As a consulting company with no production facilities, our climate footprint is not large. Horten’s key contribution to climate change mitigation is therefore through our advice to the actors involved in the green transition – producers of renewable energy, companies behind new sustainable energy solutions and infrastructure, utilities and municipalities. However, it is also important for us to have our own house in order.
We conducted two management workshops in an internal ESG working group in 2022, to define the purpose and aims for Horten’s future ESG reporting. In the two workshops, we used a materiality analysis as a discussion tool to identify the social, environmental and economic factors that could affect our business in the long term, and where Horten has the greatest impact on the environment and society. This work will continue in 2023.
In 2021, we produced climate accounts for the first time, to get an overview of our annual greenhouse gas emissions. The climate accounts were generated using the web-based CEMAsys system, which is based on the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG protocol).
The first climate accounts gave us detailed insight into the key figures and our first baseline. However, this baseline was for an extraordinary year, where we worked more from home due to the pandemic, and travelled less by air, train and car.
CEMAsys also introduced a method change in emissions factors in 2022, regarding the calculation of emissions from hotel stays and district heating consumption. This method change improves the precision of the measurement, but also results in lower emissions despite largely unchanged consumption.
Climate accounts 2022
The CO2 emissions are divided into three scopes, in line with the GHG protocol’s instructions and methodology. Horten’s total emissions for 2022 were 339 tCO2. With 290 full-time employees, this means emissions per employee of 1.17 tCO2 for 2022.
All emissions occurring in company-owned buildings and vehicles are reported in scope 1. Horten’s scope 1 emissions are therefore linked to the use of company cars and refrigerant gas from a refrigeration system at the office in Hellerup. Together, the three offices account for 10 tCO2e or 2.9% of total CO2 emissions in 2022. This is a 20.3% reduction from the previous year’s scope 1 emissions.
All emissions from the use of electricity and district heating are reported in scope 2. The total emissions for all three offices are 161.2 tCO2e or 47.6% of total emissions. The emissions in scope 2 are primarily from electricity (118.8 tCO2e). Scope 2 emissions have risen 16.7% compared to the previous year.
We reviewed our energy consumption at the offices in Hellerup and Aarhus in October 2022, to find areas where we could quickly introduce energy-saving measures. We reduced the heating and ventilation, turned off the facade lighting at night, introduced intelligent control for lighting and networks, and installed LED lights wherever possible.
Horten has chosen to limit reporting for 2022 in scope 3 to business travel (driving in private vehicles, flights, taxi trips, train travel, ferry trips and hotel stays). Scope 3 emissions amounted to 167.8 tCO2e in 2022 or 49.5% of total emissions. The largest contributor in this category is driving in private vehicles, which accounts for 57.5 tCO2e or 16.9% of total emissions. Scope 3 emissions saw an 80% increase in 2022 compared to 2021. This is because we travelled more, including international travel, compared to 2021, when travel activity was extraordinarily low.
We initiated a reassessment of our travel policy in 2022, to promote more climate-friendly travel. This is expected to be complete in 2023.
We will also expand scope 3 reporting in 2023 to include our canteen, and we are working on a project to minimise its climate footprint, for example by using more local ingredients and less meat.
