Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs) like agricultural farming businesses are not required to track and report their carbon emissions. But Australia’s new mandatory carbon disclosure regime requires all companies covered by the Corporations Act to report emissions from their supply chain.
Enabling emissions reporting for small business
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“With no established tool for measuring their emissions, the small to medium enterprises that make up much of the supply chains are unable to comply with the growing data requirements of large firms,” said Maruf Chowdhury, an Associate Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management in the UTS Business School.
Maruf is using AI technology to help farmers improve their sustainable management efforts in support of supply chain decarbonisation.
“We are developing decision-support tools that enable businesses to track, measure, and report carbon emissions, while also facilitating the monetisation of their decarbonisation strategies through Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs),” Maruf said.
The AI-powered Carbon Intelligence Decision Support System he has designed targets those small to medium enterprises that are responsible for 55% of Australian GDP and more than 70% employment.
“By converting operational data from farming into emissions insights, our system enables farmers to easily track water, energy and resource consumption and identify hotspots,” Maruf explained.
“Using our tool, they can confidently report their emissions, contribute to carbon reduction strategies and identify carbon credit opportunities.”
Testing the system in market
With a pilot project underway in collaboration with an Australian cattle farm, Maruf and his team tracks different emission sources and converts this information into carbon emissions data using lifecycle assessment.
We want to make carbon reporting accessible for all Australian businesses so they can take action with confidence and see the value of their decarbonisation efforts
For Maruf, the goal is to develop a tool that will be widely used to make emissions reporting practical, useful and valuable for the SMEs that sit at the centre of Australia’s supply chains.
By giving farmers clearer insights into their operations, the Carbon Intelligence Decision Support System can help turn sustainability from a compliance challenge into a pathway for better decisions, lower emissions and new opportunities.
“We want to make carbon reporting accessible for all Australian businesses so they can take action with confidence and see the value of their decarbonisation efforts,” Maruf said.
What’s next?
- Discover Maruf’s research
- Receive the standing invitation to Research Café by emailing reshub@uts.edu.au