Humanscale

Carbon per million dollars of revenue. The legacy industry-standard reference (CDP, MSCI). Useful for cross-sector context, but distorted by margin — high-margin firms appear artificially efficient. Read alongside the operational and asset intensities for the full picture.

OpEx (operating expenditure) is the running cost of the business — staff, services, energy, materials. This shows how carbon-intensive operations are per million dollars of spend. Removes the margin distortion that revenue-based ratios introduce.

EVIC (Enterprise Value Including Cash) is the firm's total capital footprint — equity + debt + cash + minority interest. The EU's standard intensity measure (SFDR PAI 3) — answers: how much carbon does each million of capital deployed in this business produce?

PP&E (Property, Plant & Equipment) plus leased real-estate assets is the firm's physical infrastructure on the balance sheet. This shows the carbon intensity of that physical footprint — uses Scope 1+2+3 for consistency with the other headline intensities. Surfaces stranded-asset risk for asset-heavy firms.

Humanscale reached 100% renewable electricity in 2022 and has maintained it through 2024. The Piscataway facility uses on-site solar (>80% of factory electricity); the Dublin facility added 350 panels (80KVA) activated 4 January 2024; Nogales is preparing solar installation. Remaining electricity is sourced from grid renewables, resulting in market-based Scope 2 = 0 tCO2e since 2019.

Humanscale generates 'handprints' worth 110% of its footprint by sponsoring renewable energy installations at non-profits in underinvested communities. 2024 projects include 200kW at Lifeline Animal Shelter (Atlanta), 327kW at Trinity Financial (Boston), 160kW at Hebrew Senior Life, and others—totaling ~6.97 GWh lifetime energy output. Framework draws on Living Product Challenge and SHINE (MIT/Harvard) methodologies. These are renewable energy enablement projects, not durable carbon removals (DAC/BECCS).

• Factory energy efficiency + on-site renewables

  Scope 1+2 cut from 1,086 mtCO2e (2019) to 543 mtCO2e (2024 actual line on glidepath chart shows 593 actual). SBTi 1.5°C-aligned target: 50% absolute reduction in S1+S2 by 2030 vs 2019. 2024 saw a small setback (+306 MWh) due to insourcing of previously outsourced operations.

• Low-carbon and recycled materials in products

  In 2024, 41% of material inputs were recycled and 31% renewable (wood/cardboard). Ocean plastic incorporated into Freedom chair bases (1 kg/unit) plus 9.5 lb in Path chair. Cat 1 (purchased goods) at 88,864 tCO2e is by far the largest emissions source; Design for Environment process embeds low-carbon material selection at R&D stage.

• Circularity: refurbishment, take-back, BEAM

  Three programs diverted 113 tons (1.5% of sales by weight) from landfill in 2024: Refurbish Program (8,758 kg salvaged), BEAM Program (72,330 kg reclaimed from Humanscale + non-Humanscale products), and Refreshed Program launched August 2024 (1,427 task chairs / 21,877 kg bought back). All factories TRUE Zero Waste certified; 90% diversion in 2024.

• Upstream transportation & logistics (Scope 3 Cat 4)

  Cat 4 upstream transportation is the second-largest Scope 3 source at 20,317 tCO2e in 2024. Localising suppliers (7.52% of raw materials from within 500 km of factories) and the spread of suppliers across regions are levers Humanscale uses to reduce this.

• Supplier engagement on Science Based Targets

  75% of suppliers (by spend, covering purchased goods, upstream transport, distribution) committed to have SBTs by 2027. By 2024, 27% of suppliers had agreed to set SBTs (54% of the 50% engagement goal). 56 suppliers covering 80.5% of spend have signed Humanscale's Code of Conduct.