Browsing by Subject "hiilijalanjälki"

Achieving the global 1,5 degrees Celsius climate target requires the contributions of several societal actors to reduce emissions. Several actors have started to work to untangle the emissions of their operations and abate them. The Turku and Kaarina parish union, which operates in Southwest Finland, has also set a personal goal to reduce its emissions, aiming to be a carbon-neutral organization by 2029. The purpose of this thesis is to find out the carbon footprint and the forests’ carbon sinks of Turku and Kaarina parish union and make the carbon neutrality roadmap with some examples of how to achieve the parish union’s carbon neutrality goal of 2029. In addition, the thesis examines through the selected case study the organization’s methodology of the carbon footprint and the realization of the carbon neutrality goals. Both the parish union’s carbon footprint and the forests’ carbon sinks are calculated for the year 2022. The materials of carbon footprint consist of the activity data of the parish union and the emission factors. The calculation of the carbon footprint is carried out based on the international standards, Greenhouse Gas Protocol, and ISO 14046. The forests’ carbon sinks are calculated based on the parish union’s information on its forestry management of 2022 and the research of Natural Resources Institute Finland about the carbon sinks and stocks of local parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland of 2021. The estimate of gross emissions of Turku and Kaarina parish union for 2022 is approximately 4985 tCO2e. The biggest emission groups are procurements, real estate, and travel. The size of the forests’ carbon sinks is approximately 1176 tCO2e, offsetting about 24–29 % of the gross emissions depending on the parish union’s carbon neutrality targets. Based on the union’s carbon neutrality goal, the net emissions should still be reduced by about 2261 tCO2e and offset by about 551 tCO2e. The realization of Turku and Kaarina parish union’s carbon neutrality goal would require significant emission reductions, especially from the biggest emission groups. Because the union has already executed a major portion of the easiest emission reductions of the union’s operations, the realization of new and large emission reductions is challenging to implement only in six or seven years. In addition, the realization of the carbon neutrality goal is hampered for instance the different limitations and uncertainties related to the carbon footprint calculation, stability of forests’ carbon sinks, and the practical implementation of the roadmap. However, the carbon neutrality goal of the Turku and Kaarina parish union will be progressing particularly with the successfully implemented sustainability transformation and transition and the Church’s environment diploma, supporting the Church’s environmental education, and promoting wide-scale societal transformation towards the climate-neutral life.