# Does making sodium bicarbonate lock up CO2?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/sodium-bicarbonate-production-co2-balance

Bicarbonate is made by bubbling CO2 through soda ash solution, so CO2 is bound into the product. It is not a removal: the CO2 is released again when bicarbonate is heated or meets acid, in baking, fire extinguishers or flue gas cleaning. Report CO2 released, not a credit.

## How to report

- Fuel and electricity for the plant in Scope 1 and 2.
- CO2 bought or taken from your own lime kiln, as a separate line.
- No negative figure for CO2 held in the product.

## Why

The GHG Protocol counts emissions released. CO2 held for months before release is not stored in any lasting way.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads bills, fuel invoices and production records into dated, fingerprinted records, so the figure you send a buyer can be traced to its documents.

- [Soda ash plant CO2](https://senseible.earth/answers/soda-ash-plant-co2-per-tonne)
- [CO2 from soda ash neutralisation](https://senseible.earth/answers/co2-from-soda-ash-or-limestone-neutralisation)
- [Fire extinguisher refill](https://senseible.earth/answers/fire-extinguisher-refill-scope-1)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/)

Last reviewed 2026-10-22.