12/05/2026
《Ms Lim’s Carbon Diary》
Episode 3 -- The fear of real practice
After training, Ms Lim felt energised. Then she sat at her desk and the energy gave way to doubt.
In class, examples were clean. Activity data was given. Emission factors were cited.
Calculations had right answers.
Real life would not be like that. She worried:
What if the data is incomplete or impossible to obtain within a reasonable time?
What if the client's staff are uncooperative or do not understand what she is asking for?
What if her calculations are wrong and she does not know it?
What if she documents something incorrectly and a verifier finds it?
A week after the training, a WhatsApp message arrived from her friend Jason:
Jason: "Eh, you just did that carbon course right? My uncle owns a restaurant in PJ. He is quite easy-going. If you need a practice place, he said can try his restaurant."
Ms Lim replied in under a minute. Jason's uncle -- Uncle David -- agreed to let her conduct a practice inventory for Smokewood Grill's 2024 reporting year. He was doing his nephew a favour. That was enough.
Smokewood Grill -- business profile: (refer image)
Reflection questions
1. Ms Lim chose operational control as her consolidation approach because Uncle David is the sole proprietor. What would change if he also held a 30% stake in a central kitchen operated by a separate company?
2. She plans to exclude upstream food ingredient emissions as immaterial for a first inventory cycle. What documentation must she prepare to justify this exclusion under ISO 14064-1?
Next Episode:
The carbon accounting diary
#14064