Quantifying BB Energy’s carbon footprint baseline
The Key Benefits
To address growing demands and the need to manage significant climate risks, BB Energy began updating the Environmental aspect of its ESG strategy. Yet, the Group lacked visibility over the emissions across its energy supply chains – a critical step towards managing them. With CarbonChain, BB Energy obtained a complete carbon footprint, and can now track and report performance over time, ready for upcoming regulations.
CarbonChain significantly contributed to our updated ESG strategy by delivering a comprehensive assessment of our carbon footprint across all aspects of our business. This information is crucial for making informed decisions and maintaining transparency with stakeholders as we move towards a low-carbon future.
Jacques Erni, Chief Financial Officer, BB Energy
The Client
BB Energy Group Holding Ltd (BB Energy)
BB Energy, founded in 1963, is a leading independent energy trading company with key global headquarters in Athens, Brussels, Casablanca, Dubai, Geneva, Istanbul, Kigali, London, and Singapore. BB Energy's activities include trading, downstream, and renewables. It trades crude oil, refined petroleum products, and liquid gases, while in the downstream sector, BB Energy handles storage, distribution, and sales.
The company invests in renewable energy, focusing on solar projects, carbon credit trading, and power trading from renewable sources. BB Energy's growth strategy includes geographic expansion, product diversification, and strategic acquisitions, enhancing its market understanding and offering tailored energy solutions.
The Challenge
A data gap in the carbon roadmap
In late 2022, BB Energy set out to refresh its ESG principles. A key component of this work involved updating the Environmental pillar with a focus on climate change. As a trader of crude and liquid petroleum, a sharp focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was crucial.
To address growing demands and the need to manage climate risks, BB Energy wanted to fully understand its carbon hotspots and how diversification activities would impact its carbon footprint.
Yet, the Group lacked visibility over the emissions across its energy supply chains, from upstream source to downstream consumption. This required detailed and accurate carbon accounting across multiple entities and business units (Trading, Downstream, Renewables and Shipping), which was challenging without the right tools and data.
BB Energy turned to CarbonChain as the specialist carbon accounting solution for the commodities sector, and set up an internal ESG department.
The Process
A complete picture of corporate and trade emissions
Step 1: Setting the boundaries
BB Energy required two types of carbon accounting, to understand its carbon footprint at both a company and trade portfolio level.
Corporate carbon footprint, across Scopes 1, 2 and 3
As well as the Group’s operations, this includes upstream (chain of suppliers) and downstream (customers and end users) across all group entities (holding companies). Since downstream Scope 3 emissions include fuel combustion, they are almost always the most significant source of emissions for an energy trader’s carbon footprint – therefore a key part of the equation for BB Energy to capture.
Product carbon footprints
BB Energy needed to use CarbonChain to analyze emissions across its full portfolio of trade energy products, from cradle to grave. Again, this includes combustion, although emissions reduction opportunities can be found at every stage of the supply chain, with extraction, transport and refining also being high intensity activities. These emissions calculations also form part of the Corporate Carbon Footprint.
Step 2: Mapping the boundaries
To calculate Supplier A’s emissions, one needs to know who, where or what Supplier A is. Same with Customer B. Otherwise, this information can be modeled using reasonable assumptions, but the resulting emissions calculations will be less accurate.
CarbonChain’s team of experts helped BB Energy gather the data to map out every operation, supply chain and trade – including data relevant to emissions (e.g. electricity usage, shipping data, employee movements). This involved facilitating workshops with business divisions, and implementing a process to feed in raw data from trading systems (Amphora/Symphony, RightAngle).
Step 3: Carbon footprint calculator
The input information was uploaded to the CarbonChain platform, which calculated and presented:
- BB Energy’s corporate carbon footprint (comprehensive Scope 1-3, using the most accurate activity-based method) and GHG Protocol aligned methodology.
- The total carbon footprint of BB Energy’s trading activities;
- The carbon intensity of every trade;
- Emissions of vessels;
- Asset-level and activity-level emissions breakdowns.
Data visualizations provided BB Energy with actionable insights such as:
- Emissions hotspots within each supply chain;
- Carbon intensity comparisons across suppliers and assets;
- Highest versus lowest intensity trades;
The process will be repeated on an annual basis, with ongoing emissions tracking available.
CarbonChain cut through the complexity of data collection and mapping, then speedily provided accurate emissions calculations that we and our stakeholders can trust.
Jacques Erni, Chief Financial Officer, BB Energy
The Outcomes
01
Verifiable carbon reports for stakeholders
BB Energy has met demand from banks and other key stakeholders for accurate and transparent carbon data – and disclosed the Group’s 2023 corporate carbon footprint in their public Company Profile.
02
Cradle-to-grave & full Scope 1-3
The comprehensive picture of all emissions sources will inform double-materiality assessments (for example for the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive - CSRD) and reveal key hotspots.
03
Baseline to inform a pathway for the energy transition
Equipped with a baseline carbon footprint, BB Energy has clarity on its current carbon performance, and the data to educate internal stakeholders. It can assess which activities have the biggest carbon impact, and inform its goals for Scope 1 and 2 emissions reductions, as well as its ongoing strategy to focus on new markets and lower carbon fuels.
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