For large carbon emitters, June 1 is the most important day of the year. June 1 is Environment Canada’s deadline for reporting Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions for the previous calendar year. The report is due for every site that emits more than 10,000 T CO2e, regardless of whether the site is in the output-based pricing system or not.
The June 1 deadline makes February an important time of year. Companies will have received their final invoices for natural gas and other fossil fuels consumed in December. Sustainability managers should be able to complete their reporting on 2019 GHG emissions, now that the final utility bills for the year are available.
For many companies, utility bills go straight to accounting. Unfortunately, those who need the data for reporting and conservation purposes are disconnected from those in the organization receiving the utility data for payment. This typically results in significant and unproductive administrative time as sustainability managers go back and forth with colleagues in accounts payable to get the data they need.
Having a centralized portal that stores both the utility bill itself as well as the data pulled from the bills, could make life so much easier. Access would be provided for everyone who needs the data, when they need it. Scraping data from utility bills allows for easier data analysis for both accounting and energy management. Access to a central portal would allow a variety of staff to assess how energy has been used – and how that usage has changed – over a period of time. A central portal would enable cost analyses of energy across multiple levels – comparing site-by-site totals and breaking down each site by their specific rates.
For corporate sustainability purposes, as the data arrive, energy teams could easily track and make the required calculations.Providing status updates on the company’s progress towards emissions goals would be timelier. Tracking the information needed for reporting requirements would be more efficient.
A billing portal can provide sustainability teams with the data they need for reporting purposes just as soon as that information is available. At the same time, access to the portal would make the relevant data available to other departments including accounting and operations.
