Corporate sustainability plans typically calculate Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprints, which account for approximately 45% of the total corporate footprint. But what about the remaining percentage?

Corporate sustainability plans usually include the calculation of the carbon footprint as part of their environmental actions against climate change. In most cases, companies only calculate the impacts of Scope 1 and 2, related to the footprint derived from fossil fuel consumption such as gas, propane, or diesel, and determining the footprint of electricity consumption.

These calculations are usually straightforward; you only need to know the kilowatts consumed by the company over a certain period and apply the CO2 emission conversion factor for each type of fuel and energy used by its facilities. This is how the Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint is obtained.

However, in the hotel industry, especially in the vacation and urban sector with a high component of catering services, the Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint only represents approximately 45% of the company's total footprint.

So, what about the remaining percentage of their footprint? This differential percentage is known as the Scope 3 footprint.

Scope 3 Carbon Footprint

The Scope 3 carbon footprint includes all impacts derived from various aspects such as purchasing management, supplier provisioning and logistics, and also the internal movements of people associated with the company - employees and customers.

This means considering all aspects that are not intrinsic to the company's own activity but depend on the best practices adopted by its stakeholders, which influence whether the final carbon footprint is higher or lower depending on the decisions and options chosen at each service phase.

For example, when making decisions about our provisions, we need to think about what we need to buy, choose from whom and where to buy it, consider where it is grown/raised/caught/made, where the raw material comes from, how we transport it to our facilities, and what impact all that logistics and transportation has in acquiring those provisions.

We all talk about local or zero-kilometer purchases, but in a globalized world, is it easy or even possible to provide ourselves with options close to our businesses? For example, if we want certain agricultural products to be available in our services throughout the year, we will likely depend on external importation, as these products depend on the seasonality and season of each geographical area and region.

Success Case: ABBA Hotels Scope 3 Carbon Footprint Calculation

Seeing the importance of the weight of the Scope 3 carbon footprint, which accounts for around 50-60% of the company's total footprint, the Abba Hotels chain began calculating the footprint of its purchases for the years 2022 and 2023.

Their initial objective was to have a first real snapshot of the weight of their CO2 footprint as a whole, as well as the segmented weight of the footprint of different purchasing categories: meats, fruits, vegetables, fish, and seafood as some of the most representative in purchase volume, among others; but also in other categories of products supplied to their hotels, such as computer equipment. For this, Abba Hotels has used the upstream and downstream terminology strategy in each of its provisions.

Once you know your carbon footprint and identify the sources of your impacts, you can consciously analyze processes for more responsible decision-making. This information will help you develop strategies to reduce your footprint and monitor and evaluate the progress and results of the practices adopted over time.

Upstream and Downstream Process for Calculating the Carbon Footprint

After identifying the segmented impact of the Scope 3 carbon footprint by purchasing categories, Abba Hotels disaggregated their footprint by order of weight in the process known as upstream. Let’s see how this process is applied:

1. First, the geographical origin of the product is identified: where the final product usually comes from or where its raw materials originate. In the case of Abba Hotels, most are treated, manufactured, or processed in the country itself.
2. Once its origin is determined, often variable depending on the time of year, the possibilities of influencing the purchase decision based on geographical origin, the type of transport used, the type of maintenance of product conditions - freezing or refrigerated chambers that consume energy - are evaluated, and with this information, improvement decisions are made. Among some of these decisions is adopting a change in the economato model to only supply seasonal products whenever possible; prioritize organic products and ecological and sustainable production processes, as well as proximity. When the change cannot be total due to the global market situation, partial but impactful decisions are made to reduce the Scope 3 carbon footprint.

Once this upstream analysis is completed and potential improvement decisions about the origin of provisions are made, downstream is performed. In this second part, the reality of the supplier and their factories or logistics centers to receive their products, materials, and services is analyzed.

At Abba Hotels, downstream is carried out by calculating both the impact of internal product transportation within the country of origin and the capacity of their hotels to optimally organize the logistics of provision, setting improvement goals to reduce the number of trucks needed for their supplies.

Finally, to complete the Scope 3 carbon footprint calculation, internal team travel (corporate travel and the impact of our customers’ travel) must also be considered.

As a success example, Abba Hotels manages to reduce the impact of their travel by applying proximity hiring policies and facilitating greener travel. Specifically, they reduce fossil fuel consumption by selecting electric mobility options for staff and customer travel.

In the words of Enric Almiñana, Director of Purchasing and Sustainability at Abba Hotels, “the significant weight of the Scope 3 carbon footprint allows for major improvements in purchasing and provisioning management, supplier logistics, and internal team travel, opening up enormous decision-making options that impact a significant reduction in the overall company carbon footprint. Don’t forget, there’s no 1 and 2 without 3!”