these steps:

• Navigate to the Carbon section in the Properties Panel on the left, then click Add emissions.

• Choose the type of emission factor created from the Emissions factor drop-down list (e.g., Electricity Emission (Scope two)). Set the electricity consumption, for instance 60kwh to indicate the amount of electricity consumed.  Also, select the option from the Rate drop-down list for the option to define the usage rate.

• LINQ automatically calculates the total emissions based on the input data. For instance, 60 kWh per hour is multiplied by the emission factor of 0.074 kg CO₂ per kWh. This is then multiplied by the total modeled hours (1,066), resulting in an annual emission of 4,741.08 kg CO₂ for the laptops. Then, click Save to apply the emission configuration for the laptops. 
  
  

• To add multiple emission factor layers, simply repeat the steps outlined above. 

• In LINQ, emission factors are configured using a layered approach. This setup allows you to add and apply the multiple emission factors from Scopes 1, 2, and 3 to a single infrastructure node.  After saving the emissions, you'll see a list of emission factors with their appropriate scopes that you've set up from Carbon section.  You can delete them as needed.  

Understanding and Configuring Scope 3 Emissions 

Why Scope 3 Emissions Matter

Scope 3 emissions are crucial to understanding your organisation’s complete carbon footprint, as they typically account for the largest portion of overall emissions. These emissions include all indirect emissions from activities that the organisation doesn’t directly own or control, such as the production and transportation of purchased goods and services. 

Tracking Scope 3 emissions provides a comprehensive view of environmental impact across the supply chain, enabling a more effective decarbonization strategy. However, due to their complex and multifaceted nature, Scope 3 emissions can be challenging to track, requiring accurate data from external suppliers and often relying on estimates. 

How LINQ Handles Scope 3 Calculations

LINQ simplifies Scope 3 emissions calculation by adopting a modular approach, where you can add multiple layers of emissions associated with different activities within the supply chain if you have access to reliable data from third-party suppliers and authoritative sources. 

Let's use Laptop infrastructure as an example to assign separate emission factors for manufacturing and transportation emissions, each based on authoritative data:

1. Setting up manufacturing emissions:

• For items like laptops, we can define a manufacturing emission factor based on CO₂ per unit produced (e.g., 132 kg CO₂ per laptop as provided by the manufacturer).

• In the Carbon section from the Properties Panel, select Add emissions to set up a new emission layer for the Laptop infrastructure. From the Emission factor drop-down, select Laptop manufacturing (Scope three). Select per year from the Rate drop-down to apply the manufacturing emission factor annually. 

• LINQ uses an activity-based costing (ABC) approach and automatically calculates the total emissions based on the number of units and the emission factor. 

• Transportation emissions are configured by selecting an emission factor that considers factors like distance traveled and weight. For example, a transport emission factor in kg CO₂ per tonne-kilometer can be applied using data from authoritative sources.  Specify the total distance and weight per unit in the configuration panel to calculate the emissions for transportation. 

Reporting Carbon Profiles at Several Levels 

You can report carbon profiles across various levels in LINQ: 

1. Access the carbon totals from the Properties Panel

• In the Properties Panel, you'll see the totals for each emission scope (Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3) for the selected infrastructure. This gives a high-level view of emissions by scope for the specific infrastructure within your organisation. 

2. Viewing system-level carbon profiles in Open insights (right panel) 

• Go to Open insights (right panel) and select Charts.
• Choose a System icon and select Carbon from the bar chart options. This view provides a carbon profile for each system in your organisation.

• Hover over the bars in the chart to see specific emissions associated with each system.

3. Viewing action-level/system-level carbon profiles in the models

• Go to the particular model, Open insights (right panel), and select Action in the charts section to view carbon profiles by action. This option provides a breakdown of emissions for individual actions within particular part of the organisation.

• By identifying which actions generate the most emissions, you can focus on potential areas for emission reduction, such as improving processes or adjusting operational practices. 

• Select System in the charts section to view carbon profiles by system. This option provides a breakdown of emissions for individual systems within a particular part of the organisation and the models.
  

For more information on setting emission factors and understanding direct and indirect emissions, please refer to the Carbon Emission section or watch the LINQ Onboarding video-Configuring Emissions for Carbon Intensity Insights.