We're measuring our carbon footprint.
Aiming to reduce our impact on climate change, we have taken on the challenge of measuring and assessing our greenhouse gas emissions. This will allow us to implement more conscious and effective actions to reduce our carbon footprint and, at a later stage, evaluate whether these actions are delivering the expected results.
In 2024, the State Forests (Lasy Państwowe) calculated their carbon footprint for the entire organization for the first time. The inventory covered Scope 1 and 2 of carbon footprint reporting for the year 2023. Scope 1 includes direct emissions resulting from fuel combustion in vehicles, buildings, equipment, and tools owned or directly controlled by the State Forests, as well as emissions from air conditioning. Scope 2 includes indirect emissions, which are not produced within the organization but result from the production of electricity and heat purchased and consumed by the State Forests.
According to the calculations, the total carbon footprint of the State Forests in 2023 amounted to 65,440.2 tons of CO2e (market-based CO2 equivalent). The term “market-based” refers to the amount of emissions calculated based on the emission factor published by a specific energy supplier. In the location-based approach (using the average emission factor for Poland, reflecting actual emissions generated within the country, published by the National Center for Emissions Management), the carbon footprint of the State Forests last year was 60,615.7 tons of CO2e.
Knowing the scale of these emissions and where they occur is crucial for taking actions to reduce them, thereby minimizing our negative impact on the climate. Although we are not formally required to report greenhouse gas emissions, we aim to adopt best practices not only in forest management and nature conservation but also in other areas of our operations.
Where do the most greenhouse gas emissions come from in the State Forests? In Scope 1 (direct emissions), transportation fuels are the largest source; in Scope 2 (indirect emissions), it is electricity. In terms of emission sources, real estate accounts for over 71% of emissions. Vehicles, the second largest source, account for 28% of greenhouse gas emissions. Specialized tools and machines contributed about 1% of last year’s emissions, which is insignificant given the current emission structure, but this source will also be monitored in future years.
The results of the first carbon footprint report for the State Forests indicate that to reduce emissions, the organization must primarily focus on improving the energy efficiency of buildings and replacing vehicles with low-emission ones.
The State Forests have already undertaken several decarbonization initiatives, consistently implementing them over the past few years, including through development projects such as “Improving the Energy Efficiency of Buildings in the State Forests” and “Energy Forest”. These initiatives include:
- Conducting energy audits of buildings to identify actions that can improve energy efficiency, which will be implemented within the State Forests.
- Generating energy from renewable sources, primarily photovoltaic installations. In this way, we produced 6,461 MWh in 2023.
- Using electric vehicles.
- Purchasing green energy from external suppliers. In 2023, we purchased 3,557 MWh of green energy.
- Automating data collection and carbon footprint calculation, along with data management.
- Internal education—training for State Forests employees, promoting best practices, including energy conservation.
- Using biomass for energy purposes (emissions from this activity are monitored and reported).
As the primary supplier of wood in Poland, the State Forests must consider that they do not operate in an economic or legislative vacuum. A significant portion of raw material buyers already must, or will soon have to, disclose the carbon footprint of their products generated during their production. Without carbon footprint data from the raw material producer, they will not be able to fully meet this requirement. This requirement can already be compared to the need for FSC/PEFC-type certifications.
Currently, the State Forests are preparing to expand the inventory and calculation of the carbon footprint of State Forests products across their entire life cycle—so-called “cradle to gate.” Greenhouse gas emission calculations are planned to be conducted annually.
The data collection process for the inventory takes several months and is quite a challenge, given that the State Forests include nearly 500 units with varying energy characteristics. To aggregate the data, a customized tool was developed by the Environmental Project Coordination Center in collaboration with the General Directorate of the State Forests for the entire organization. The process was preceded by a series of training sessions for State Forests employees responsible for entering data into the application.
