Why CO2-only reporting misses real climate impact
Carbon dioxide is only one greenhouse gas in most business inventories. Combustion, refrigerant loss, wastewater, agriculture, and waste can all release gases with much higher warming impact per kilogram than CO2.
That is why inventories convert gases into CO2e using global warming potential. Under IPCC AR6, fossil methane uses a 100-year GWP of 29.8 and nitrous oxide uses 273.
What this means in practice
A small amount of nitrous oxide can materially change the footprint of fuel combustion sources, and fugitive gases can dwarf ordinary fuel use. This is especially important for refrigerants and fire suppression agents, where the gas itself may carry a far larger impact than the energy used to move or store it.
If your inventory only tracks fuel litres and power bills, you may still be missing the highest-intensity emission sources in the organisation.
How to improve your inventory quality
Make sure each activity stream is linked to the right gas and factor source. Use IPCC AR6 for GWP, DEFRA or regional grid factors for electricity and travel, and product-specific values for refrigerants or suppression agents whenever possible.
The result is not just better accuracy. It also changes decision-making, because the highest-value reduction projects often emerge from the gases with the highest warming intensity rather than the biggest spend categories.