Conclusion retains highest certification of CO2 Performance Ladder

The CO2 Performance Ladder is a commonly used, independent sustainability tool that helps companies visualize and get to grips with their energy consumption and carbon emissions. The ladder, which encourages companies to reduce their carbon emissions, has five levels. Levels up to and including 3 are awarded to companies that reduce emissions emitted by their own processes (and all projects), while levels 4 and 5 are awarded to companies that reduce carbon emissions in the supply chain, too. Scientific research by the University of Utrecht shows that organizations certified on the CO2 Performance Ladder reduce carbon emissions twice as fast as the Dutch average. Among other things, the certification can be used to gain an advantage in tenders.

Since 2012, Conclusion has been recording its business activities’ carbon emissions. The company has been certified at level 3 of the CO2 Performance Ladder since 2013 and at level 5 since 2022. The Conclusion Cares programme focuses on reducing the negative impact of its own operations, achieving a positive impact through its services, and facilitating collaboration within the ecosystem to address sustainability-related challenges.

Danique Lindner, environmental & footprint specialist at Conclusion says,  ‘Keeping our certification at level 5 on the CO2 Performance Ladder means a lot to us. As we gain ever more insight into emissions throughout our supply chain, we can make a real impact. We keep raising the bar, and this calls for greater cooperation and transparency in the value chain: from our suppliers, partners, and customers. For example, for the 2024 audit, we’re going to focus on our scope 3 impact, which is the overall impact of our purchases and sales of goods and services. Take the purchase of a laptop, for example. What is the carbon footprint of component production, assembly, use, and disposal of that laptop?’

By 2025, Conclusion aims to have reduced carbon emissions in scope 1 and 2 by 60% compared with 2016. The organization is still on track to meet that target: compared with 2016, carbon emissions per employee are down by 56%. In 2021, the impact per employee was 2.94 tonnes; in 2022, that figure was 2.7 tonnes (comparable to 1.5 return flights to New York). Last year, Conclusion focused on improving data quality in order to provide an increasingly realistic picture of its carbon footprint.

For more information on the 2022 footprint, see the infographic here for scope 1 and 2 and scope 3. If you would like to know more, please read our sustainability report or get in touch with us at conclusion.cares@conclusion.nl.