Urgent.Commitment
2020 in facts and figures
At the beginning of 2020 Urgent.Agency made a commitment to critically address our environmental and societal impact and to promote taking action against climate change. We do this by addressing and reducing CO2e emission generated by our workspace, our transportation, purchases, and consumption.
Reading time:
In 2020 we started tracking and analysing our CO2e emission to better understand how to improve and create the biggest possible impact. In order to reduce our environmental impact we have, in collaboration with Climaider, been tracking and analyzing CO2e emission stemming from our workspace, our transportation and from what we buy and consume. Our goals for 2020 were to:
Reduce CO2e emission generated from our business travels by 30%
Reduce CO2e emission generated from heat and electricity used in our offices to the furthest extent possible
Institute a sustainable procurement policy addressing everything we buy and consume and involve all employees in the journey towards becoming a more sustainable business.
In order to achieve our goals we have:
Built a system for tracking and understanding the environmental impact of our international flights and started off-setting all carbon emissions.
Instigated policies for transport and commuting, stipulating that we use only trains, bus or electric vehicles during work hours for commuting or traveling inside Denmark.
Switched to an entirely vegetarian diet during work hours.
Instigated sustainable procurement policies choosing certified sustainable products and avoiding plastic and single use products.
Instituted a policy with clear guidelines for waste reduction, management and recycling, including hosting and cloud services.
The result has been a considerable reduction of our CO2 emission. However, the biggest catalyst in our CO2 reduction came from an unlikely source: the global Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic we have traveled less, consumed less and spent less time in the office, which has impacted our overall emission. 2020 has shown us that embracing digital behavior has a magnificent impact on our CO2 footprint as a whole. We will take all the best that Covid-19 has taught us and use it to obtain our goal of carbon neutrality – now sooner than anticipated.
Here, we break down our total emission in 2020 compared to our 2019 emission. The calculations made by Climaider are based on data provided by us and rely partly on a series of assumptions and not primary data. However, they follow official guidelines based on GHG protocols.
Transportation (incl. flights)
international flights accounted for 81.3% of our entire CO2e emission in 2019 and one of our main goals for 2020 was to reduce this source by bundling meeting activities more effectively, using video conferencing for client meetings, and finding alternative modes of transport for shorter trips.But the fact that we almost did not fly in 2020 due to Covid-19 is the main source of the 93,22% reduction.
Transportation (excl flights)
Due to the majority of Urgent.Agency employees using bicycles to commute, we already had very low CO2 emission in 2019. In 2020 we were able to reduce it further by switching entirely to electrical cars when commuting inside and outside of Copenhagen.
Office use
In 2020 we reduced electricity and heating emissions by 11.22%. This was achieved through a combination of paying more attention to electricity use and working more from home due to Covid-19.
Purchases
In 2020 we have almost halved our emissions derived from purchases. Overall we managed to purchase less items in 2020 and bought second-hand furniture and used appliances whenever possible.
Hotels and accommodation
2020 obviously wasn’t a big year for hotel accommodations.
Lunch and snacks
What we choose to consume has a big impact on our environment. In 2020 we switched to an entirely vegetarian diet during work hours bringing our CO2 emissions down by 17,49 %.
Website and cloud storage
In 2020 we were able to reduce our emissions stemming from website and cloud storage by 82,57 %. This large reduction is mainly due to new research showing that “inactive” dropbox files have significantly lower CO2 emissions than first assumed. Therefore, CO2 emission from this item is significantly lower than last year.
Total emissions
Including international flights we reduced our total emission from 2019 to 2020 by 84,70%. This massive decrease is largely due to the fact that international flights were grounded for much of 2020.
Total emissions (excl. flights)
Excluding international flights we have been able to reduce our CO2 emission from 31,70 ton to 16,54 ton removing 15,16 ton or 47,82 % from our yearly emission.
You can read our 2019 evaluation here and our 2020 evaluation here.
As part of our commitment we have also pledged to off-set all unavoidable emission. This year we have all signed up to become members of Andelsgaarde and have donated 250.000 DKK to their vital mission of establishing sustainable agricultural and reforestation projects across the country to tackle the growing climate and biodiversity crisis.
We encourage you all to read up on the important work they are doing and join us as members in the movement of transforming our food production into a more sustainable community based model.
