What is your process for maintaining and updating your emissions factor (EF) database? 

Why emissions factors change

• Emissions factors reflect the best available data at a point in time

• Governments, academic bodies and data partners regularly release updated datasets

• Updates may reflect:

  • New national statistics

  • Improved methodologies

  • Changes in taxonomy (i.e. how activities are named)

  • Changes in technology or fuel mixes

• Using up to date factors improves accuracy and audit readiness

Our guiding principles

Trace applies the following principles when updating emissions factors:

• Accuracy: We prioritise the most current, credible and relevant data available

• Consistency: We apply factors consistently across your inventory to avoid partial or misleading results

• Transparency: We clearly document which factors are used, where they come from, and when they were updated

• Auditability: All factors are version controlled and traceable to their source. You can see the exact EF value, source and date in you audit report (read more here)

Our annual update process

In Q4 (Sep=Dec), Trace runs a structured review and update of emissions factors across the platform.

This includes:

• Reviewing new releases from key data sources such as:

  • Government inventories and national factor sets

  • Peer reviewed and industry accepted datasets

  • Our specialist data partners

• Assessing whether updated factors are:

  • More recent

  • Methodologically improved

  • Relevant to our customers’ activities

• Updating the platform with the new factors

• Recalculating inventories that overlap with the updated factors, where appropriate

This annual cycle ensures inventories remain aligned with best practice and reporting expectations.

Our ad hoc update process

In addition to the annual cycle, some emissions factors are released at irregular times.

When this happens, Trace may update factors on an ad hoc basis if:

• The update is material or widely adopted

• The factor affects commonly reported activities

• The update improves accuracy or compliance with reporting standards

Examples include spend based factors, sector specific datasets, or revised national guidance.

What this means for your emissions results

When emissions factors are updated:

• Your activity data does not change

• The way emissions are calculated may change

• Some categories may increase or decrease as a result

This does not indicate an error. It reflects improved data and methodology.

How we handle inventory updates

• If your inventory is still in progress, we apply the latest factors by default

• If your inventory is already finalised, we will not change it without discussion

• Where changes are material, we highlight them clearly and explain the drivers

This approach balances accuracy with stability for reporting.

Learn more about our data sources

For more detail, see our separate articles on EF sources here.

Key takeaway