Climate neutrality does not mean that we at iTernity do not cause any emissions. Our goal is to offset our carbon footprint through meaningful climate protection projects and to firmly anchor the understanding of sustainability in our actions. iTernity's work is designed for longevity. We secure enterprise data for decades and our mission is to bring that data securely into the future. We want to carry our mission forward and create awareness for sustainable and long-term business.
iTernity Company Carbon Footprint & Climate Protection Projects
Climate Report 2020
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Our goal: climate neutrality for iTernity
We want to become climate neutral. We made this decision at the beginning of the year and have done a lot of research since then. Just shortly after we finished calculating our Company Carbon Footprint (CCF), the news was full of disaster reports - storms, floods, wildfires, landslides. The weather is becoming more extreme, the effects of climate change are becoming more real, closer, more tangible. The images are sad and frightening, but they show us with all clarity that we must act, that we must actively address the causes and effects of climate change.
Climate Report 2020
Our CO2 footprint at a glance
For our Company Carbon Footprint, we took a close look at the areas of energy, travel, and everyday consumption and calculated our CO2 emissions for the year 2020.
Our total CO2 consumption in 2020 was 18,910 kg. We added an additional 5% to compensate for inaccuracies and fluctuations, bringing iTernity's total emissions to 19,856 kg CO2. This corresponds to a forest area of about three football fields or 1,986 trees.
As a price for CO2, we follow the recommendation of the Federal Environment Agency of €195 per ton. On this basis, we arrive at a total compensation fee of €3,871.92 for the year 2020. We round this amount up to €4,000 and use it to support two exciting climate protection projects - more on this later.
Heighten the awareness
We completely offset our carbon footprint from 2020 and want to repeat this step every year from now on in order to operate in a climate-neutral way. At iTernity, we are already in a good position, but have already found optimization points for the future when calculating our footprint. We want and need to continue to heighten this awareness.Ralf Steinemann
CEO of iTernity
„
The figures in detail
As the basis for the determination of our CO2 emissions from the year 2020, we chose the "EcoCockpit" calculator from the Effizienz Agentur NRW, as this was developed in cooperation with the Environment Ministry and is structured in a very transparent and comprehensible way.
Most of the emitters were calculated using the Gemis 4.9 (Global Emissions Model of Integrated Systems) data source. We additionally determined some criteria through our own research. For our notebooks, for example, we used an analysis by the TU Berlin; for our beverages we used a study by INEC HS Pforzheim; and for mouse, keyboards, and monitors we used data from Logitech and Dell.
We divide our Company Carbon Footprint into three categories, which are explained in more detail below.
- Scope 1: Direct emissions from our vehicle fleet.
- Scope 2: Indirect emissions from energy consumption (electricity, water, and heating).
- Scope 3: Indirect emissions from everyday consumption (paper, disposal, beverages, hardware, etc.).
Direct emissions (Scope 1)
For the emissions calculation of our vehicles, we decided to use an average value of the mileage, as we had very few business trips during the COVID-19 pandemic. This calculation basis allows us to compensate for more than we actually consumed. In the future, we want to calculate our mileage more accurately. We also want to make our vehicle fleet more CO2-neutral and are aiming for a gradual conversion to electric and hybrid vehicles. Currently, the fleet consists of several diesel vehicles as well as petrol and hybrid vehicles.
Due to the central location of our offices (downtown Freiburg, Stuttgart, and Hamburg), the commutes are short for most employees, which is why the majority also travel by bicycle or public transport. Furthermore, we are increasingly in "home-office" - even beyond the pandemic, which in some cases will completely eliminate the need for travel.
Indirect emissions (Scopes 2 & 3)
We use green electricity for our own electricity needs and therefore have a CO2 consumption of 0 kg. We can only influence the electricity mix for the building and the heating to a limited extent, as we rent our office space. To simplify the presentation, the electricity and gas consumption for heating were combined.
When selecting climate protection projects, we pay attention to the following standards and certificates:
- Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects in developing countries can receive emission reduction certificates equivalent to one ton of CO2. These, in turn, are sold in the industrialized nations so that they can achieve their targets.
