Carbon footprint of a refurbished smartphone retailer and carbon handprint of refurbished iPhone
Mahat, Pradeep (2021)
Diplomityö
2021
School of Energy Systems, Ympäristötekniikka
Kaikki oikeudet pidätetään.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021092747223
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2021092747223
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis project was to calculate the carbon footprint of a company that offers fully functional, affordable, and eco-friendly refurbished smartphones and to find out the carbon handprint of the refurbished iPhone. For this study, two research methodologies were used: first, lifecycle assessment methodology (LCA), following ISO Standards (ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 14064, and ISO 14067) and GHG Protocol for the calculation of carbon footprint of the company and the Carbon Handprint Guide developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University for the calculation of carbon handprint of a refurbished iPhone.
The functional unit of the carbon footprint study was the company’s activities in the year 2020. The scope of the study was limited to the main activities including energy consumption in the company premises, energy consumption during the employee commute, upstream and downstream logistics, spare parts production, website use, waste management activities, and office supplies including the product packaging, and phone accessories. Likewise, the functional unit for the handprint calculation was iPhone usage for 3 years. The system boundary of carbon handprint calculation includes all the lifecycle stages mentioned in Apple’s Product Environmental Report including the reverse logistics for the refurbished phones.
The total carbon footprint of the company was 1,272 tCO2e in 2020, in which spare parts production and transportation activities (respectively) were the largest contributors. The production of the spare parts was responsible for 47% of total GHG emissions and transportation activities were responsible for 36% of the total GHG emissions. Together both spare parts production and transportation activities contributed to approximately 83% of total GHG emissions. No scope 1 emission sources were observed in the company and only 6.9% of total emission was scope 2 emission. The majority of the company’s emissions (93% of total greenhouse gases emitted) were scope 3. Similarly, the carbon handprint of the average refurbished iPhone was around 61 kgCO2e. In 2020, the company’s customers were able to reduce their GHG emissions by a total of approximately 19,000 tonnes just by switching to refurbished phones instead of purchasing similar new models. Factoring both carbon footprint and carbon handprint, the company had an overall negative carbon footprint of approximately 17,728 tonnes in 2020, indicating a significant net positive impact on the environment.
A similar study was not available for the comparison of the results; hence the carbon footprint data will be utilized as the baseline for future sustainability reporting and to identify the hotspots for the emission reduction possibilities. For future research, it is recommended and encouraged to acquire more primary data whenever possible to make the study more accurate. Better collaboration between the partner companies, suppliers, manufacturers, different departments, and other various service providers and inclusion of some aspects that were left out during this study would deliver more accurate results in future studies.
The functional unit of the carbon footprint study was the company’s activities in the year 2020. The scope of the study was limited to the main activities including energy consumption in the company premises, energy consumption during the employee commute, upstream and downstream logistics, spare parts production, website use, waste management activities, and office supplies including the product packaging, and phone accessories. Likewise, the functional unit for the handprint calculation was iPhone usage for 3 years. The system boundary of carbon handprint calculation includes all the lifecycle stages mentioned in Apple’s Product Environmental Report including the reverse logistics for the refurbished phones.
The total carbon footprint of the company was 1,272 tCO2e in 2020, in which spare parts production and transportation activities (respectively) were the largest contributors. The production of the spare parts was responsible for 47% of total GHG emissions and transportation activities were responsible for 36% of the total GHG emissions. Together both spare parts production and transportation activities contributed to approximately 83% of total GHG emissions. No scope 1 emission sources were observed in the company and only 6.9% of total emission was scope 2 emission. The majority of the company’s emissions (93% of total greenhouse gases emitted) were scope 3. Similarly, the carbon handprint of the average refurbished iPhone was around 61 kgCO2e. In 2020, the company’s customers were able to reduce their GHG emissions by a total of approximately 19,000 tonnes just by switching to refurbished phones instead of purchasing similar new models. Factoring both carbon footprint and carbon handprint, the company had an overall negative carbon footprint of approximately 17,728 tonnes in 2020, indicating a significant net positive impact on the environment.
A similar study was not available for the comparison of the results; hence the carbon footprint data will be utilized as the baseline for future sustainability reporting and to identify the hotspots for the emission reduction possibilities. For future research, it is recommended and encouraged to acquire more primary data whenever possible to make the study more accurate. Better collaboration between the partner companies, suppliers, manufacturers, different departments, and other various service providers and inclusion of some aspects that were left out during this study would deliver more accurate results in future studies.