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Organizational Boundaries

Defining organizational boundaries is a critical first step in carbon accounting. According to the GHG Protocol, a company must determine which operations and activities fall within its reporting scope. By establishing these boundaries, you ensure that your emissions inventory is comprehensive, consistent, and aligned with recognized accounting principles.

At BeWo, we’ve built organization management directly into the platform. Every organization you add to your BeWo workspace is automatically included in your organizational boundary, ensuring that all relevant emissions are accounted for.

How BeWo Sets Organizational Boundaries​

When you set up your BeWo workspace, you:

  1. Add Organizations: Each organization you create or connect is treated as part of your organizational boundary.
  2. Connect ERP/Finance Systems: Linking your ERP or financial data sources to these organizations brings their respective emissions data into your boundary.

This approach ensures that your emissions data is directly tied to the entities under your control, creating a transparent link between operational activities and reported emissions.

Control Approaches in the GHG Protocol​

The GHG Protocol outlines different approaches to defining organizational boundaries. The most commonly used are:

  • Control Approach: Under this approach, a company accounts for 100% of the GHG emissions from operations over which it has control.
  • Equity Share Approach: Companies report emissions according to their share of equity in an operation, regardless of operational control.

Within the Control Approach, there are two sub-approaches:

Operational Control​

Operational control means the company has the full authority to introduce and implement its operating policies at an operation. If your company (or one of its subsidiaries) can direct the day-to-day activities and decisions at a site or facility, you have operational control. In practice, this results in counting 100% of emissions from any operation where your company sets the operating policies.

BeWo’s default assumption is to use operational control. By default, all organizations you add to the workspace are fully included in your inventory, capturing all emissions from these organizations’ activities.

Financial Control​

Financial control exists if your company has the ability to direct the financial and operating policies of an operation with the intention of gaining economic benefits from its activities. While this approach can also be applied, BeWo’s standard is to assume operational control for simplicity and consistency.

Flexibility in Reporting Boundaries​

If you prefer to use a different approach (such as financial control or equity share), you can do so by adjusting how you interpret the data at the reporting stage. Although BeWo defaults to operational control to simplify the process, you retain the flexibility to:

  • Segregate Data after Export: Filter or separate data based on ownership or control criteria after generating reports.
  • Tailor Boundaries in Reporting: Modify reporting outputs to reflect financial control or equity share approaches by excluding or adjusting certain organizations.

Next Steps​

By understanding organizational boundaries and operational control, you lay a solid foundation for accurate, credible carbon accounting. This clarity ensures that both internal stakeholders and external auditors can trust your emissions data and understand its scope.