Corporate Carbon Footprint
Sustainability
To help understand our true environmental impact we worked with Climate Partner to calculate the carbon footprint of our two business headquarters in the USA and Switzerland.
While daily activities at our offices do not account for much impact compared to our factories and distribution, all carbon emissions add up, and we look to use our now thorough understanding of our corporate footprint to make meaningful steps to reduce it.
We calculated the corporate carbon footprint of our offices using the guidelines of the internationally recognized Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The guidelines require an analysis that measures carbon emissions from three different ‘Scopes’.
Scope 1
Includes all direct greenhouse gas emissions generated by our offices from company owned vehicles.
Scope 2
Includes all greenhouse gas emissions released from the energy we purchase to power and heat our offices.
Scope 3
For this Corporate Carbon Footprint analysis, Scope 3 includes only indirect greenhouse gas emissions specific to operations at our two headquarters. These emissions are generated by business travel, employee commuting, plus the purchase of electronics and office supplies. If we were to analyze the footprint of our entire business, including the manufacturing and end use of all the products we make, Scope 3 would include many other indirect emission sources.
Analysis results
Our overall annual corporate emissions were calculated to be
273,594.39 kg CO2
The average European citizen creates around 8000 kg of CO2 per year. Our corporate impact equates to the annual impact of approximately 35 people.
The distribution of emissions between the three scopes was not even. Scope 3, which includes employee commuting and business travel contributed by far the most impact:
Of the Scope 3 emissions, approximately 60% were created by business travel, 35% by employee commuting, and 5% for electronics and supplies. Business travel includes plane flights, hotel stays and rental cars.
Moving forward
Calculating our corporate carbon footprint allows us to recognize the impact of reduction steps we’ve already taken and plan goals that will reduce our impact even further.
To slash our Scope 1 emissions, our goal is that all company vehicles will be electrically powered by 2030 or earlier.
100% renewable energy headquarters
Our Scope 2 emissions, those generated by purchasing heat and electricity, are lower than average for a company our size because we power our USA headquarters on 100% renewable energy and we power our Swiss headquarters on 100% self-produced solar power. The roof of our Swiss headquarters is covered in solar arrays that generate enough power to cover all our office energy demands.
To reduce Scope 3 emissions we will continue to promote employee commuting by more responsible means than private vehicles. Most employees at our Swiss office already commute by train which is a great benefit. At our USA headquarters we have a carpool incentive program and we promote commuting by bicycle in the summer months. The USA and Swiss headquarters also have free electric vehicle charging stations.
Climate positive headquarters
Beyond just taking steps to reduce our corporate footprint, we actively offset all the emissions generated by our two headquarters by purchasing carbon offsets certified by Climate Partner. The offsets we buy help fund a wind power project in South Dakota. This emissions-free power project saves around 445,000 tons of CO2 per year compared to producing the same amount of power at a fossil fuel-based power plant. Factoring in these offsets, our net CO2 impact is negative, meaning we help eliminate more CO2 from the atmosphere than we generate each year. By going carbon negative, both our headquarters are "climate positive".
There will always be some environmental impact created by the daily operations of our business, but through continued monitoring, reduction efforts and the purchase of offsets we strive to minimize that impact anyway and anyhow we can.
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