What is CO2e?
“Carbon dioxide equivalent”, also known as “CO2e”, refers to different greenhouse gases in a common unit. CO2e represents the amount of carbon dioxide which would have the equivalent global warming impact, for any quantity or type of greenhouse gas. CO2e is a measure created by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to make it easy to compare the effects of different greenhouse gases, as every gas has a different global warming potential.
Why calculate by CO2e?
In the past, CO2 was used to generalise all greenhouse gases. It is true that carbon dioxide makes up the majority of greenhouse gases and is the primary driver of rising temperature, but it does not mean that we should overlook the other heat-trapping gases.
Did you know, cows and other farm animals produce 14% of man-made carbon emissions. This is because their burps and manure contains methane. Methane (CH4) is another greenhouse gas that is actually 25 times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat into the environment. Hence, it is important to calculate by CO2e to ensure an accurate comparison of the different greenhouse gases emitted to the atmosphere.
