January is when good intentions either become a plan or fade into the background. If you have ever opened a spreadsheet, stared at a list of business activities, and thought "we are never going to finish this", you are not alone.
A carbon baseline is simply a starting point you can explain and improve. It does not need to be perfect on day one. It needs to be consistent, defensible, and good enough to guide decisions.
This article is a practical way to set your 2026 baseline without turning it into a six-month project.
What a baseline is, in plain English
A baseline is a snapshot of your organisation's emissions for a defined period, usually a year, using a defined method, with clear boundaries. It gives you a reference point so that when you reduce emissions, you can show progress against something concrete.
What makes a baseline useful is not complexity. It is clarity:
- What is included and excluded
- What year the baseline covers
- What data sources were used
- What assumptions were made
- Where you plan to improve data quality over time
Why teams overcomplicate this
Most organisations overcomplicate baselining for three reasons.
First, they try to include everything at the same time. Scope 1, 2, and 3. Every supplier. Every site. Every category.
Second, they wait for perfect data. Sustainability data is rarely perfect. Some activities will always be estimated. The goal is to make estimates smaller and fewer over time.
Third, they treat baselining as a report. It is not. A baseline is a management tool. The report is a by-product.
A simple baseline approach that works
Stage 1: Establish the boundaries
Decide what you are measuring, for who, and for what purpose.
- Legal entity or group structure
- Operational boundary such as sites and activities
- Time boundary, for example calendar year or financial year
Write this down in one paragraph. If you cannot explain your boundary choices simply, they are not clear enough yet.
Stage 2: Capture the big drivers first
For many organisations, the biggest contributors are:
- Electricity and heating fuels
- Company vehicles
- Business travel
- Purchased goods and services
- Waste and water
Focus on what matters most first.
Stage 3: Use the data you already have
Most organisations already hold enough data to start:
- Finance systems
- Facilities and energy invoices
- Travel and expenses
- Procurement records
- HR data
The challenge is not collection. It is coordination.
Stage 4: Decide your improvement plan upfront
Include an explicit data improvement plan from day one.
Examples include:
- Improving site-level breakdowns
- Engaging priority suppliers for better inputs
- Replacing estimates with actuals over time
Stage 5: Make it audit ready from the start
Audit ready means:
- Each figure has a source
- Assumptions are recorded
- Ownership is clear
- The process is repeatable
A baseline checklist
- Define your baseline year
- Agree organisational boundaries
- Identify top emission drivers
- Assign data owners
- Record assumptions
- Create a data improvement plan
- Share a one-page summary internally
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trying to do everything at once
- Waiting for perfect data
- Failing to document assumptions
- Treating the baseline as a one-off task
What to do next
This week:
- Map existing data sources
- Identify your top ten emission drivers
- Create an assumptions log
- Draft your improvement plan
A baseline is not a badge of perfection. It is a foundation for progress.
