It is traditional for economists to classify the performance of the organization that they work for by referring to standard economic business metrics within their reports. To many of these economists, the concept of carbon baseline reporting is very alien. However, they must understand the importance of carbon baseline measurement, as science and technology insist that we use these measurements as well.

We may have referred to energy efficiency in terms of the utility that we actually use in comparative measurements, but business executives are coming to terms with the fact that we need to dig into this much more deeply. We must now record the volume of carbon emissions associated with this energy use, as such carbon is sure to become a tradable commodity, reportable on balance sheets in the years ahead.

If an organization is not aware of the amount of carbon emissions it is responsible for, it cannot introduce the carbon baseline as a key business metric for the future. Without a baseline, action is impossible and the situation may not be improved. Note that the public at large is becoming insistent upon the adoption of sustainability within the corporate world.

The definition of sustainability requires that an organization is able to "endure," to not take more from society than it gives back. Each company has a footprint and must not overly impose upon the world around it. We know that greenhouse gas emissions have a damaging effect on our environment and each unit of energy use contributes.

The carbon baseline is measured according to direct and indirect emissions and can become rather tricky to record. For example, most companies will be able to understand how their e missions fall within the first and second "scopes," or directly attributable to their operation, but when it comes to the third scope, this is difficult to quantify. We will soon find that the third scope of emissions represents a rather large volume and can be classified according to after sales or supply-chain operations.

Each asset under the control of an organization is responsible for producing energy and a consequent amount of emitted carbon. As such, individual operational characteristics must be revealed and chronicled so that an overall carbon baseline may be formed.

Politicians are beginning to work out ways to force organizations to become sustainable, whether they like it or not. In some jurisdictions, complex trading schemes are already in place to set the bars on the production of emissions, leaving an organization no choice but to be fully aware of a carbon baseline in order to survive.

Before any steps can be taken to become sustainable, carbon baseline standards must be adopted. Many businessmen are only just becoming aware of the need for them to be highly critical of individual asset energy performance, yet they need to do so to ensure their very survival. Those who initiate early action, may conversely expect to be able to eke out a position off superiority over those who do not.