Visualising a Sustainability Strategy

To mitigate the climate crisis we know that something needs to change and we are constantly reminded of that. We are told to make our behavior more environmentally friendly by the media, through social values and even when shopping at the supermarket. But as important as this topic seems to be, it is very difficult to assess the concrete impact of one's actions. What does sustainability even mean? What difference do certain behaviors actually make? There is no simple answer to these questions. This gets even more complicated for larger systems. Switzerland has set itself the goal of achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. To achieve this goal, the often profit-oriented business world must undergo a structural change. So, for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), sustainability is no less relevant than elsewhere.

To translate relevance into action, Dezentrum needed a sustainability strategy. Not just a strategy which would shift the burden by paying for CO2 compensations, but rather a strategy including concrete "local" measures. For that, Dezentrum reached out to rootlinks, a nonprofit student organization whose mission is to empower students to become changemakers for sustainability. During the spring semester of 2022, we - Adrien, Bram, Emanuel and Jule, four students from ETH Zurich - decided to try our hand at finding a way to make Dezentrum more sustainable, and in doing so, get one step closer to learning how this could be applied to general SMEs.

Our Solution

The main component of our solution is a physical sustainability dashboard. The dashboard is interactive and consists of different modular parts which can be adapted based on the chosen sustainability metric and the needs of Dezentrum. It is designed to motivate and educate the Dezentrum partners on how to minimize their environmental footprint. The dashboard not only raises awareness, but also incites towards more conscious behavior. On the image below the metric "no heating challenge" is depicted in the right upper corner. Beneath that, individual targets can be set and their progress visualised. On the left side, the background information about the current metric are presented.

While talking to some of the Dezentrum partners, we understood that the partners are intrinsically motivated to do good for the environment, showing a sense of consiousness and responsibility when making office decisions. However many of them are not aware of the company’s own sustainability performance. Thus, the importance of self-education about their current environmental impact is an important aspect for us when designing a solution. These insights inspired our decision making on which sustainability metrics to focus on.

Five Sustainability Metrics

Consequently, we developed five different metrics that can be included on the sustainability dashboard. These metrics are guidelines which Dezentrum can analyze and thus act upon. To limit potential metrics, we decided they should have three critical functions. First, the metric should be measurable. To achieve that, it is important that the periodical data collection is possible without too much time investment. Consequently, the tracking and observing of the process is second nature to the Dezentrum partners. Secondly, the metric should be of interest to Dezentrum’s partners and align with the values of the organization, such as openness, honesty and the holistic well-being of society. Lastly, the metric should have an actual impact. To measure the impact, we chose to calculate the emission of CO2-equivalents, which is used to standardize the climate effects of various greenhouse gasses. In order to make these abstract numbers more tangible, we came up with the following five metrics:

1. Oat Milk consumption
2. Coffee consumption
3. Trash bag volume
4. No heating challenge
5. Office capacity

Oat Milk and Coffee

The first two metrics, Oat Milk and Coffee consumption, are chosen because they are easy to measure and through changing individual behavior directly actionable. Additionally, the products are consumed by all employees, thus the metrics are relevant for everyone. However, these metrics are meant to be merely educational. Changing the behavior of the employees on that scale will not have a major impact on the overall emissions of the office. Nonetheless, reading the background information will give them a better understanding of the environmental consequences of their actions. Besides, it can motivate them to change and, for example, consider more sustainable coffee beans.

Trash and Heating

The third and fourth metrics, measuring the trash bag volume and trying to minimize the heating, are challenges that are slightly more difficult to achieve. Through a basic analysis and rough calculation of Dezentrum’s CO2 emissions based on the available data, we identified the impact of each category on their total emissions. Find out more about our calculations here. Currently, trash accounts for 1.4% of their monthly CO2 emissions while heating even causes 80% of the total CO2 emissions per month. If the partners of Dezentrum achieve to reduce both their waste volume and heating usage they can have a significant impact on their emissions. Creating a more sustainable office environment.

To measure the metric on trash bag volume, we included tips and tricks on how to reduce the office’s waste production. We identified the take out food containers to be the main contributor and provided research on places that offer reusable food containers. Furthermore, we encourage the employees to cook together in the office. Regarding the heating challenge, we encourage Dezentrum’s employees to wait as long as possible before turning on the heating. If they turn on the heat then only at a lower temperature and bring along warmer clothes. This would reduce the gas consumption significantly, which has the highest impact on the office’s overall CO2 emissions. Knowing the impact and the potential effect will hopefully motivate the employees to behave more sustainably or at least be more conscious about their actions.

Office Capacity

Finally, the last metric we provided Dezentrum with is to measure their office capacity. We learned that the office is often not fully occupied. By tracking their office utilisationmore accurately we hope to challenge their assumption that they need their own office space exclusively for their work. A higher occupancy would make the usage of resources such as heating, electricity for light, and building space more efficient and would thus be more environmentally friendly. When taking this into account, it might be more beneficial to use the office as a coworking space in cooperation with other organizations.

All the information about the five different metrics is summarized on a single information sheet per metric. This information sheet is clipped onto the sustainability dashboard or can be placed wherever it is liked the most. It gives the fundamental background knowledge on the challenge. Including the questions of why Dezentrum should measure it, how to do it, how often, and what the impact would be.

Conclusion

We hope to have sparked an ongoing discussion between the Dezentrum partners. Our solution’s approach and design is universal on purpose, thereby it can be easily adapted to other organizations. Thus, if you are an organization or a team which is currently in the process of experimenting with or is already implementing concrete sustainability solutions, this dashboard can serve as an inspiration. Please, do not hesitate to get in touch with us or rootlinks for an exchange. If you are interested in reading more about the learning journey of Emanuel, Bram, Juliane and Adrien, then click the button below.

Rootlinks Learning Journey

Sustainability Exchange with Dezentrum

If you want to sit together with Dezentrum and join brainpower to think of further concrete solutions or projects SMEs could take on to contribute to a positive environmental impact, please reach out to Kadira. We would be very happy to chat with you.