Achieving key net zero transition milestones with Furthr
About Zühlke
Zühlke is a global consulting company that implements design and engineering innovations across various sectors, with particular expertise in sustainability and the circular economy.
The company’s own net zero journey started in 2019 with the publication of emissions calculations relating to their facilities located in Germany.
In 2021, the company reached a significant milestone by publishing group-wide emissions calculations for the first time.
Jessica Hibberd
Sustainable Operations & People Lead
'We’ve built a long-term partnership with Furthr's expert team, with whom we meet regularly and can communicate easily through a dedicated channel. They are always quick to answer our questions, and we often discuss suggestions and ideas with them.'
tCO2e Offset in FY2022
3,467
76%
decrease in Scope 2 emissions and 11% in total emissions in FY 2023
Increased switch to electric vehicles and renewable electricity sources
2040
Zühlke's Net Zero target year
Jessica Hibberd, Sustainable Operations & People Lead, explains, ‘we went through a detailed request-for-proposals process, involving four companies. The responses we received from Furthr scored highest in terms of quality answers. We were impressed with Furthr’s transparency and knowledge on all aspects of the project.’
Before partnering with Furthr, Zühlke relied predominantly on secondary, spend-based data to calculate its emissions outputs for most GHG categories, giving its sustainability team only a partial view of the company’s real-world environmental impacts. Jessica Hibberd says, ‘without access to quality data, we were in the position of having to calculate previous carbon footprints using spend-based data, and we just knew we weren’t getting the full picture of our organisational climate impact’.
Overview
Zühlke partnered with Furthr for its expertise in emissions reporting and to help achieve its net zero vision.
Previously relying predominantly on secondary, spend-based data, Zühlke's sustainability team had only a partial view of the company's real-world environmental impacts and needed access to quality data.
Key challenges to address
Taking carbon management Furthr
Furthr's Approach
To improve its data collection processes and methodologies, Furthr worked closely with Zühlke’s facilities, sustainability and procurement teams. Some of the changes we implemented included sourcing primary activity data for energy consumption using utility bills, obtaining mileage information and detailed flight breakdowns to calculate transport and business travel emissions, and rolling out a company-wide employee survey for calculating home-working emissions. Jessica explains, ‘Furthr’s team has educated us on how to overcome obstacles to accessing high-quality data’.
Results
Our innovative data collection strategies resulted in five out of seven GHG categories being based on primary activity data (grade 3 and above) and our team successfully expanded the scope of Zühlke’s 2023 calculations.
In some cases, our improved methodologies led to a decrease in reported emissions – including a 69% decrease in overall electricity emissions thanks to the procurement of renewable energy certificates.
Zühlke also reduced overall total emissions by 11% in 2023, including a staggering 76% decrease in Scope 2 emissions, thanks in large part to the use of more accurate data and methodologies. Jessica explains, ‘we had a lot of knowledge around climate change and sustainability but lacked a real understanding of our priorities and where we should focus.’
Reporting
Zühlke also benefited from our end-to-end carbon accounting platform which streamlined the data collection, analysis and reporting stages. Furthr provided a detailed and comprehensive GHG emissions report with a full breakdown for each category and useful data. Jessica mentions, ‘this has made our lives so much easier when it comes to reporting!’
Nature Projects
‘Initial conversations with the team also inspired our confidence that we would be purchasing high-quality offsets with them, as something that we have always been clear is extremely important to Zühlke’, Jessica explains. In a second stage, Furthr indeed helped Zühlke rigorously vet and assess several third-party offset providers, giving it confidence and peace of mind that the projects it would invest in would have a lasting positive impact.
The Impact
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Supported Projects
Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve, Indonesia
2022 - 1,050 tCO2e Offset
Mangrove Afforestation, Myanmar
2022 - 317 tCO2e Offset
Biochar from Sustainable Wood, Congo
2022 - 100 tCO2e Offset
Lango Safe Water, Uganda
2022 - 2,000 tCO2e Offset
Next steps
Looking to the future, Zühlke has committed to reducing its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 90% as well as its absolute Scope 3 emissions by 42% by 2030, and by 90% by 2040.
Together, we have developed a comprehensive emissions reporting infrastructure that will enable Zühlke to continue its net zero journey with confidence.
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