For the third year running, Badsender has carried out its carbon footprint with the Sami platform. Last year, we went from 33 to 39 kg of CO2e per thousand euros of sales. With a total transparency towards our audienceWe share all the conclusions drawn from our 2023 carbon footprint. Why was the reduction target not met? How can we reduce our carbon intensity in 2024 and beyond?
An increase of 23% in our overall carbon emissions between 2022 and 2023
In 2022, our global emissions were 25 tonnes CO2e. In 2023, we have increased this footprint to 31 tonnes CO2e, i.e. an increase of 23% in our overall emissions.
What does kgCO2e mean? In a carbon footprint, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are mainly expressed in terms of "carbon dioxide equivalent mass". This makes it possible to include other greenhouse gases (methane, for example) in the balance sheet, but to relate them to their carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent in order to simplify reading. 31 tCO2e therefore means "greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 31 tonnes of carbon dioxide".
Digital: the largest source of emissions
The digital which accounts for the lion's share of Badsender's carbon emissions. This is followed by catering & accommodation and purchasing services.
Digital energy will rise from 15.8 tCO2e in 2022 to 21.3 tCO2e in 2023. This increase is due to the fact that in 2023, amortization of our web development email builder LePatron was higher than in 2022. And as our service provider developing LePatron had not carried out a carbon audit, Sami awarded us the average for the contract.
A 18% increase in our economic intensity
In 2022, our economic intensity was 33 kg of CO2e per 1000 euros of sales. In 2023, it will be 39 kg of CO2e. by 18% in our economic carbon intensity.
What is economic intensity? Economic carbon intensity is the ratio of CO2e emissions per thousand euros of sales generated in 2023. It enables us to compare our overall carbon performance with that of other companies in our sector, by cancelling out the sales effect.
The reason why absolute carbon emissions and economic intensity are not the same is simply that we don't have the same level of ambition. not achieve exactly the same sales in 2022 and 2023. This is precisely the point of distinguishing these two indicators. This allows us to keep a reliable point of comparisonThis is the case even when a company is growing or shrinking.
44% reduction in CO2e per employee
Between 2022 and 2023, we have gone from 1.2 tCO2e to 0.8 tCO2e per employee. A reduction of 44%. In 2021 we were at 1.7 tCO2e, a reduction of 63% over the past 2 years.
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What is employee intensity? Employee intensity is the ratio of employee-related emissions to average annual headcount. Average headcount is measured in full-time equivalents (FTE). It enables us to compare our carbon performance by cancelling out the difference in headcount effect.
Collaborator intensity only applies to certain positions, namely :
- The restoration including lunches taken at home during working hours
- L'hosting in our case, a few nights' hotel accommodation and our teambuilding activities
- The telecommuting : mainly the energy consumption of employees' homes
- The travel These include commuting (which we don't do because we're 100% teleworking), going to see customers, going to teambuilding events...
In our case, it's important to note that employee carbon intensity includes both salaried employees and freelancers. This year, all positions have been reduced! A special mention for catering, with an increase in vegan/vegetarian meals.
Have we reached our 2023 targets?
No, we failed. By 2023, we had set ourselves the quantitative target of reducing our economic carbon intensity by 15%. It was very ambitious, far superior to the SBT objectives (Science-Based Targets) which are -4.2% of emissions per year.
Let's take a look at the targets we had set for 2023:
- Respect our commitments over the past two years: ACHIEVED
Zero air travel, minimization of customer trips, purchase of reconditioned equipment (we even went one step further by renting our computer equipment from Commown), adding the carbon footprint to our invoices, etc... - Add a reason for being in Badsender's bylaws : ACHIEVED
In 2023, we added Badsender's raison d'être to the company's articles of association. Our raison d'être guides our decision-making in all areas (sales, marketing, service development and so on). - Changing service providers of IT development: NOT ACHIEVED
This is the service provider who develops our LePatron email builder. In November 2023, we released a important release with custom block registration. We therefore spent most of 2023 working on this new version of the application. To change was too risky in our eyes, and required in-depth knowledge of the different technical layers, as the functionality affected both the back-end and the front-end. It wasn't the right time. And the few leads we had didn't pan out. - Continue to pay our freelancers : PARTIALLY ACHIEVED
We have employed Olivier Fredon since July 1, 2023. We have not been able to hire more. - Continue reading transformation of our services : PARTIALLY ACHIEVED
After systematizing eco-design in our production (by 2022), and integrating an emailing carbon footprint calculation into our offer (by 2022), we have continued to expand our range of services.
