Managing our carbon footprint

We have calculated our internal carbon footprint since 2018. We report our emissions according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting standard as well as the complementing Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard. This allows us to take into account the full scope of greenhouse gas emissions in NIB’s value chain. 

The calculation boundaries have been defined to include Scope 1, which entails combustion of fuels in stationary sources, and combustion of fuels in company owned/controlled cars, and Scope 2, which includes purchased electricity, purchased heat, and purchased cooling.

Our reporting practices enables us to systematically calculate, track, and manage carbon emissions. Read the latest report to learn more about how we manage our internal operations.

We avoid carbon emissions whenever possible in a cost-effective and strategic manner. We aim to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can. Here are some of the actions we have taken so far.

Scope 1: Direct Emissions from owned and controlled sources

NIB has a reserve power generator, which is subject to regular checks. The annual test runs and fuel use is included. 

We include emissions intensity as part of our procurement criteria to enable the purchase of low-carbon vehicles. All NIB’s company cars used for administrative purposes will be hybrids as of March 2021.

Scope 3: Indirect emissions that occur in NIB’s value chain

As an international financial institution, business travel is an unavoidable part of our operations, with flights significantly adding to our emissions. The COVID-19 pandemic has sharply reduced the amount of travelling. Already before the pandemic, NIB had established a broadcasting studio at its headquarters, allowing it to effectively hold presentations virtually and thus reduce further business travel.

NIB’s waste management is based on the principles reuse, reduce, and recycle. We aim for our business operations to be paperless, and many of our processes are totally digitalised. During office refurbishments, NIB’s old furniture is reused or recycled. NIB has also stopped using disposable items in the office entirely.

We engage in climate action and voluntarily support climate projects. NIB is funding projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

NIB only supports climate projects that have been awarded the Gold Standard. This is an internationally recognised standard, which also takes into consideration the positive co-benefits for sustainable development. When selecting projects, we also evaluate the monitoring, reporting and verification methodology, and check against set rules for issues such as additionality and avoidance of double counting.

Our projects reduce the amount of emissions in the atmosphere by generating Certified Emission Reduction units that have been verified by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Convention on Climate Change. The projects support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including climate action, cleaner energy, quality education, and gender equality.