In Hanken’s efforts to enhance the quality and reliability of carbon footprint calculations, Hanken commissioned a consultancy to review the footprint calculations and conduct a comprehensive calculation for the 2023 footprint. The project also included a recalculation of the 2018 footprint, which is the base year for comparison. The information from the project enables Hanken to better understand its comprehensive impact on climate and plan for meaningful climate smart operations.

According to the revised calculation approach, Hanken’s carbon dioxide emissions from 2023 are 1 411 tCO2e without Hanken’s investment portfolio and 11 650 tCO2e including the investment portfolio. Due to the increased number of operations being now covered, the footprint is significantly larger than Hanken has reported before (463 tCO2e in 2022, see the reporting here).

The 2023 carbon footprint includes emissions from Hanken’s own operations (Scope 1 & Scope 2) and all main contributors from the value chain of Hanken (Scope 3). Compared to previous years, in addition to the categories included before such as purchased electricity, heating, business travel, and IT procurement, the calculation now includes emissions from refrigerants used in cooling units of Hanken buildings (Scope 1) and several new Scope 3 categories, such as food acquisition, other purchased services (including those over 20,000 euros in expenditure), hotel accommodation during business travel, employee and student commuting and teleworking, and the investment portfolio. It also takes into account the offices that Hanken is renting (Arkadiankatu 28 and Economicum in Helsinki). Therefore, the new calculation sets more solid ground for Hanken’s climate work going forward. The calculation is based on GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (2004) and Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting standard (2011).

The emissions according to the GHG Protocol categories in 2023 are as follows:

• Scope 1: 106 tCO2e/a (direct emissions from owned or controlled operations)

• Scope 2: 69 tCO2e/a (indirect emissions from the use of purchased electricity, heating, and cooling in Hanken owned and operated facilities)

• Scope 3 Upstream: 1 235 tCO2e/a (value chain emissions, including purchased goods and services, fuel and energy related activities*, waste, business travel, and commuting)

• Scope 3 Downstream: 10 240 tCO2e/a, (value chain emissions, including investment portfolio)

When emissions from the investment portfolio are set aside, the biggest emission source continues to be business travel (43,2 % of emissions) which includes travel for staff, guests and outgoing student mobility, followed by purchased goods and services (20,9 % of emissions) and commuting (16,5 % of emissions). Within purchased goods and services, food acquisition (139 tCO2e) and other purchased goods and services (111 tCO2e) account for the biggest emissions over the IT assets (43 tCO2e) and paper (1 tCO2e), that were the only procurement categories considered in previous footprint calculations.

The project revealed that Hanken’s investment portfolio is clearly the biggest single source of emissions (87,9% or 10 240 tCO2e).  Emissions from investments were calculated based on received emission and emission intensity data from the asset managers.

More detailed information about the carbon footprint 2023 can be found here:

The base year 2018 recalculated

As the footprint calculation and data collection methods have improved over time, Hanken also updated the 2018 calculation to enable comparisons between the years. This also makes assessment of effectiveness of Hanken’s climate actions more reliable.

The recalculated base year includes the same categories as the calculation for 2023. The recalculation has been done by scaling based on faculty and staff and student headcount development. The base year 2018 recalculation resulted in a total annual carbon footprint of 11 737 tCO2e. The scope 1 and 2 emissions were 596 tCO2e and scope 3 emissions in total 11 139 tCO2e. This is around 12,5 times larger footprint than Hanken had previously considered (873 tCO2e), and like 2023, also here the investment portfolio account for the largest single impact.

Based on the recalculated data for 2018 and footprint of 2023, Hanken’s emissions have decreased very little, just 87 tCO2e over the years. However, the results also show that emissions have decreased in categories where the emphasis of climate work has been previously. Emissions from purchased electricity, purchased heating and business travel have decreased, while emissions from other sources have increased. With regards to the decrease in business travel emissions, the corona pandemic has also played its part. It should also be noted that as the original data from 2018 was not always available for the missing categories, the resulting numbers include some uncertainties.

Towards carbon neutral Hanken

CO2 calculation development project was a great step in Hanken’s efforts to become carbon neutral by 2030. As the sources of carbon footprint are now better understood, it is easier to begin planning for climate action that can make a difference. Hanken aims to develop a Climate Action Plan by the end of the year.

Several steps towards carbon neutrality have already been taken prior to the project and will continue to be implemented. All electricity used in Hanken’s offices is now renewable or carbon neutral. Also heating in Arkadiankatu 22 and Kirjastonkatu 16 is carbon neutral, however, the district heating of rented offices in Arkadiankatu 28 and Economicum is not. The solar panels are also up and running. In Helsinki the solar panels produced 38 886 kWh (about 5 % of electricity consumption of Arkadiankatu 22) while the solar panels in Vaasa produced 40 000 kWh (about 15 % of electricity consumption of Kirjastonkatu 16) in 2023.

In addition to the carbon footprint project, a Net Zero Carbon Assessment was conducted in 2023 for both Hanken main buildingsin Helsinki and Vaasa. These reports by external experts helped Hanken to identify energy saving measures. They also suggested investments in offsite renewable energy projects to offset the emissions that could not be decreased with other means. Hanken is also working with the property managers of Arkadiankatu 28 and Economicum to decrease the environmental and carbon footprint of the offices. Currently work is ongoing to update the travel guidelines.

Hanken’s Environmental Programme for 2022-2024 also supports the environment and climate work. The programme can be found here.

For any questions and clarifications, please contact the Social Responsibility Coordinator Riina Haavisto at prme@hanken.fi.

*Fuel and energy related activities refer to indirect emissions from production of consumed electricity and heating – so called cradle-to-gate emissions from powerplant construction, transmission and supply losses.