In March 2023, we created a preference center landing page for our client WWF. In June 2023, we trained in copywriting with Le sens du poil agencywhich led us to add a service of writing in October 2023. We supported our customer Rapid Flyer moves from a promotional to an editorial approach in its marketing automation messages. Other changes to our offering are underway to support our customers in integrating environmental and social dimensions into their discourse. In September 2023, we created a newsletter Sobriété & Marketing. And we recorded 18 episodes of our Sobriety & Marketing podcast during the year. In November 2023, we created a page dedicated to our responsible communications agency. - Realize theworkshop 2tonnes with all employees: ACHIEVED
After the climate fresco in 2021, the 2tonnes workshop was held in May 2023. It enabled each Badsender employee to realize the efforts needed to reach 2 tonnes of CO2e by 2025. It was a workshop that gave some of us a bit of a slap in the face, but it also made us realize the impact of our lifestyles. - B-corp Audit and Ecovadis update: NOT ACHIEVED
We have begun drafting our CSR charter, with the aim of formalizing the documents required to obtain certain labels. It's a titanic task and requires a lot of time. For the moment, this project is making no progress. - Draft strategy for addressing theclimatic shade ABANDONED
After three years of carbon assessment on scopes 1, 2 and 3, we now have a very good view of the emissions of our activity. We are now looking at the indirect impact of our activity. Our business is certainly partly responsible for over-consumption and over-production. After discussions with Alexis Lepage and Lana Champigny, carbon consultants at Sami, it is currently impossible to calculate the climate shadow of companies. There simply isn't a methodology like the one used for carbon footprints. - Evolution of our customers IN PROGRESS
This is one of the most sensitive points, particularly internally, as it can have an impact on our sales and therefore our financial stability.
During the day spent with "The beautiful transition (the company that helped us define our raison d'être), we set out on 3 horizons. Horizons corresponding to a perspective of transformation. H1 the undesirable present, H2 the acceptable transition and H3 the desirable future. We classified our customers and their projects into 3 categories according to an internally co-constructed evaluation grid. The grid includes environmental, social and ethical criteria.- H1: sector or project to be reduced, not in line with our raison d'être
- H2: sectors or projects generating little direct impact, mainly the service sector
- H3: sector or project to be increase, in line with our raison d'être
The aim is to reduce the number of H1s, increase the number of H2s and eventually have only H3s. When the prospect's core business or project seems close to H1, we explain our raison d'être, asking them in turn about their commitments and whether they are ready to be accompanied by an agency that respects its raison d'être. If the feedback is deemed insufficient (by the operational committee), we refuse the project. This has happened to us 3 times this year.
- Limit our economic growth : ACHIEVED
We have achieved sales well below 2022. We have a real objective of stabilization so that we can calmly reflect on our actions and our project rather than chasing growth.
Our goals for 2024
So, now what are we doing to get us moving in the right direction in 2024?
- Migrating infrastructures accommodationt of our LePatron email builder.
- Join one or more collectives we have just joined ADETEM and in particular RESPONSABLES!" collective which brings together 30 ultra-committed marketers.
- Continue to transform our services and build new methodologies to help marketers and communicators align their CSR commitments with their marketing and communications practices.
- Show our ambitions more clearly This means redesigning our home page and the services pages of our website.
Developing our services rather than striving to reduce our carbon intensity
Even if this increase was a little disappointing, we can still congratulate ourselves. Since 2021, our carbon emissions have fallen by 26%. As we have seen, it's difficult to get certain items moving. There are still areas for optimization, and we're going to look into them. But we cannot reduce our carbon intensity indefinitely. We prefer to concentrate our efforts on developing our services and our business model. We'll be much more effective if we help organizations align their commitments with their marketing and communications practices.
We would like to extend our warmest thanks to Lana Champigny Sami, who carried out our carbon assessment, and the whole Badsender team and our partners for their responses to the various questionnaires.
