FAQs

+ Why should I choose Trace?

Trace is a world leading Carbon Management platform. Our mission is to empower every business to make and share progress to Net Zero. We know the the journey to get there is not a straight line. Trace helps you at each stage, at your pace, aligned to your goals.

Our intuitive software and team of sustainability experts ensure you can understand your decarbonisation pathway, confidently respond to reporting requirements, and engage your staff & suppliers on climate.

Founded in 2020, we've measured thousands of footprints across 3 continents and helped SMEs from all industries to measure, report and reduce their carbon emissions.

+ How do you measure emissions?

Trace’s carbon accounting (aka carbon emissions calculation) methodology aligns to the standards outlined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (otherwise known as the ‘GHG Protocol’, ‘The Protocol’ or ‘GHGP’ for short).

The GHG Protocol is the leading international guideline for carbon accounting and forms the foundation for Trace’s methodology. The GHGP defines the scope of activities that must be included in a company’s carbon footprint and creates a standardised emissions measurement methodology. The GHGP guidelines were developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in collaboration with governments, industry associations, NGOs, and corporations.

Trace applies the standards from the following documents:
1. Corporate Standard which including Scope 2 Guidance
2. Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard

The Corporate Standard is considered the “gold standard” for corporate emissions measurement around the world. The Protocol is the foundation for most global climate reporting standards, including the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which has been adopted by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), and the Science Based Targets Initiative.

“GHG emissions should be calculated in line with the GHG Protocol methodology to allow for aggregation and comparability across organizations and jurisdictions.” - TCFD

“Companies must follow the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Scope 2 Guidance, and Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard.” - SBTi

You can read more about our methodology here

+ What's the difference between my membership period, measurement period, and impact period?

1. Membership period: the period of your annual subscription to the Trace portal. Starts the day your membership fee is charged, and automatically renews on a recurring annual basis.

2. Measurement period: the period of activity data submitted to Trace for your CO2 assessment. You can view current and past measurement cycles in the 'Data' tab on your Trace portal.

3. Carbon impact period: represents the period of validity of your Trace badge. Begins from the day you pay to offset your emissions (optional). The expiry month is shown on the badge.

N.B. the measurement period cannot be more than 9 months old at the time the carbon impact period begins (i.e. to achieve carbon status, the CO2 assessment must represent data which is less than 9 months old).

+ What is carbon offsetting and what role does it play?

At Trace we wholeheartedly adopt and encourage the approach of measuring and reducing emissions, then compensating for irreducible emissions by investing in credible and robust carbon offsetting projects, in that order. While absolute emissions reduction through strategic initiatives should be everyone's primary focus, we do see a place for carbon offsetting for the following reasons:

- They represent an easy way to make a quick impact by compensating for currently irreducible emissions
- Investment in offsets helps to fund amazing projects around the world which otherwise couldn't happen, also resulting in a host of co-benefits for the communities involved
- Committing to offsetting can serve as a financial incentive for a business to make actual emissions reductions, reducing the required expenditure to offset and turning emissions reduction into more of a cost saving activity

All projects that we invest in have been third-party verified, and our reputable broker also performs their own due diligence to ensure the projects meet our standards of transparency, credibility and additionality.

+ How is becoming Carbon Neutral with Trace different to becoming Climate Active certified?

A Carbon neutral certification under the Climate Active programme requires companies to hire an independent consultant to complete a comprehensive analysis of your operations and supply chain emissions. This is time and cost intensive and often a barrier for many companies to take action. That’s why we created Trace - to make it straightforward and accessible to take climate action whatever your size & budget. You can read more about the differences between Trace and Climate Active here

+ Do you integrate with my accounting software?

Trace now allows you to integrate with Xero, reducing the need for manual line item input during data collection. We'll be rolling out integrations with more accounting platforms in the next 6 months.

To get started, you need to authorise access to Xero via the Trace portal.

Don’t have Xero admin access? You can also have your Xero administrator authorise access.

Using something other than Xero? Email us at hello@our-trace.com to let us know.

+ How do I connect my Xero with Trace?

Please follow this guide below.

You may disconnect your integration at any time by clicking this button

+ What information does Trace have access to from my Xero? Will my staff see sensitive information like payroll or revenue?

