‘Other Influenceable Emissions’ (OIE) is a new term introduced in CO₂ Performance Ladder 4.0. But what exactly is it? For which organisations is it relevant? And more importantly: how can we influence those Other Influenceable Emissions?

Other Influenceable Emissions in short

Other Influenceable Emissions (OIE) are emissions that, according to the GHG Protocol, fall outside scope 1, scope 2 or scope 3  for the organisation. They therefore do not belong in the organisation’s footprint. If the organisation can significantly influence these emissions, they are relevant in contributing to global climate neutrality. Within OIE, three OIE types are distinguished: biogenic CO₂ emissions, CO₂ removals and avoided emissions. CO₂ compensation is explicitly not part of OIE.

Fossil CO₂, non-CO₂ and OIE

The CO₂ Performance Ladder focuses primarily on reducing and saving CO₂ released during the combustion of fossil (or long-cycle stored) fuels in organisations’ own value chain.

But we can do even more to limit climate change:

1. Reduce non-CO2 greenhouse gases

Reduce and save non-CO₂ greenhouse gases (such as methane). Although far less of these greenhouse gases are emitted than CO₂, methane, for example, causes much more climate harm per molecule (28 times) than CO₂.
Read more about the role of non-CO₂ greenhouse gases in CO₂ Performance Ladder 4.0

2. Biogenic CO₂ emissions (OIE 1)

Reducing and saving non-fossil (or biogenic) CO₂. The burning of fossil fuels is irreversible, while short-cycle fuels are, in principle, renewable. But whether a CO₂ molecule is fossil-based or not, it still contributes to global warming at the same rate.
 
Examples of measures that lead to biogenic CO₂ reduction and savings are:

Please note: reducing your biogenic emissions should not, of course, lead to increased fossil CO₂ emissions; in that case, biogenic emissions are preferable.

3. CO₂ removal (OIE 2)

Removing CO₂ from the atmosphere: there are measures that can be taken to extract carbon from the air.  For the CO₂ Performance Ladder, it is important that this removal is permanent (at least 35 years).
 
Examples of measures that lead to CO₂ removal are:

4. Avoided emissions (OIE 3)

Avoiding emissions: there are measures that can indirectly save a lot of emissions. Sometimes these measures have no or even an unfavourable effect on your own footprint, but at the end of the day they can save (much) more. The CO₂ Performance Ladder encourages theseAvoiding emissions: there are measures that can indirectly save a lot of emissions. Sometimes these measures have no or even a detrimental effect on your own footprint, but at the end of the day they can save (much) more CO2. The CO₂ Performance Ladder encourages these kinds of measures because they contribute to the ultimate goal of combating climate change.
 
Examples of avoided emissions are:

The possibilities for avoided emissions are theoretically endless.

The bottom three categories (2-4) all fall under Other Influenceable Emissions (OIE).

Example: an engineering firm creates a design but does not take its construction into account when calculating its carbon footprint. Indeed, the actual construction falls outside its scope 3 emissions. However, according to the CO₂ Performance Ladder 4.0, the firm does have an influence on construction. Therefore, this now falls under its Other Influenceable Emissions (OIE) and the organisation must manage it accordingly.

Getting started with OIE

You can use the Other Influenceable Emissions questionnaire to determine whether your organisation has OIE. You must complete this from Step 2 of the CO2 Performance Ladder 4.0. If the organisational boundaries of your organisation remain the same, this only needs to be done once every three years.

From step 3 onwards, you must also quantify the OIE. This can guide the order in which you focus on certain emissions.

… If you do indeed have OIE, you may find yourself focusing your attention primarily on OIE and less on scope 1, 2 and 3. After all, the CO2 Performance Ladder is all about making as much CO2 impact as possible.

In summary

There are emissions sources that fall outside your value chain but over which your organisation does have significant influence. We call these Other Influenceable Emissions (OIE) and you need to address these for CO2 Performance Ladder 4.0 from step 2 onwards. In this way, your organisation will be rewarded for making sustainable choices.

Read more:

Non-CO₂ greenhouse gases now also included in CO₂ Performance Ladder

Questionnaire Other Influenceable Emissions (OIE)