SATRA's organisational carbon footprint

Explaining how SATRA has made positive changes in this field during recent years.

by Nicola Pichel-Juan

An organisational carbon footprint measures the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other greenhouse gases (CO₂e) released into the atmosphere by an organisation, business or other entity due to its activities. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere. An increase in the volume of greenhouse gas emissions since the industrial revolution due to human activity (see figure 1) has led to our planet becoming warmer and to extreme climatic events such as floods and wildfires occurring with increasing frequency and intensity.

The Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015 by 194 countries, as well as the European Union. It aims to keep a global temperature rise this century to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels – and ideally to limit it to a rise of 1.5°C. As a result of this, many organisations are working to understand their own emissions as well as setting targets to be ‘net zero’ or ‘carbon neutral’.

Where to start?

It can be a daunting prospect for any organisation wanting to measure its footprint to understand how to start the process, and to navigate through the various reporting scopes, legislative requirements, and even the terminology used. At SATRA, we have just completed measuring our third annual organisational carbon footprint. This article will provide an overview of the concept of organisational carbon footprints, practical advice on how to get started and where to find the information required, as well as sharing some of our experiences and what we have learned so far.

An organisation’s carbon footprint is reported across three different ‘scopes’ in line with the ‘Greenhouse Gas Protocol’. Scope 1 emissions are from sources that a company owns or controls directly. These include gas or other fuels consumed on site, fuel used in company-owned or leased vehicles, and fugitive emissions such as refrigerant gases from air conditioning systems.

Scope 2 emissions are associated with electricity purchased by the organisation. Scope 3 emissions are from all other upstream or downstream impacts in the supply chain – for instance, purchased goods and services, business travel, commuting, waste disposal, and freight and transportation, as well as any capital expenditure projects such as building renovations and refurbishments.

Many organisations will choose to focus, at least initially, only on Scopes 1 and 2, as these are directly under its control and are typically easier to measure. However, it is important to consider that Scope 3 emissions can account for up to 90 per cent of the total footprint – particularly for organisations purchasing large quantities of finished goods. In that case, a purchasing organisation can have a positive influence on the entire supply chain through its own policies and priorities.

Collecting data to support the calculation of Scope 3 emissions is where the process starts to get much more challenging. The type and complexity of Scope 3 emissions will vary from organisation to organisation, according to the type of activity undertaken. Data for some activities will be more readily available than for others.

The basis for calculations

For most sources, emissions can be calculated based on spend, where for example different items or activities will have an emissions factor associated with them per thousand pounds of spend. While this can be a useful starting point, data such as ‘weight of item purchased’ rather than ‘cost of item purchased’ will be more accurate. For example, in previous years at SATRA, we have used a spend-based approach to calculate the impact of freight and logistics. However, for our 2023 calculation, our freight forwarders were able to provide reports giving a breakdown of total weight per shipment, distance shipped and mode of shipment. This is a much more accurate approach to take. For some of the physical items we purchase (such as chemicals), we will also soon calculate emissions based on the actual quantity of each chemical purchased, rather than the financial value of the purchase.

Table 1 shows some of the other data sources SATRA has used to ascertain Scope 3 emissions. For high impact categories currently calculated by spend, we are working to gather more information about what exactly is being purchased. By taking this specific action, we can further refine our carbon footprint going forwards.

Table 1: examples of data sources which are used by SATRA to measure Scope 3 emissions
Item or activity	Data source
Volume of water consumed at site	Bill from water provider
Volume of water discharged from site	Bill from water provider
Solid waste generated at site by waste type	Reports from waste contractors
International travel – rail travel, flights, and hotel accommodation	Internal records
Employee commutes	Staff survey
Freight/logistics	Reports from freight providers
All other raw materials used and items/services purchased	Spend analysis

Once sufficient data has been collected relating to an organisation’s activities, this must be converted into an ‘environmental impact’ figure. In the UK, much of the data needed to do this is published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and is updated on an annual basis. At SATRA, we use an online carbon accounting platform, which converts the data we input (for instance, kWh of energy consumed, or GBP spent on engineering services) into an environmental impact figure using relevant emissions datasets that include DEFRA’s conversion factors.

Encouraging improvement taking place at SATRA

Over the last couple of years, SATRA is pleased to have made considerable progress in reducing its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions as shown in table 2. Our overall emissions intensity (tonnes of emission per million GBP in revenue), including our Scope 3 emissions are also heading in a downward trajectory.

Table 2: SATRA’s CO2e emissions in tonnes by Scope and year
	2021	2022	2023
Scope 1	250	141	123
Scope 2	400	347	326
Total	650	488	449

The reductions to date have been achieved through changes to business practices, without the need for any significant financial outlay. In fact, attention to this subject has revealed savings. For example, humidity controls have been switched off in areas of our building that do not need to be humidity controlled. In addition, the number of hours that our on-site heating and cooling systems are in operation has been reduced, and the target temperatures for the systems have also been adjusted.

Excess lighting has been removed from our main site, and timers and movement sensors have been fitted to external lighting and in communal areas (such as our staff canteen). In addition, our main van is now electric powered. We have also had a particular focus on finding and fixing leaks in our compressed air system. Compressed air systems are energy-intensive, so any leaks are essentially wasting energy, which has a climate impact as well as a financial impact. Finally, we have also been reminding and encouraging staff to switch off any items that are not in use. The electricity consumption at our main site during 2023 was 14 per cent lower than in 2021 which, taking into consideration the increase in energy prices, also represented a significant cost saving.

Although our emissions at SATRA have reduced year-on-year, our journey is only just beginning and we still have a long way to go. In the coming months we will be looking in more detail at setting targets to reduce our emissions, which could be in line with a recognised standard such as ‘Science Based Targets’ (SBTi), the United Nation’s ‘Race to Zero’, or ISO ‘Net Zero Guidelines’, as well as understanding what actions we can take to reach our targets.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 10 of the October 2024 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

Other articles from this issue »

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