Why We Started

Sustainability has always been a priority for us, and with ETH’s Net Zero goal in place, we realised it was time to take action. At SPH, we didn’t have any targeted initiatives to track or reduce emissions, but we knew that leading by example meant first understanding our own impact. As Florence Gschwend, SPH Innovation Catalyst noted, "It's been really interesting to go through this process and look for sources of data. While the task initially seemed very overwhelming, some general trends quickly became very clear and this is what we're now building on.”

The journey began by learning how emissions are reported.

How Emissions Are Measured

The international standard for measuring greenhouse gas emissions is the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, which categorises emissions into three scopes:

• Scope 1: Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, such as on-site boilers or company vehicles.
• Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heating, or cooling.
• Scope 3: Everything else—this includes emissions from purchased goods, commuting, business travel, IT infrastructure, and even digital activities like Zoom calls.

At SPH, we quickly found that Scopes 1 and 2 were relatively easy to track using data from ETH Infrastructure. However, Scope 3 was where things got complicated.

The Challenge of Scope 3

The Makerspace alone stocks over 250 types of materials and components, many of which come from suppliers in China who do not provide emissions data. We initially had no idea where to start.

How We Found the Data

We began by looking for existing datasets and found that Galaxus provides climate footprints for many products. This allowed us to estimate emissions for items similar to those we sell. For travel and commuting, we conducted surveys and researched industry data. It felt like detective work, but it led to some valuable insights.

What Surprised Us

One of the biggest surprises was the high impact of electronics—the items we sell in the Makerspace had a significantly larger footprint than we expected. This insight is now shaping our focus: encouraging users to reuse electronic parts instead of always purchasing new ones.

The Positives

We also found that some of our sustainability strategies are already working:

• Food choices: Our catering is mostly vegan or vegetarian, and we frequently use surplus food from previous events.
• Commuting and travel: Almost all staff use public transport or non-motorised travel, keeping these emissions very low.

Our Mission Moving Forward

Over the next semester, our goal is to reduce our emissions by 5% compared to last year—without compromising on our services or activities. We’re excited to build on our progress and launch new initiatives to make SPH even more sustainable.

Want to get involved? Stay tuned for ways you can contribute!