How to Calculate Your Carbon Footprint

How to Calculate Your Carbon Footprint: A Step-by-Step Guide for UAE Businesses

Calculating your carbon footprint helps UAE businesses understand their environmental impact, identify emission sources, and develop effective sustainability strategies. Follow these simple steps to measure and manage your business emissions.

Step 1: understand what you are measuring

A carbon footprint measures the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by your business activities, expressed in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e). Emissions are divided into three categories, known as scopes:

Scope 1- direct emissions. Emissions from sources your business owns or controls. Fuel burned in company vehicles, diesel generators, gas appliances, and on-site industrial processes.

Scope 2 – indirect energy emissions. Emissions from the electricity or heat you purchase. In the UAE, this primarily means your electricity consumption from DEWA, ADDC, SEWA, or other providers.

Scope 3 – other indirect emissions. Emissions from your value chain such as business travel, employee commuting, purchased goods, and waste. These are more complex to calculate and are typically addressed after Scopes 1 and 2 are established.

For most UAE SMEs starting out, the focus should be on Scopes 1 and 2. These are the most straightforward to calculate and form the foundation of any carbon report.

Step 2: gather your activity data

Before you can calculate emissions, you need consumption data. Here is what to collect for a 12-month period:

For Scope 1: fuel purchase records or fuel card statements for company vehicles, diesel receipts for generators, gas bills for any on-site gas appliances, and records of any refrigerant top-ups for air conditioning systems.

For Scope 2: electricity bills for all premises you occupy such as offices, warehouses, retail units. If you have multiple sites, collect bills for each one.

Twelve months of data gives you an annual baseline. If you do not have a full year, use what you have and note the time period clearly.

Step 3: apply emission factors

Emission factors convert your activity data from litres of fuel, kilowatt-hours of electricity etc., into tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. For UAE businesses:

Electricity emission factors specific to each UAE emirate are published and updated periodically. Using the correct factor for your emirate matters. DEWA and ADDC have different grid emission intensities.

Fuel emission factors are standardised through the GHG Protocol and are consistent internationally.

For vehicles, the calculation uses fuel consumption rather than distance, which means fuel receipts are more useful than mileage logs.

Step 4: calculate and document your footprint

The basic calculation is straightforward – activity data multiplied by the relevant emission factor equals your emissions in tCO₂e. Summing all sources gives you your total footprint.

Your documentation should record the data sources you used, the emission factors applied, the time period covered, and any assumptions made where data was incomplete. This documentation is what makes your footprint credible and verifiable. It is also required for submission under UAE’s Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2024.

Step 5: use your footprint

A carbon footprint calculation on its own is just a number, its value comes from what you do with it.

Report it to customers who have requested your carbon data

Submit it to the MOCCAE MRV platform as required under Decree-Law No. 11 of 2024

Use it as a baseline to identify your highest-emission activities and prioritise reductions

Track it year-on-year to demonstrate improvement

Carbon Advisory Services in Abu Dhabi

June 2, 2026