Until recently, businesses have focused exclusively on calculating the carbon footprint of their businesses and products. But this is only part of the story and, one could argue, not even the main plot. By Will Sarni

A raft of recent press releases detail companies’ efforts to reduce carbon footprint on an enterprise-wide level or calculate the carbon footprint of a consumer product for labeling purposes. But is that really the whole story?

A few months ago BASF announced that they had calculated the carbon footprint of their business and the carbon benefit of their products. In a press release, the firm stated that, “CO2 savings from BASF products outweigh emissions caused during production and disposal by a factor of three.”

Moreover, “the enormous potential savings that can be achieved by using innovative technologies and products from BASF are ignored if one looks solely at the emissions from our production sites,” said Dr. Harald Schwager, a member of the company’s board of directors. “In areas such as construction, automobiles and industrial production, our products help our customers to save more than 250 million metric tons of CO2 worldwide.”

I believe this is the right way to think about carbon footprint. BASF (full disclosure – the company is a DOMANI client) is the world’s largest chemical company and manufactures a wide range of products, including insulating materials (which, according to a study (PDF) by McKinsey, is the lowest-cost carbon-reducing technology of all.)

This is a more complete view of a company’s footprint and benefits in reducing carbon emissions. And it has enormous value in informing consumers on the societal benefits of products and services.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is another sector that’s tackling the issue of a “complete” footprint. While energy demand from the sector is increasing at rapid pace, the net benefits are actually greater than sector demands - as evidenced by two major studies released this year (find them here (PDF) and here (PDF)).

I strongly encourage you to read the reports for yourself, but here are a couple key takeaways:

• ICT is responsible for a significant portion of energy efficiency gains in the U.S. economy over recent years (U.S. economic growth of nearly 65% since 1990 while the demand for power has been approximately 23%).
• ICT benefits to reducing carbon emissions are in smart: motor systems, logistics, buildings, and grids.

So, what does this mean for your company?

Evaluate the complete benefits of your products and services along with your carbon footprint (internal, upstream, and downstream). There may be greater value there - in terms of carbon-reduction and revenue potential - than you realize.

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Will Sarni is CEO of sustainability consulting firm DOMANI. He is also SLM's expert-in-residence on climate strategy and the host of Climate Management Weekly.