In environmental engineering, an Emission Factor is a standardized coefficient used to quantify the amount of greenhouse gases released per unit of specific activity.
It serves as a bridge between operational data—such as liters of fuel burned or kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed—and its total climate impact.
The units for an Emission Factor vary depending on the type of energy being consumed.
For electricity, the unit "kg-CO2/kWh" indicates the number of kilograms of CO2 emitted per kilowatt-hour. For fuels such as gasoline, "kg-CO2/L" is used to represent CO2 emissions per liter.
These values are foundational for calculating a product's carbon footprint and performing Life Cycle Assessments (LCA).
In the framework of carbon accounting, while Emission Factors are essential across all scopes, their impact is most profound in Scope 3. Since Scope 3 covers indirect emissions across the entire value chain—such as raw material procurement and logistics—companies cannot measure these directly. Instead, they must rely heavily on accurate Emission Factors to estimate their footprint.