- Gold Standard certification sets the highest standards for positive impacts of climate projects and other projects, which are in a wide range of areas. Verified
- Carbon Standard (VCS) aims to standardize offset projects, build trust in voluntary offset projects, and avoid double counting by providing a central database for certificates from voluntary projects.
In the last area we have summarized our everyday needs. Here, as in every office, you will find the obligatory tea and coffee consumption, drinks, milk, the disposal of our waste, as well as the purchase of hardware in the course of 2020.
For example, we bought 306 liters of milk last year, some of which we were unable to consume due to the pandemic; 144 liters were donated to the Freiburger Tafel so that the supplies in the office would not go bad. For the CO2 compensation, we naturally take the complete consumption as a basis.
The paper consumption has been calculated as DIN A4 for simplicity, as this also corresponds to our main consumption. Also included in this item are our paper rolls in the form of kitchen rolls, toilet paper and dry towels for the toilets. We have calculated these individually and summarize the figures for clarity.
We add a further 5% to the total result of 18,910 kg CO2 to compensate for inaccuracies and fluctuations. As a price for one ton of CO2 we follow the recommendation of the Federal Environment Agency of €195 per ton of CO2. On this basis, we arrive at a compensation fee of €3,871.92 for the year 2020. We round this amount up to €4,000 and use it to support the following projects.
We support these projects
For project selection, "safe permanence" is generally recommended. This means that the focus is on, for example, a reduction in wood consumption, species conservation, forest management, renewable energy production. The focus is on resource reduction and proactive climate protection rather than on eliminating the consequences of climate change.
For this reason, we have selected the following two projects:
- €3,000 go to an Atmosfair project, which enables a 2.9-megawatt solar plant on Madagascar and thereby replaces the combustion of 1,300,000 liters of heavy oil per year.
- €1,000 go to NatureOffice and will be used to offset the calculated CO2 emissions as well as for the DeutschlandPlus-Project, which realizes different activities like reforestation, biotope care, rewetting of upland moors, and forest care in the Black Forest.
Where we want to improve
- Keep air travel to a minimum
- Convert fleet to electric and hybrid vehicles
- Calculate business trips with the vehicle fleet more precisely (kilometers per vehicle)
- Regionality and sustainability as a requirement for our suppliers, where appropriate
- Tie climate protection measures to HR: plant trees for each new employee and on various anniversaries
- Further raise awareness within the company
What we do in everyday life
- Use of green electricity
- Reduce travel
- Home-office
- Reduce paper consumption
- Regional organic fruit box
- Recycled paper where possible
- Purchasing on site, if possible
- Drinks only from glass bottles
Sources, interesting links, and reference values
- https://www.klimaneutralitaet.de/#corporate_cf
- https://www.badenova.de/privatkunden/oekostrom/informationen-und-rechtliches/
- https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/daten/umwelt-wirtschaft/gesellschaftliche-kosten-von-umweltbelastungen#textpart-1
- https://www.umweltpakt.bayern.de/energie_klima/fachwissen/217/berechnung-co2-emissionen
- https://gruen.deutschebahn.com/de/massnahmen/ice
- https://www.co2online.de/klima-schuetzen/mobilitaet/auto-co2-ausstoss/
- https://www.polarstern-energie.de/magazin/artikel/kaffee-fair-und-bio/
- https://www.atmosfair.de/de/standards/waldschutzprojekte/
- https://atiptap.org/files/studie_gutcert_pcf_wasser.pdf
- https://www.papiernetz.de/informationen/nachhaltigkeitsrechner/
- https://www.pwc.de/de/nachhaltigkeit/assets/leitfaden-vom-emissionsbericht-zur-klimastrategie.pdf#LEITFADEN_WEB_20140210.indd%3AKapitel%202
- https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Asus-berechnet-CO2-Bilanz-eines-Notebooks-1398680.html
- https://www.oekoalltag.de/co2-bilanz-eines-notebooks/
- https://um.baden-wuerttemberg.de/fileadmin/redaktion/m-um/intern/Dateien/Dokumente/2_Presse_und_Service/Publikationen/Umwelt/Nachhaltigkeit/Leitfaden-CO2-Kompensation-durch-Unternehmen-barrierefrei.pdf
- https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/461/publikationen/4316.pdf