Expanding MeasureUp’s environmental values

As sustainability becomes an ever more critical focus for organisations and policymakers, the need for robust, reliable, and widely accepted environmental valuation is stronger than ever. At MeasureUp, we’re responding to this growing demand by expanding our set of environmental values—ensuring our users have access to more comprehensive, up-to-date data to inform social value reporting, business case development, and environmental impact analysis. 

Why we’re expanding our environmental values 

To date, MeasureUp has published five environmental values that help organisations quantify their environmental impact. However, with rapid advancements in valuation methods and an increasing demand for more nuanced environmental insights, we recognised the need to enhance our offer. This expansion ensures we align more closely with best practices, data standards, and evolving user needs across sectors. 

Our sources of environmental values 

We’ve based our expanded environmental values on three trusted, government-backed resources: 

• DESNZ Conversion Factors 
  A comprehensive and frequently updated resource, the DESNZ Conversion Factors are used across industries to measure carbon and other emissions from construction, transport, energy use, water, and more. This is the backbone of our greenhouse gas emissions valuations. 

• Defra’s ENCA Databook 
  The ENCA Databook provides a range of proxy values for different environmental outcomes. These vary in terms of method, quality, and applicability, so we carefully review each value to ensure it’s both robust and relevant to MeasureUp users. 

• Carbon Waste and Resources Metric (Carbon WARM) 
  Developed by WRAP, Carbon WARM enables organisations to translate waste tonnage data into greenhouse gas emissions metrics relative to landfill baselines. It provides a useful reference for assessing waste reduction and diversion strategies. 

Aligning with environmental reporting standards 

To ensure consistency with leading environmental standards, our expanded values are designed to align with: 

• HM Treasury’s Green Book guidance – for appraisals and social value assessments 

• UK SECR Environmental Reporting guidance – for regulatory reporting 

• The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol – for carbon accounting using Scopes 1, 2, and 3 

Our new set of environmental values 

To better reflect the varied environmental priorities of our users, we’ve organised our environmental values into four subcategories: 

1. Measuring GHG Emissions 
   Based on DESNZ Conversion Factors, this category covers a wide range of emissions sources, from transport and travel to homeworking, construction, and energy use. 

2. Waste Management 
   Using values from Carbon WARM, this category includes the impacts of different waste management practices—such as recycling, landfill diversion, and energy-from-waste. 

3. Habitat Conservation 
   Drawing from Defra’s ENCA Databook, these values focus on the benefits of conserving and restoring habitats, supporting both climate mitigation and biodiversity. 

4. Pollution Control 
   Also derived from the ENCA Databook, this category captures the value of interventions aimed at reducing air, water, and soil pollution. 

Each of these subcategories includes specific, actionable proxy values designed to support evidence-based decision-making.  

  

Future goals  

While environmental values often focus on quantifying damage or emissions, it’s equally important to highlight positive environmental actions and their measurable benefits. Our next goal is to expand environmental values also to support nature positive outcomes—helping organisations showcase the value of their restorative action. 

At MeasureUp, our goal is to equip organisations with the tools and evidence they need to measure what matters. By expanding our environmental values, we’re helping users better understand and communicate their environmental impact—whether they’re building a business case, conducting a social value analysis, or preparing a sustainability report. 

Stay tuned as we continue to expand and refine our offer to reflect the latest data and standards in the field.