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Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility pp 309–313Cite as

Carbon Footprint

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Synonyms

Carbon cost; Carbon dioxide emissions; Carbon emissions; Greenhouse gas footprint

Definition

Carbon footprint is widely defined as the amount of carbon (usually in tons) that is emitted during a process or by an organization or entity. It is a popular metric that appeared in media, conferences, and government and environmental institute’s reports as pressure from the public concerning pollution and its impact on human health mounted. It is generally used as a measure of atmospheric pollution due to anthropogenic activities.

Introduction

The concern of the public about the climate change and the future of our environment led public bodies and governments to develop metrics for measuring such impact. Footprint frameworks are ideal for such measurements as they enable us to address the problem in a comprehensive way that does not simply shift the burden from one natural system to another. A case for such framework that preexisted the carbon footprint is the ecological footprint....

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References and Readings

  • European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/index_en.htm. Accessed on Nov 2011.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business, Health and Technology, Higher Colleges of Technology, Abu Dhabi Men’s Campus, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Dr. Nicholas Harkiolakis Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Dr. Nicholas Harkiolakis Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicholas Harkiolakis Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. London Metropolitan Business School, London Metropolitan University, Moorgate, London, UK

    Samuel O. Idowu

  2. Loyala University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Nicholas Capaldi

  3. International Labor Organization, International Training Center, Viale Maestri del Lavoro, Turin, Italy

    Liangrong Zu

  4. Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore, India

    Ananda Das Gupta

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© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Harkiolakis, N. (2013). Carbon Footprint. In: Idowu, S.O., Capaldi, N., Zu, L., Gupta, A.D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Corporate Social Responsibility. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28036-8_38

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