For the first time, the procurement services of Heart Hospital calculated its carbon footprint. Once the greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory was complete, it was easy to start planning for emission reductions for the entire hospital.

Heart Hospital Procurement Services (SK Hankintapalvelut Oy) is a subsidiary of Heart Hospital Group. It provides the care support services required by the hospital and its customers, such as various material procurement, cleaning, and internal logistics services. Heart Hospital implemented the OpenCO2.net carbon footprint calculator to calculate its own carbon footprint for scope 1 and scope 2. The project also included training on carbon footprint calculation.

The background was an updated strategy

The incentive to calculate the carbon footprint came with the start of the new strategy period for Heart Hospital in 2022. The launch of the strategy provided an opportunity to consider the contribution of procurement services to sustainability and how the subsidiary can support Heart Hospital in its sustainability ambition. This led to the idea of finding out where the carbon footprint of procurement services comes from, how much the emissions are and how they can be reduced. The results of the calculation of the carbon footprint of Heart Hospital and the procurement services will be reported in spring 2024.

Sustainability work continues

The sustainability work was not limited to the GHG inventory. After the calculation, Heart Hospital has started to plan measures to reduce emissions and has taken the sustainability aspect into account in the development of its operations.

"The calculation made it visible where emissions come from, and how we can reduce them. Even small changes can make a difference, such as reducing the frequency of transport, increasing order volumes, or avoiding deliveries that require fast air freight," says Janne Björkengren, Development Manager at SK Procurement Services.

When the carbon footprint calculation was done for procurement services, the data was also collected for the other services of Heart Hospital and the calculation is now easy to carry out also for the main group. The carbon footprint of Heart Hospital was therefore calculated together with the calculation of the procurement services.

Why OpenCO2.net?

When asked why they chose OpenCO2.net carbon footprint platform, Björkengren mentions first the reliability of the calculator and the reliable emission factors. The easy use of the calculator and the customer focus of the OpenCO2net team are also highly valued.

"There was also constant support available. It was possible to get back to things afterwards and even complex issues were explained in a way that was easy to understand," says Björkengren.