How does an NGO or trust work out its carbon footprint?
The same way a company does. Under operational control, count fuel for your vehicles and generators as Scope 1 and electricity in your offices and centres as Scope 2. Add staff travel and major purchases as Scope 3. Donors mostly want a clear, sourced figure and what you plan to change.
Start with
- Electricity bills for every office, school or clinic you run.
- Fuel for vehicles and generators.
- Flights and trains for staff.
Watch for
- Programmes run by partners: their emissions are theirs, unless you control the site.
- Donated goods: count only if you choose to include them, and say how.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and diesel, LPG and gas invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a dated, fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record for each site, and labels estimates as estimates.
Sources: GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
Last reviewed 2026-10-23.