Urgent.Commitment
2020 in facts and figures
At the beginning of 2020 Urgent.Agency made a commitment to critically address our environmental and societal impact and to promote taking action against climate change. We do this by addressing and reducing CO2e emission generated by our workspace, our transportation, purchases, and consumption.
Reading time:
In 2020 we started tracking and analysing our CO2e emission to better understand how to improve and create the biggest possible impact. In order to reduce our environmental impact we have, in collaboration with Climaider, been tracking and analyzing CO2e emission stemming from our workspace, our transportation and from what we buy and consume. Our goals for 2020 were to:
Reduce CO2e emission generated from our business travels by 30%
Reduce CO2e emission generated from heat and electricity used in our offices to the furthest extent possible
Institute a sustainable procurement policy addressing everything we buy and consume and involve all employees in the journey towards becoming a more sustainable business.
In order to achieve our goals we have:
Built a system for tracking and understanding the environmental impact of our international flights and started off-setting all carbon emissions.
Instigated policies for transport and commuting, stipulating that we use only trains, bus or electric vehicles during work hours for commuting or traveling inside Denmark.
Switched to an entirely vegetarian diet during work hours.
Instigated sustainable procurement policies choosing certified sustainable products and avoiding plastic and single use products.
Instituted a policy with clear guidelines for waste reduction, management and recycling, including hosting and cloud services.
The result has been a considerable reduction of our CO2 emission. However, the biggest catalyst in our CO2 reduction came from an unlikely source: the global Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the pandemic we have traveled less, consumed less and spent less time in the office, which has impacted our overall emission. 2020 has shown us that embracing digital behavior has a magnificent impact on our CO2 footprint as a whole. We will take all the best that Covid-19 has taught us and use it to obtain our goal of carbon neutrality – now sooner than anticipated.
Here, we break down our total emission in 2020 compared to our 2019 emission. The calculations made by Climaider are based on data provided by us and rely partly on a series of assumptions and not primary data. However, they follow official guidelines based on GHG protocols.
Transportation (incl. flights)
international flights accounted for 81.3% of our entire CO2e emission in 2019 and one of our main goals for 2020 was to reduce this source by bundling meeting activities more effectively, using video conferencing for client meetings, and finding alternative modes of transport for shorter trips.But the fact that we almost did not fly in 2020 due to Covid-19 is the main source of the 93,22% reduction.
Transportation (excl flights)
Due to the majority of Urgent.Agency employees using bicycles to commute, we already had very low CO2 emission in 2019. In 2020 we were able to reduce it further by switching entirely to electrical cars when commuting inside and outside of Copenhagen.
Office use
In 2020 we reduced electricity and heating emissions by 11.22%. This was achieved through a combination of paying more attention to electricity use and working more from home due to Covid-19.
Purchases
In 2020 we have almost halved our emissions derived from purchases. Overall we managed to purchase less items in 2020 and bought second-hand furniture and used appliances whenever possible.
Hotels and accommodation
2020 obviously wasn’t a big year for hotel accommodations.
Lunch and snacks
What we choose to consume has a big impact on our environment. In 2020 we switched to an entirely vegetarian diet during work hours bringing our CO2 emissions down by 17,49 %.
Website and cloud storage
In 2020 we were able to reduce our emissions stemming from website and cloud storage by 82,57 %. This large reduction is mainly due to new research showing that “inactive” dropbox files have significantly lower CO2 emissions than first assumed. Therefore, CO2 emission from this item is significantly lower than last year.
Total emissions
Including international flights we reduced our total emission from 2019 to 2020 by 84,70%. This massive decrease is largely due to the fact that international flights were grounded for much of 2020.
Total emissions (excl. flights)
Excluding international flights we have been able to reduce our CO2 emission from 31,70 ton to 16,54 ton removing 15,16 ton or 47,82 % from our yearly emission.
You can read our 2019 evaluation here and our 2020 evaluation here.
As part of our commitment we have also pledged to off-set all unavoidable emission. This year we have all signed up to become members of Andelsgaarde and have donated 250.000 DKK to their vital mission of establishing sustainable agricultural and reforestation projects across the country to tackle the growing climate and biodiversity crisis.
We encourage you all to read up on the important work they are doing and join us as members in the movement of transforming our food production into a more sustainable community based model.