Love HeartWood’s Journal

Love Heartwood’s 2022 Climate Report

by | Mar 6, 2024 | journal, sustainability

Report Overview

Love Heartwood first reporting year is 2022. In 2022 the company produced 0.7 tonnes of carbon emission from the recorded categories.

The largest impact from Love Heartwood activity falls under the scope 3 category of advertising, which includes activities such as the attendance at craft fairs and adverts in publications. Bar offsetting unavoidable travel there is not a way to further reduce this part of the footprint.

Introduction

This is the first climate report for Love Heartwood. We’re committed to creating toys that connect children with their natural world and demonstrating how we can live in harmony with nature.

The year 2022 has been selected as the base year for the company’s first climate reporting. The turnover of the company in 2022 was £20,834 and the company has 1 employee, being the founder.

The purpose of the reporting is to increase the understanding of what is driving the company’s greenhouse gas emissions, set targets to reduce them, and secure transparency and traceability on the journey towards net-zero by 2050.

Methodology

The greenhouse gas accounting is based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s corporate and value chain standards (ghgprotocol.org).

The GHG Protocol defines emissions in three scopes:

  • Scope 1 – The company’s direct emissions from vehicles, combustion, processes, or leakages.
  • Scope 2 – The company’s indirect emissions (electricity, heating, cooling) from energy purchased and consumed.
  • Scope 3 – Greenhouse gas emissions that occur upstream and downstream in the company’s value chain, as a consequence of the company’s operations.

Total greenhouse gas emissions are quantified in carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e), which take into consideration that different greenhouse gases (Carbon dioxide, Nitrogen oxides, Methane etc.) have different global warming factors.

To set the organisational boundary the “operational control” principle is used, i.e., emissions from vehicles, assets, purchases, and services over which the company has control are taken into account, regardless of whether they are owned, part-owned, leased, rented or freeware.

For calculation of the company’s emissions from electricity (scope 2), the “market-based” principle is used, i.e. the emission intensity of grid electricity is separated between green electricity contracts and a residual mix.

The emission factors come from DEFRA and GHG, supplemented with specific emission factors when significant. The Compare Your Footprint software calculator has been used, created by the Green Element Group.

The carbon calculations have been carried out with the help of Naturesave Trust funded consultancy support from Positive Impacts.

Operational boundaries and reporting accuracy

Calculating a company’s total climate impact is an extensive process, especially for emissions within scope 3.

Hence, as a first step, an impact analysis was performed in which the company’s emissions in each category were identified and their overall impact estimated. The category selection was also based on what information was easily available via the business accounting systems. Subsequently it is listed which categories were include and excluded for the reporting year.

ScopeSub-category ActivityEssentialData Quality
Scope 1 – Direct emissions1.1 CombustionNoNA
 1.2 ProcessesNoNA
 1.3 Emission from own passenger vehiclesNoGood
 1.4 Emission from own fleetNoNA
 1.5 Refrigerants leakageNoNA
 1.6 Other direct emissions NA
Scope 2 – Energy2.1 ElectricityYesGood
 2.2 District heatingNoNA
 2.3 District coolingNoNA
 2.4 SteamNoNA
 2.5 WaterNoNA
 2.6 Other direct energyNoNA
Scope 3 – Upstream3.1 Purchased goods and services Good
 3.2 Capital goodsNoNA
 3.3 Fuel – and energy related activitiesNoNA
 3.4 Upstream transportNoNA
 3.5 Waste generated in operationsNoNA
 3.6 Business travelYesGood
 3.7 Employee commutingNoNA
 3.8 Leased assetsNoNA
Scope 3 – Downstream3.9 Downstream transportsNoNA
 3.10 Processing of sold productsNoNA
 3.11 Use of sold productsNoNA
 3.12 End-of-life treatment of sold productsNoNA
 3.13 Leased assetsNoNA
 3.14 FranchiseNoNA
 3.15 InvestmentsNoNA

Overall, the company’s reported emissions can be considered comprehensive, expected to cover at least 95% of the company’s value chain emissions.

Company emissions 2022

The company’s greenhouse gas emissions for the base year 2022 have been calculated to total 0.7 tonnes CO2e, which corresponds to 0.747 tonnes of CO2e per employee and 0.000036 tonnes CO2e/ £ turnover.

Emissions not reported upon are:

  • Waste – the data was not available by weight. However we contributed to the circular economy in recycling 1 tonne of wood shavings, which was passed onto a local primary school for compost production. Additionally we plan to make wood briquettes, which are  then used for heating.
  • Packaging – the data was not available by weight.
  • Web and internet hosting – the correct data metrics were not available.

These categories will be included in the 2023 report.

Commitment and targets

The company’s overall goal is to align with a +1,5 degree C trajectory, by following the “carbon law” and to halve emissions before 2030 and reach net-zero emissions well before 2050.

More specifically, Love Heartwood pledges to:

  1. Reduce the carbon footprint per employee from a 2022 base year with:
  2. Scope 1 – N/A
  3. Scope 2 – N/A
  4. Scope 3 – 25% by 2030
  5. Reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050.
  6. Disclose our progress on a yearly basis.

Actions to reduce emissions

To achieve our near-term target several actions have been identified:

ScopeCategoryAction
1Own vehiclesUse only 100% electric vehicles in the future
2Purchased electricityEnsure renewable energy contracts continueDemand improved carbon reporting and climate actions from cloud server providers
3Purchased goods and servicesDemand improved carbon reporting and climate actions from advertising service providers
3Capital goodsMajority of purchased computers, phones and other IT equipment will be bought 2nd hand/refurbished and used/repaired for many years.
3Business travelStrict travel policy. No flying. All car usage must be fully electric/ and or used with offsets for unavoidable travel.
3Employee commutingKeep commuting emissions close to zero, by planning office location and demanding employees to travel by train, bus, bike, or EV.

Management and strategy

The responsibility for climate strategy and action is clearly allocated at the executive level of the company. Our full business is built around climate action, protecting nature and sustainability.

Other initiatives

  • We’ve been committed tree planting since 2019 with the help of Green The UK and The Royal Forestry Society. Love Heartwood supported the planting of 600 climate resilient trees across the UK in 2021 – 2022. These trees have been planted in Norfolk and will increase each woodland’s resilience to pests, diseases and/or climate change. The sites will transform into habitats where local wildlife can flourish, improving biodiversity as well as providing carbon sequestration.

We also take the following steps to reduce our carbon footprint:

  • Choose Local & Sustainable – All our wood is reclaimed or from local, responsible and sustainable sources.
  • Reduce Waste and Reuse – we use reclaimed wood. We also reduce production waste by making smaller items from the offcuts from the larger ones. The wood shavings, which are the business’ main waste product, are donated to a local school. They use the shavings in their food composter. Recycled paper and cardboard is used in the office as well as for our packaging and stationary.
  • Low carbon footprint – We seek out and choose to use suppliers with similar values as ourselves. We aim for them to be as local as possible to keep transportation distances to a minimum. e.g. the hemp seed oil used to seal bowls and plates is produced just across the Thames in Oxfordshire. The Love Heartwood website is hosted on a green server that runs on renewable wind power. We also sell with Etsy, who have pledged a net-zero operation by 2030, and offset all shipping emissions.
Screenshots from Love Heartwood’s Green the UK Impact Page.
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