Abstract: A method for assessing costs associated with an organization or its supply chain is provided. The method includes: accessing a first set of data relating to the organization or the supply chain, wherein the first set of data includes environmental flows, products data, or activities data associated with the organization or the supply chain; accessing one or more databases indexed by at least a portion of the environmental flows, products data, or activities data, the one or more databases including one or more of: a database including societal costs; a database including current internal costs, the current internal costs representing costs internalized by the organization or the supply chain; and a database including future internal costs, the future internal costs representing costs projected to be internalized by the organization or the supply chain; and applying the first set of data to the one or more databases.

Abstract: An environmental footprint assessment system is disclosed. The environmental footprint assessment system determines the environment footprint of an entity by analyzing financial information regarding the entity. For example, the environmental footprint assessment system may determine the carbon footprint of a business. The environmental footprint assessment system compares an entity's financial information against a database of environmental impacts to produce an initial carbon footprint assessment for the entity. The initial assessment is reviewed for areas of spending that contribute significant to the entity's carbon footprint. The database of environmental impacts can be refined with additional environmental impact information regarding the areas of significant carbon contribution. A subsequent iteration of the carbon footprint assessment is performed, and an updated carbon footprint assessment is produced. The process is repeatedly iteratively to produce additional carbon footprint assessments.