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Getting Started with Intensity Metrics

Track how efficiently your business reduces emissions by measuring tCO₂e relative to your operational activity, such as per shipment, per tonne-kilometre, or per unit sold

Overview

Intensity Metrics is an analysis capability in Cozero that lets you measure how efficiently your business is reducing emissions, not just in absolute terms, but relative to your actual business activity. Instead of only seeing total tCO₂e, you can track metrics like tCO₂e per shipment, tCO₂e per tonne-kilometre, or kWh per tCO₂e, directly inside the platform.

The feature was originally built to prove out this way of measuring efficiency; it has since been substantially expanded. You can now build these metrics far more flexibly, reusing activity data you already log, or combining several inputs across different units with a formula builder, instead of being limited to a few preset options or having to log the same value twice. Analysis is also richer: filter and split by business activity, switch chart types, change emissions units, export visuals and data, and pull results via API for reporting decks and BI tools.

Who is this for?

Intensity Metrics is available to all customers using the feature, with a focus on CCF (Corporate Carbon Footprint) customers, particularly sustainability leads and data teams in logistics, industrial, and retail segments where operational volume metrics are business-critical. Creating custom formulas or custom inputs is limited to Admin/Manager roles.

How to access it

Intensity Metrics is accessible in two places:

Results view: Navigate to Overview → Intensity Metrics in the left sidebar.

Admin configuration: Navigate to Organisation Settings → Intensity Metrics to define and manage your custom operational inputs, and to build formulas.

Key indicators that the feature is active:

  • The Intensity Metrics page appears under the Overview section
  • The Intensity Metrics tab is visible in Organisation Settings (Admin/Manager roles only)

Video walkthrough

Part 1:

 

Part 2:

 

 

Step-by-step guide

Step 1: Choose how you'll measure, reuse existing data or create a custom input

  1. Navigate to Organisation Settings → Intensity Metrics.
  2. Reuse data you already log (new): on the numerator/denominator dropdown, select the "Enabled" activities source. A guided picker walks you through calculation method → input/unit → optional business activity, e.g. Biodiesel · Fuel consumption · litres or All activities · Mass and distance of goods transported (tkm). A live count shows how many log entries already carry this input, so you can sanity-check coverage before confirming. No new custom input, no double-logging.
  3. Or create a new custom input (as before): click "Create new," define a name (e.g. "Number of Shipments"), a unit, and the subcategories where the field should appear on log entries.

Pre-built inputs: Spend (€) and Energy consumption (kWh) remain available by default, since these values are already stored on existing log entries.

Access control: Only Admin and Manager roles can create, edit, or archive custom inputs or formulas. A custom input cannot be deleted once it has been used in at least one log entry.

Step 2: Build a formula when no single input fits (new)

  1. If your denominator needs to combine values across units (e.g. diesel litres + biodiesel litres, or kg + tonnes), select "+ Create custom formula".
  2. Build each side of the formula as a sum of terms (using +/-), each term is a product or quotient of factors (using x/÷), each factor is a data property times an optional coefficient. Example: total weight = (weight_kg × 0.001) + weight_t.
  3. A live preview shows a sample value and data coverage before you save. Saved formulas then become selectable options everywhere else in the feature.

Watchouts: the formula builder doesn't do automatic unit conversion; you set the coefficient and declare the result-unit label yourself, and the live preview is your check. Nested expressions like (A + B) × C aren't currently supported.

Step 3: Log custom input values alongside activity data

(Only needed if you created a new custom input in Step 1; skip this if you're reusing existing activity data.)

Single log creation:

  1. Open/create a log entry in a subcategory linked to a custom input.
  2. Fill in the optional intensity metric field (e.g. "500" for Number of Shipments). The field can be left empty; it will not block saving the log entry.

Bulk upload:

  1. Download a fresh CCF bulk upload template from the platform. Intensity metric columns are dynamically added based on your organisation's configured custom inputs.
  2. Populate the new columns in the template.
  3. Upload as usual.

