Employee mobility and service-related management in the carbon footprint of services—German case studies

Abstract

Abstract Purpose In a service society, the assessment of climate-relevant environmental impacts of services is of increased importance. In the few Product Category Rules (PCRs) for cleaning services available to date, it is noticeable that employee mobility and service-related management are excluded from the assessment. This practice is critically questioned in the following study. The aim is to show that a calculation of the carbon footprint of services that integrates employee mobility and service-related management provides a better basis for finding ways to reduce their environmental impact. Methods Key figures on the CO2e emissions of services are examined in exemplary case studies using the example of cleaning, maintenance and reception with regard to the possible share of emissions caused by employee mobility and service-related management activities. For the case studies located in Germany, characteristic values of the equipment, operating materials or mobility used for the service are obtained from available Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). In the absence of EPDs, a simplified estimate is made according to the VERUM method based on the proportion of materials in the product. The case studies compare the carbon footprint of a service by omitting and including employee mobility and service-related management. Results The analysed case studies show an impact share between 32 and 69% for employee mobility and between 10 and 26% for service-related management activities in an integrated carbon footprint of services. The emissions caused by employee mobility and service-related management therefore have a dimension that should not be neglected. Conclusions From these findings, the necessity is derived to include the emissions from the mobility of operational staff and service-related management in future PCRs for services in order to improve the comparability of services. Optimisation efforts of companies must also start at these points of the service organisation.