Carbon Footprinting Guide reaches over 53 000 downloads

Who would not like to read and consult a free Carbon Footprinting Guide to help tweak your life and business?

Well, this is probably why this online guide has achieved more downloads than any other SA publication of its kind to date. Historically, such guides at best registered a few thousand downloads per annum, and the Guide is clocked over 53 000 six months after launching.

The Guide is an authoritative and practical book, supported by Nedbank and compiled in partnership with the Sustainability Institute of SA. It aims to help advance the control, minimisation and measurement of carbon footprints in the country.

The Guide has also been shortlisted for the South African National Energy Association’s Energy Awards 2014, which take place this August.

Dr Marco Lotz, Nedbank’s Carbon Specialist and co-author of the Guide, says “the purpose of the document is to contribute to a sustainable South Africa we all hope to see. It’s abundantly clear from the number of downloads that SA businesses are increasingly realising the importance and value that can be derived from operating a sustainable business.”

The Carbon Footprinting Guide is a practical calculation guide focussing on carbon measuring, monitoring, reporting and verification. It explains the nuances of carbon calculations by using step-by-step examples. The guide also consists of case studies that critically evaluate the different approaches followed by South African companies, with regard to GHG (Green House Gas) reporting and strategic actions taken.

This is one of the ways that Nedbank is sharing best practice as we all navigate the road towards a more sustainable economic future. We believe this book will be an invaluable tool for both business and academic institutions in understanding what is often complicated and an unfamiliar subject.

This guide will assist readers to be:

• better placed to reduce operational expenditures associated with the use of energy
• better geared for the looming domestic and international financial penalties that will be associated with Green House Gases (GHG) pollution
• able to make informed operational choices
• able to think strategically about developing products and services for an increasingly complex world with environmental limitations

In aid of helping consumers with transforming their homes into more sustainable ones, Nedbank also offers the Smart Living Guide – an A-Z manual that takes consumers on a journey on how to go about being sustainable.