Skip to main content
Every figure in Salvidia comes from one equation, applied thousands of times across your data:
Emissions = activity data × emission factor
There is no adjustment layer between your data and your total. This page walks through both sides of that equation and how individual lines roll up. The calculation chain: activity data and an emission factor are matched by category, unit, location and period, producing a line result tagged with its scope and category, which sums into your footprint. Read that chain in both directions. Left to right is how a number is produced. Right to left is how an auditor takes any total apart until they reach a source document.

​
Activity data: the “how much”

Activity data quantifies something your organisation did. It arrives in two forms:

Physical quantities

Kilowatt-hours of electricity, litres of diesel, kilometres flown, tonnes of waste. The more accurate form, because it measures the activity itself.

Spend

Dollars spent on a category of goods or services. Used where physical quantities do not exist, which for most of a supply chain is the practical reality.

​
Emission factors: the “how dirty”

An emission factor converts a unit of activity into greenhouse gas emissions: kilograms of CO₂e per kWh, per litre, per dollar spent in an industry. Factors come from published, referenced sources and vary by geography and category. The same kWh has a very different footprint on different grids. See Emission factors for how Salvidia selects them.

​
A worked example

Say your data for the year contains: Each line calculates independently: quantity × factor = kg CO₂e. Each result is tagged with its scope and category. The totals on your dashboard are the sum of every one of those line-level calculations, and nothing else.

​
Why this matters for audit

Because the chain runs data → factor → line result → total, every number in a Salvidia report decomposes back to its inputs:
  1. The total breaks into scopes and categories
  2. A category breaks into the individual entries inside it
  3. An entry shows its activity data and the factor applied
That traceability is what audit-ready actually means. Not a certificate, but the ability to answer “where did this number come from?” at every level, with sources.

​
CO₂e and global warming potentials

Different greenhouse gases trap different amounts of heat. Methane, refrigerants, and nitrous oxide are far more potent than CO₂ per kilogram. Emission factors already account for this by converting everything to CO₂ equivalent using published global warming potentials, which is why one unit can describe an entire footprint.

​
The accuracy hierarchy

Not all inputs are equal, and the methodology is honest about it:
  1. Measured physical data: metered kWh, fuel receipts. Most accurate.
  2. Calculated physical data: distances derived from travel records. Very good.
  3. Spend-based estimates: industry-average factors on your ledger. Broad coverage, lower precision.
Use spend for coverage, then upgrade your largest categories to physical data over time. Each upgrade tightens the footprint where it matters most. See Activity-based vs spend-based for the full trade-off.

​
Where to go next