The Carbon Metric Reporting System for Recycling Performance is intended to inform waste policy and to promote a reduction in the environmental impact of resource use. The Carbon Metric has been designed by the Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland with input from steering committee formed from experts belonging to the Chartered Institution of Waste Management.
Scottish Carbon Metric Technical Report
This report documents the technical background and methodology underpinning the creation of the Carbon Metric for Scotland. The Carbon Metric allows strategic decisions to be made about the end of life choices for materials and products based on their environmental impact, measured in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. It is designed to support the prioritisation of waste management options and materials in order to meet the Zero Waste Plan targets. This report provides the technical background and methodology behind the creation of the Carbon Metric, giving information on the scope, data and assumptions made.
This report documents the findings of the peer review of the methodology developed by Zero Waste Scotland in the creation of the Scottish Carbon Metric. The review considers the methodological decisions around assessment boundaries, the treatment of carbon in various life cycle stages, sources for secondary data and assumptions made in the calculation of the Carbon Factors and Weightings of materials and products.
This spreadsheet shows the detailed workings behind the creation of the carbon factors for each waste stream. They have been published to provide transparency on the methodology behind the carbon metric.
