Five Principles Before Precision
Use relevance, completeness, consistency, transparency, and accuracy to judge whether an emissions inventory is decision-useful.
Carbon numbers need principles before they need polish. The first inventory in most organizations is messy. Utility data may be strong while supplier data is estimated. Travel may be easy to pull while leased assets are buried in contracts. That is normal. The failure is not uncertainty. The failure is acting as if a partial number is complete or delaying all decisions because some parts are estimated. The five-principle test Relevance asks whether the inventory supports the decisions and audiences that matter. Completeness asks what meaningful sources are still missing. Consistency asks whether next year's number can be compared fairly…
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