05.04.2022
For the third year in a row, LHV Group calculated the total CO2 footprint of its office operations. In 2021, the climate impact of LHV’s office operations amounted to 1,447 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, or 2.3 tonnes per employee. This negative impact will be compensated by LHV with the help of Estonian farmers.
In 2021, LHV updated its carbon footprint calculation methodology and included several new impacts in the calculation. As a result, LHV’s footprint in 2021 was 67% higher than a year earlier. In 2020, LHV’s carbon footprint was 865 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, and 1210 tonnes in 2019. The climate impact per employee increased by 35%. The largest climate impact of LHV’s office operations originated from energy consumption: from heating (25%) and electricity (5%), and from employees commuting (21%).
‘At LHV, we believe that in order to manage our impacts in the best way, we need to measure them as accurately as possible. Our footprint calculation does not yet include the impact of our business activities, such as that of our loan clients or investments, but last year we added the impact of working from home, the known impacts of outsourced products and services, and the impacts of fixed assets, such as office equipment purchases, to our calculation in terms of our office activities. As we aim to continuously improve and refine our footprint calculation, our emissions will continue to grow in the coming years,’ said Ragne Maasel, Head of ESG at LHV.
‘In recent years, we have taken steps to reduce our carbon footprint. For example, thanks to the use of green energy, we have managed to reduce our electricity use footprint by 79% in two years, even as electricity consumption has increased. Waste and residues generated have decreased by 34% in a year,’ said Maasel. ‘In 2021, we also started to offset our footprint through the Estonian start-up eAgronom. We will offset the entire footprint of office activities with the help of Estonian farmers, who will implement practices to better sequester greenhouse gases in the soil and improve soil quality, with the help of the support paid by LHV,’ Maasel added.
The ongoing pandemic also left its mark on LHV’s climate impacts in 2021. Although the number of business trips was higher than in 2020, their impact was still smaller from that of 2019. The coronavirus period also increased working from home and the associated impacts. An in-depth survey was conducted among LHV Group employees to assess the emissions from their daily commute to the office, as well as the impact of working from home.
LHV Group’s activities in the Tallinn and Tartu offices were included in the carbon footprint calculation. The results do not reflect emissions related to the LHV UK office (due to the complexity of data availability). In the future, we also plan to better assess the impacts of UK activities and start measuring the carbon emissions footprint of our portfolio.
LHV Group’s greenhouse gas footprint has been calculated in accordance with the internationally recognised and most commonly used greenhouse gas reporting standard ‘GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard’. The standard covers the assessment of the emission of seven greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), dinitrogen monoxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). Sustinere helped to perform footprint measurements.
LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in Estonia. LHV Group’s key subsidiaries are LHV Pank, LHV Varahaldus, and LHV Kindlustus. LHV employs over 690 people. As at February, LHV’s banking services are being used by 332,000 clients, the pension funds managed by LHV have 135,000 active clients, and LHV Kindlustus protects a total of 145,000 clients. LHV’s UK branch offers banking infrastructure to 200 international financial services companies, via which LHV’s payment services reach clients around the world.
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