Hanken’s 2022 Carbon Footprint

This includes the emissions from employee travel, electricity, heating and generated waste in Hanken owned and operated offices (Arkadiankatu 22, Helsinki and Kirjastonkatu 16, Vaasa), paper usage and IT procurement. In addition, the emissions from student travel are 296 CO2 metric ton. Emissions from student travel are not included in the universities CO2 reporting and they are therefore calculated and reported separately. The overall emissions are calculated with WWF Climate Calculator following the global standardised framework to measure and manage greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions set by the GHG Protocol. The emissions according to the GHG Protocol categories in 2022 (excluding student travel) are as follows:

• Scope 1: 0 tCO2 (direct emissions from owned or controlled operations)
• Scope 2: 106 tCO2 (indirect emissions from the use of purchased electricity, heating, and cooling in Hanken owned and operated offices)
• Scope 3: 357 tCO2 (value chain emissions such as employee travel, paper usage, IT procurement and waste)

In 2022 Hanken switched to renewable district heating in Helsinki, which has decreased the heating emissions significantly compared to 2021 (from 421 tCO2 to 106 tCO2). The remaining emissions come from waste-based districting heating used in Vaasa. Hanken’s purchased electricity is produced with biomass, wind power and hydropower. Hanken also has solar panels installed on the roof of buildings both in Helsinki and Vaasa. In Helsinki the solar panels have been operational since February 2021 and in Vaasa since March 2022. The solar panels in Helsinki produced 40,569 kWh (about 5 % of electricity consumption of Arkadiankatu 22) while the solar panels in Vaasa produced 42,300 kWh (about 16 % of electricity consumption of Kirjastonkatu 16) in 2022.

Our largest emission category in 2022 after student travel was employee business travel at 272 tCO2. The business travel category includes 0.04 tCO2 caused by train travel, the rest of the emissions are caused by flying. Emissions from accommodation during business travel have not been included in the calculations yet.

The carbon footprint calculated herein is in no means complete description of the emissions caused by Hanken and the real carbon footprint of an organisation is always larger. Several challenges exist in improving the quality of the footprint calculation, for example, availability and usability of data both from internal sources and processes as well as external partners and service providers. Additionally, and similarly to other universities and organisations, to describe Hanken’s full carbon footprint more realistically, more value chain emissions (Scope 3) would need to be considered in the calculations. Identified key areas for improvement include tackling the use of electricity, heating and water and generation of waste in the rental offices that are not operated by Hanken, developing methods to assess emissions from student and employee commuting, including emissions attributed to other Hanken owned properties and investments, as well as expanding the procurement categories considered in the calculations. Hanken is constantly working on developing the data collection methods and partnerships to be able to enhance the quality and reliability of the carbon footprint calculations.

To get more details on how the calculations have been done and details about specific calculation categories please contact prme@hanken.fi. To find out more about Hanken’s environmental work and targets please visit our sustainability pages.