Reducing our carbon footprint: Scopes, emissions and more

At Zen, we’re on a journey to become more sustainable. We’re committed to being net zero by 2040, but this won’t be achieved by doing just one thing.

There isn’t a single action that will get us to net zero, but instead it will depend on a number of activities and initiatives – over a period of time – that will collectively make a difference and enable us to meet our targets.

And the first part of that process is to properly understand our emissions.

Having a better understanding of the greenhouse gas emissions we’re directly or indirectly responsible for is essential to being able to make real, measurable improvements. But we’re not experts at this and, despite our best intentions, we recognise that we need help.

Introducing Energise

Energise are an award-winning net zero and sustainability consultancy that provide support for businesses like ours in measuring our impact and making changes to build a more sustainable future.

With their help, we’ve been able to build a much better understanding of our greenhouse gas emissions across the three scopes. Here’s a quick reminder of those scopes:

Scope 1 emissions are the direct emissions that we have direct control over, such as natural gas and vehicle fuel usage.

Scope 2 emissions are the indirect emissions related to the purchase of the energy we use (i.e. electricity).

Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions in our value chain, from sources not controlled by us. This includes things like the transportation and distribution of goods, and the use of the products we sell.

Energise have helped us to accurately measure our emissions across all three scopes, providing tangible data which can be used to both measure our progress and set realistic targets for improvement. That’s a really important point to make, because without that data the best we can be is aspirational. With accurate measurement, we can take practical steps towards improvement.

What do we mean by greenhouse gases?

Far from the popular perception, this isn’t just about carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In fact, there are a whole host of greenhouse gases that cause varying degrees of harm.

You might have seen the abbreviation tCO2e attached to many of the numbers you’ve read. That abbreviation stands for tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. It is a way of counting greenhouse gas emissions whether they come from carbon dioxide or something else, like methane for example. Methane has a tCO2e about 30 times higher than carbon dioxide.

So, when businesses talk about ‘carbon emissions’, they’re very often not just talking about carbon emissions, but also their weighted equivalents in other harmful greenhouse gases. Having an awareness of all the harmful greenhouse gases that we’re emitting can help us to better measure and control them.

Behind the numbers

Based on the latest measurements, our total tCO2e for the current year is running about 15 per cent lower than the previous year. Our (market-based) Scope 2 emissions are running at zero, thanks to our use of electricity derived from sustainable sources. And our Scope 1 emissions have also come down as our reliance on combustible fuels like natural gas has reduced.

We’re currently working on a plan to further reduce our reliance on fossil fuels at our HQ… watch this space.

We also have a challenge on our hands to ensure that our air conditioning units have a reduced global warming potential. Air con units tend to emit what are known as ‘f-gases’, some of which can have a high tCO2e. We must ensure that we explore the possibility of updating our systems so that they emit less harmful f-gases.

When it comes to Scope 3 emissions, we are in a much better position now than we were a year ago in terms of understanding the emissions in our supply chain. 39 per cent of our purchases now show the actual emissions of the suppliers we use. As those suppliers decarbonise, so will Zen, which is why an even fuller understanding of our suppliers’ emissions is important. As we come to terms with these numbers, we will be able to make better informed decisions to ensure that our Scope 3 emissions fall even further.

We recently published this article that explains how 100 per cent of our waste is now diverted from landfill, and here we explain how our new EveryRoom Refurbished service is better for the planet and our customers’ wallets too.

We’ll have more to report on in the months ahead, so keep coming back to our blog for further updates. In the meantime, you can find out more about the Zen story here.