Step 4: View, analyse, and export results

  1. Navigate to Overview → Intensity Metrics.
  2. Select a numerator/denominator: from custom inputs, pre-built values (Spend/Energy), reused activity data, or a saved formula. You can flexibly assign the selected input as numerator or denominator: e.g. show tCO₂e per shipment or shipments per tCO₂e.
  3. Filter and split/group results by business activity (new), plus BU, location, supplier, territory, and tags.
  4. Switch chart type (line, bar, or pie) and the emissions unit (t, kg, or g) for better legibility.
  5. Switch time aggregation: monthly / quarterly / yearly.
  6. Optionally toggle the secondary y-axis to compare absolute emissions alongside intensity values in a combined bar-line chart.
  7. Check the coverage indicator to understand what share of log entries carry a value for the selected input.
  8. Export (new): download the current visual as PNG/SVG, the underlying data as CSV/XLSX, or pull intensity results via the public API for your own reporting pipelines and BI tools.

All settings (date range, selected metric, filters, group-by, and time interval) are automatically saved per user across sessions.

Custom intensity inputs are now also visible as columns in the Log Entry Overview (LEO), and on the log entry detail page.

Spend-based metric, made simpler: the spend-based intensity metric now automatically combines your primary spend-based calculation method inputs with the optional "Amount spent" field in the respective currency, showing "emissions per spent" as a single clean metric instead of multiple overlapping ones.

Understanding the coverage indicator

The coverage indicator shows the percentage of log entries in your selected scope that have a value recorded for the chosen input. This is a data quality signal, not an error.

For example, if you have 1,000 transport log entries but only 600 include a value for "Number of Shipments," the coverage indicator will show 60%. A lower coverage rate means the intensity metric chart is based on a partial view of your data, which is useful to know before presenting results to stakeholders.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to re-enter Spend or Energy data to use those as denominators? No. Spend (€) and Energy consumption (kWh) are pre-built denominators. Cozero reuses values already stored on your existing log entries, no re-entry needed.

Can I reuse other activity data I already log, not just Spend and Energy? Yes, this is new in v2. Use the "Enabled" activities source on the numerator/denominator dropdown and the guided picker to select any input already present on your log entries (e.g. fuel litres, tonne-km transported), with a live count showing how many entries carry it.

Can I combine several inputs that are in different units? Yes, using the formula builder. You define numerator/denominator as a combination of inputs using +, -, x, ÷, with a live preview before saving. Note that unit conversion isn't automatic; you set the coefficients and label the result yourself.

Can I create nested formulas, like (A + B) × C? Not currently. Formulas support a flat sum of terms (each term being a product/quotient of factors); nested bracket expressions aren't supported yet.

Who can create custom inputs or formulas? Only users with the Admin or Manager role, consistent with existing custom-input permissions.

Can I delete a custom input after it has been used? No. Once a custom input has been used in at least one log entry, it cannot be archived or deleted, to protect data integrity.

Can I export the intensity charts or data? Yes, this is new. You can export the current visual as PNG or SVG, and the underlying data as CSV or XLSX. Intensity metric results are also available via the public API for BI tools and reporting pipelines.

Can I set intensity-based reduction targets (e.g. reduce tCO₂e per shipment by 30%)? Not yet. Intensity-based target-setting in the ACT module is not part of the current release and is under consideration for a future iteration.

My organisation uses period-level denominators (e.g. total headcount per year). Can I use this feature? The current version only supports log-entry level denominators: values logged alongside each individual activity entry. Aggregated, company-level intensity metrics (e.g. revenue intensity) are coming in a future release.

What if my data has gaps, not every log entry has a denominator value? That's expected and supported. The field is always optional. The coverage indicator on the results screen shows exactly what share of entries carry a value, so you can assess how representative the data is.

Questions or Feedback

If you run into any issues during the usage of the feature or have questions about the process, contact us at support@cozero.io.