# Does the Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) count briquettes and wood as zero emissions?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/higg-fem-briquettes-wood-not-zero-emissions

No. The Higg FEM lists biomass as energy you must report, and Cascale's 2024 calculations paper gives it an emission figure above zero. Certification adds the certificate upload questions; the emission figure is the same.

## What the guide asks for biomass

- Two choices: biomass sustainably sourced with certification, and biomass without it. Certification means papers from a scheme, for example Forest Stewardship Council, Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification or Sustainable Biomass Program, which the guide names.
- You also say what the biomass source is, which scheme certified it, and upload the certificates.
- Biomass is in its own group on the energy list. It is energy use and must be tracked like any fuel.

## What the form's 2024 table does with it

In Cascale's FEM 2024 paper, both biomass lines are 15 megajoules (MJ) a kilogram and 0.1100 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per MJ. That is 15 x 0.1100 = 1.65 kilograms of CO2e a kilogram. The same paper's coal is 24.8766 x 0.0950, about 2.36 kilograms of CO2e a kilogram.

It also lists a total for renewable emissions that includes biomass, so biomass carries emissions in the form's own maths.

## 500 tonnes of briquettes against 500 tonnes of coal

- Briquettes: 500,000 kilograms x 15 = 7,500,000 MJ; x 0.1100 = 825,000 kilograms, which is 825 tonnes of CO2e
- Coal: 500,000 kilograms x 24.8766 = 12,438,300 MJ; x 0.0950 = 1,181,639 kilograms, about 1,181.6 tonnes
- Gap: 1,181.6 minus 825 = 356.6 tonnes lower for the briquettes

Quantities are an example. Figures are from the FEM 2024 paper.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so the briquettes and wood bought each month are in one place to total. The sustainability certificates come from your supplier. Senseible's own records treat biomass carbon dioxide (CO2) as biogenic zero, which is separate from the form's table. The self-serve product does not enter anything into the Higg FEM.

- [Higg FEM energy and GHG data](https://senseible.earth/answers/higg-fem-energy-and-emissions-data)
- [Biomass fuel supplier evidence](https://senseible.earth/answers/biomass-fuel-supplier-evidence)
- [Baddi pharma boiler briquette switch](https://senseible.earth/answers/baddi-pharma-boiler-briquette-switch-co2)

Sources: [Cascale, Higg FEM How to Higg Guide 2026 (English)](https://howtohigg.cascale.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Higg-FEM-How-to-Higg-Guide-2026-October-1st-2026-English-Final.pdf), [Cascale, FEM 2024 Energy and Global Warming Calculations](https://howtohigg.cascale.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FEM-2024-Energy-and-Global-Warming-Calculations.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-07. Figures are from Cascale's FEM 2024 calculations paper; the 2026 table may differ.