I have no bills from my franchisees at all. How does the Greenhouse Gas Protocol estimate Category 14 from floor space and outlet type?
Multiply the floor space of each building type by an average emission factor per square metre per year, then add the types; or count buildings or assets times an average per building or asset. The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol warns this may be relatively inaccurate and limits tracking reductions. Its example gives 23,500,000 kilograms.
When the guide says to use it
The average-data approach should be used when purchase records, electricity bills or meter readings of fuel or energy use are not available or applicable. It estimates emissions for each franchise or group, from occupied floor space by building type or from the number and type of franchises.
The two formulas
- Floor space known: for each building type, total floor space times an average factor in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per square metre per year, added across types.
- Floor space not known, or other assets: number of buildings or assets times an average per building or asset per year, for example per car or per small office block.
What the guide warns about
The guide says the average-data approach may be relatively inaccurate and limits a company's ability to track the results of reduction actions. A franchisee that fits efficient lighting or a solar plant will not change your figure, because the factor is an average for the building type (our reading).
Where the factors come from
The guide names industry bodies such as the building industry, national statistics from government agencies, and the United States Energy Information Administration's Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey. It gives no Indian figures. If some outlets later send bills, their average can stand in for the rest, labelled as an estimate (our reading).
The guide's example: food and clothing outlets
- Food outlets: (100 + 150) square metres x 30,000 = 7,500,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)
- Clothing outlets: (400 + 700 + 500) square metres x 10,000 = 16,000,000 kilograms CO2e
- Total: 7,500,000 + 16,000,000 = 23,500,000 kilograms CO2e, of which clothing is about 68 percent
The guide says its factors are used for example purposes only. Do not use 30,000 or 10,000 as factors.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, which covers your own Scope 1 and 2. It does not hold franchise floor areas or average factors for building types.
- Collecting franchisee energy data for Category 14
- Category 14: sample franchises and scale up
- Should a franchisor count franchisees' purchases?
- Free calculators
Last reviewed 2026-11-05. Arithmetic multiplies out to the guide's printed 23,500,000.