HeatSpring Measured Our Greenhouse Gas Impact (And You Can Too – Part 1)

HeatSpring recently shared that we attained B Corp Certification, a designation that shows the world how we’ve always operated – as an organization with a mission. With this recognition, we joined a community of businesses embracing the reality that profit does not always have to come at an environmental cost. 

One indicator HeatSpring committed to tracking as a B Corp is our own greenhouse gas (GHG) impact, or, the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases generated by the business. Certified B Corps are required to disclose their Scope 1 (direct), Scope 2 (indirect, e.g. purchased electricity), and Scope 3 (value chain) emissions every year (See Graphic. Credit: U.S. EPA.). 

To this end, HeatSpring recently conducted our baseline GHG inventory. A GHG baseline measurement is the quantification of an organization’s emissions over a specific period- the baseline year that serves as a reference point for measuring future emissions reduction efforts. 

To conduct the inventory we followed these steps:

1. Definition of scope and boundaries. HeatSpring is a virtual organization with no ‘brick and mortar’ facilities and minimal commuting required for employees. This is a plus on the emissions front, since buildings and transportation are responsible for 70% of GHG emissions. That said, our impact is more challenging to measure in our decentralized environment, with things like employee home offices and distant servers contributing the bulk of our footprint. Since HeatSpring has no Scope 1, or direct emissions from buildings or vehicles we own, we knew we would be measuring Scope 2 (purchased electricity/HVAC for our home offices) and Scope 3 (indirect emissions, like business travel.) As a virtual organization, it was also important to us to begin to understand the GHG impact of hosting our online content on servers and use of technology like AI. 
2. Establish baseline year. Once we decided WHAT we were measuring, we looked at WHEN. Since there was nothing unusual about our consumption in the last full calendar year – 2024 – we used that as our ‘baseline’ year, to which future years will be compared to understand how our actions are impacting emissions. 

3. Collect data.  Then, we collected information about our Scope 2 and 3 emissions during 2024 – things like employee use of electricity and HVAC in home offices, and any travel to conferences, etc. Warning- plot spoiler ahead…… despite a very low frequency, airplane travel was our single biggest emitter in 2024, representing about a third of our overall impact. 

4. It turns out that WHERE you use energy is almost as important as how much you use when it comes to emissions. Our final estimates include an ‘emissions factor’ based on where the energy was produced. This means that employees (or servers) working in different states or utility regions can have different GHG impacts.

5. A central tenet of the B Corp Certification is transparency. An important part of this journey is sharing our carbon footprint with stakeholders like you. 

In the end, our calculations show that in 2024, HeatSpring’s operation was directly or indirectly responsible for the release of 12.1 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e.) It’s difficult to envision what this means without something to compare it to. For reference, an average household in the U.S. is responsible for roughly 48 MTCO2e of emissions per year, and an ‘average’ small business around 4-24 MTCO2e.

In Part 2 next week, we will share more information about how we figured things out like our scope boundaries and all those calculations. Look for more resources, next steps for after the baseline measurement, and a ‘How to Guide’ to measure your own carbon footprint.