Climate and Energy
Our Carbon Footprint
GHG Emissions
In our 2021 ESG report, we defined our reporting boundary to include all active sites with 10+ people and exclude businesses acquired in 2021. In our 2022 ESG report, we expanded our reporting boundary to include all Novanta sites, regardless of size, and included the full-year 2022 GHG inventory from the businesses acquired in 2021. However, as explained at the beginning of this report, we excluded the partial-year GHG inventory from our 2022 acquisition.
To allow for meaningful comparisons and show progress towards our goals, please read the following definitions for the terms we have used in the quantitative presentation of ESG data in this report and refer to Boundaries and Methodology for a more detailed description of the scope, boundaries, and methodology of our GHG inventory.
- 2021 Inventory – The term “2021 Inventory” refers to the GHG data reported in our 2021 ESG report. As disclosed in “Boundaries and Methodology” to our 2021 ESG Report, we excluded both Novanta facilities with fewer than 10 employees on site and the businesses acquired during 2021. Additionally, our 2021 data presented below has been restated from the prior-year presentation for consistency with our 2022 presentation herein, which excludes biogenic CO2 and HCFCs from Scope 1 GHG inventory as they are required to be reported separately in accordance with the GHG Protocol.
- 2022 Organic GHG Inventory – We use the term “Organic GHG Inventory” to refer to data gathered and calculated for all sites that were included in our reporting boundaries in the preceding year. Specifically, our 2022 Organic GHG Inventory represents our 2022 GHG inventory from all sites with 10+ people and excludes the emissions from the businesses acquired in 2021. This presentation aims to show the “organic” changes in our GHG inventory from 2021 to 2022 and the effect of our GHG reduction efforts.
- 2022 Reported GHG Inventory – We use the term “Reported GHG Inventory” to refer to data gathered and calculated for all Novanta sites including all businesses acquired in the prior year but excluding businesses acquired in the current year. As such, our 2022 Reported GHG Inventory includes the full-year impact from our 2021 acquisitions as well as the smaller Novanta locations previously excluded from our 2021 reporting boundary.
2021 GHG Inventory | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 mt CO2e | 2022 mt CO2e | mt CO2e change | Percent change | 2022 mt CO2e | mt CO2e change* | Percent change* | |
Scope 1 | 1,292 | 1,195 | (97) | -8% | 1,360 | 68 | +5% |
Scope 2 | 4,196 | 4,096 | (100) | -2% | 4,854 | 658 | +16% |
Total (market-based) | 5,488 | 5,291 | (197) | -4% | 6,214 | 726 | +13% |
| 2021 GHG Inventory | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 GHG Inventory2021 mt CO2e | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory2022 mt CO2e | 2022 Organic GHG Inventorymt CO2e change | 2022 Organic GHG InventoryPercent change | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory2022 mt CO2e | 2022 Reported GHG Inventorymt CO2e change* | 2022 Reported GHG InventoryPercent change* | |
| Scope 1 | 2021 GHG Inventory1,292 | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory1,195 | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory(97) | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory-8% | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory1,360 | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory68 | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory+5%M |
| Scope 2 | 2021 GHG Inventory4,196 | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory4,096 | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory(100) | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory-2% | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory4,854 | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory658 | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory+16% |
| Total (market-based) | 2021 GHG Inventory5,488 | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory5,291 | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory(197) | 2022 Organic GHG Inventory-4% | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory6,214 | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory726 | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory+13% |
The following table illustrates the impact of our 2021 business acquisitions and smaller sites with 10 people or less on our total Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions for the full year 2022:
| 2022 Organic GHG Inventory | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 mt CO2e | 2022 mt CO2e | Impact in mt CO2e | Percentage Impact | |
| Scope 1 | 1,195 | 1,360 | 165 | +14% |
| Scope 2 | 4,096 | 4,854 | 758 | +19% |
| Total (market-based) | 5,291 | 6,214 | 923 | +17% |
2022 Organic GHG Inventory | 2022 Reported GHG Inventory | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 mt CO2e | 2022 mt CO2e | Impact in mt CO2e | Percentage Impact | |
Scope 1 | 1,195 | 1,360 | 165 | +14% |
Scope 2 | 4,096 | 4,854 | 758 | +19% |
Total
(market-based) | 5,291 | 6,214 | 923 | +17% |
The GHG inventory presented above are shown in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalence (mt CO2e). We do not have any Scope 1 or Scope 2 emissions from either perfluorochemicals (PFCs) or sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Without the global warming potential (GWP) applied, total emissions from methane (CH4) amounted to 1.6 metric tons and emissions from nitrous oxide (N2O) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), respectively, totaled less than one metric ton each. Emissions from hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) are excluded from the GHG inventory presented above but amounted to less than one metric ton and 72 metric tons, respectively, without the global warming potential (GWP) applied.
In 2022, Novanta engaged LRQA Inc., an independent ISO and GHG emissions inventory audit firm, to verify our Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions data for the full year 2022. Please refer to LRQA’s limited-assurance verification report.
Future of Novanta’s GHG Inventory
As business acquisitions are a critical component of Novanta’s growth strategy, we have decided to adopt a rolling base year methodology for our GHG emissions reporting in order to maintain the integrity and transparency in our reporting of the progress towards our short-, medium-, and long-term emissions reduction goals. When we have a business acquisition in any calendar year, we do not include GHG emissions from the newly acquired business in our GHG inventory in that year because it is often impracticable to collect all the required information for accurate and reliable reporting. Instead, we will start including the newly acquired business in our GHG inventory starting in the first full year immediately following the acquisition date and will use that year as our new rolling base year for future reporting.
For example, we acquired two businesses during the third quarter of 2021 and excluded the GHG emissions from both businesses from our 2021 GHG inventory. The full-year 2022 GHG inventory from both of these acquisitions have been included in our 2022 Reported GHG Inventory. Therefore, we will use 2022 as our new rolling base year for setting our future GHG emissions reduction goals.
At Novanta, we recognize the impact of our footprint on the environment and the importance of tracking and reducing our GHG emissions. Today, our reporting and progress is largely measured based on Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions. We recognize that our full carbon footprint would also include Scope 3 GHG emissions, which is why we have specific initiatives around product development, product strategy, and manufacturing process improvement. We are currently developing plans to define the scope, tools, and methodologies for measuring our relevant Scope 3 GHG emissions. We plan to begin to include relevant Scope 3 GHG emissions in our ESG report by 2026.
Energy Sourcing
In 2021, Novanta set a long-term goal to source 90% of our electricity consumption from renewable sources. In 2022, we began our efforts by engaging with the utility providers already in place and switching to a renewable supply in each location where it was available. This effort enabled us to increase our renewable energy supply to 46% of consumed grid electricity and 36% of total consumed energy. Similar to the GHG emissions data, progress in this area is diluted by the expanded scope of environmental data collected.
2021 | 2022 Organic | 2022 Reported | |
|---|---|---|---|
MWh | % change*
Electricity Consumption | 18,856 | 18,907 | +<1% | 21,210 | +12% |
% Renewable | % change*
Electricity Consumption | 36% | 52% | +16% | 46% | +10% |
MWh | % change*
Total Energy Consumption** | 23,961 | 24,307 | + 1% | 27,569 | +15% |
% Renewable | % change*
Total Energy Consumption** | 28% | 40% | +12% | 36% | + 8% |
In 2022, we started a global energy reduction initiative with a focus on sharing best practices, collaboration and knowledge sharing across the business units to help achieve our energy reduction goals at each location.