Xero offers multiple APIs to access data; we are only using the Bank TransactionsInvoice APIs, not the Payroll API
- This means that if you are using the payroll system in Xero, we (and therefore your team on the Trace app) do not get access to an individual's salary.
- Wages may come through on the transactions API as one aggregated line item i.e. total wages debited with no further detail as to how that is broken down.
- As this line item is not of interest to us for our analysis we filter it out prior to Trace staff or your staff interacting with the UI.
- Other items that we would filter out include Taxes & superannuation as this is not relevant to carbon footprint analysis
- The only scenario where we may see more detail is for contractors that do not go through the payroll system, they may (depending on how you structure this in Xero) come through as single line items. It is not easy for us to apply rules to exclude this automatically but you can do this through our app afterwards.

The Bank Transactions & Invoice APIs allows us to query all transactions. The info that is relevant to our analysis is what you spend money on so we only look and display "debits" in the UI, not credits.
- This means that we do not see revenue through how we access Xero
- Neither Trace staff or your staff using the UI would see credit info.

You can find more detailed information about the data we store on our Terms of service here.

+ Will you modify anything on my Xero account?

No, this is a read-only integration, meaning we will just read and analyse the data from your Xero. We will not be adding, modifying, or deleting any data in your Xero account.

+ What is a carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions. For example, each time we travel by car or plane, greenhouse gases are emitted from the fuel burned. Most of our individual actions have a carbon footprint, from the electricity we use to light our house to the fuel burned in our car and the methane produce by animals whose meat we eat.

Read more about carbon footprints in our guide here including examples & top tips

+ What is a carbon offset?

A carbon offset (or carbon credit) is generated from an activity that prevents, reduces or removes greenhouse gas emissions from being released into the atmosphere to compensate for emissions occurring elsewhere. For every tonne of CO2 you emit we buy 1 carbon offset certificate for a verified project that we have chosen. You can see the projects we fund on Our Projects page.

+ What is the average footprint in my country?

Our plans are designed to offset the average carbon emissions per capita in your country, grouped into high (21 tCO2/year), medium (16 tCO2/year) or low (12 tCO2/year). Our benchmarks are based on data from several sources including the UN and World Bank. We prefer to overestimate the average footprint to make sure our members are climate positive:
- HIGH emissions countries: Australia
- MEDIUM emissions countries: USA, Canada
- LOW emissions countries: New Zealand, UK, Other Europe, Asia, South America, Africa

+ Where does the money go?

We work with trusted partners, Eden Reforestation, SCB, Tasman Environmental Markets, Patch and Wilderlands to source carbon credits and buy trees from high integrity climate projects around the world. We only support projects that are measurable, transparent about their money spend and verified by an external body like Verra and Gold Standard. You can check out the project we are supporting on our project page.

Carbon markets operate like the stock market, so the price of carbon credits fluctuates. As such, the exact amount we spend on offsetting varies, but we commit to spend at least 70% of your subscription payment on funding projects. Any leftover is used to cover our overheads and fuel our growth. We have a public tracker to show where we have spent our members funds. You can see this here.

+ Is there a receipt for the offsets we buy?

We publish the certificates of the carbon credits we have bought each month so that you can see how many tonnes of CO2 (‘carbon credits’) have avoided. Please see these here

+ What happens once I subscribe?

When you subscribe to the Trace club, you are funding carbon reduction projects every month. Trace takes your money and sends it to the partners who are running the projects. You will hear from us once a month with information on the specific project you have funded.

+ How do I cancel my subscription?

You can cancel your subscription at anytime. Just log into your member portal and click on the top right menu. You should see a button that allows you to cancel your subscription. If you have any issues please contact hello@our-trace.com

+ How much does it cost to offset my carbon footprint?

Your lifestyle impacts your carbon footprint; for example if you take a lot of flights your carbon footprint will be higher than someone of similar lifestyle who doesn't fly regularly.  The higher the volume of carbon in your footprint the higher the cost to offset it. The cost is also impacted by which type of project you want to offset with. Some projects are more expensive than others to offset the same amount of carbon. 

The average Australian emits approximately 21 tonnes of carbon a year. This is higher than many other nationalities because of a number of factors;
- Average lifestyle
- Energy generation
- Size of country

+ Is Trace a charity or not for profit?

No we are not a charity. There are hundreds of charities doing excellent work to address climate change. What makes us different is our ability to invest in our growth and awesome experience for our members. We think this is crucial to achieving our vision - where everyone lives a carbon neutral life. We are fighting a cause that benefits society and we will do this effectively & efficiently by running a lean business. We are always trying to find ways to make our processes as efficient as possible so that we can make as big an impact as possible.

Still have questions? Email us at support@our-trace.com

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