As an international financial institution with a public mandate, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) strives to implement environmental, social and governance best practices within its operations.
The ESM published its first carbon footprint report in September 2019 covering the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. This 2020 publication is the second in a continuing series. The report provides a comprehensive account of the ESM carbon footprint arising from its operations in Luxembourg city covering the full year 2019. It also compares the 2019 performance against the 2018 base year performance.
The ESM carbon footprint calculations follow an extensive review of internal and external documentation and activity data, as well as exchanges with external data providers. The report is prepared in accordance with the International Greenhouse Gas Protocol – a Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. In the spirit of transparency, the report is also made available to the public.
The report identifies the ESM’s main emission sources as well as appropriate measures to enhance its environmental performance with a view to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The ESM is committed to producing a carbon footprint report on an annual basis to monitor its progress in decreasing its carbon footprint.
Overall 2019 carbon footprint performance
ESM’s total GHG emissions for 2019 amounted to 1,091.2 metric tonnes of CO2e (tCO2e) on a gross basis and 1,015.5 tCO2e on a net basis, which, despite a 4% increase in ESM staff numbers, represented an emissions decrease of 7.3% on a gross basis and 6.3% on a net basis over 2018.