Founded in 1957, theInstitut Européen d'Administration des Affaires - INSEAD is an internationally recognized private business and management school. Its MBA program is considered one of the best in the world. In 2022, the school trained over 23,000 studentsthrough its various training programs at its sites in Fontainebleau, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and San Francisco .
With a community of over 67,000 alumni from more than 180 countries, and having trained over 230,000 executives since the late 1960s, INSEAD's ambition has always been to train responsible leaders who transform companies and society.
For many years now, INSEAD has been integrating the challenges of sustainability and the low-carbon transition of the economy into its teaching programs, its research work and publications, and in raising awareness among its stakeholders and ecosystem.
Wishing to put its money where its mouth is, the school has committed itself in 2022 to reduce its Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 67% by 2035 emissions compared with the 2019 baseline. It has also identified and quantified a series of reduction actions that should enable it to achieve these targets.
However, like many companies, most of the school's carbon footprint is basedon its indirect emissions, i.e. its scope 3.
Aware of the business, reputational and regulatory stakes involved in making its own transition on all its emissions, INSEAD wanted to amplify its action and raise its ambitions by replicating on its scope 3 the rigorous process that led to the commitments made on scopes 1 & 2.
In the course of this process carried out on scopes 1 & 2, INSEAD noted in particular the difficulty of making forecasts on the reduction potential, costs and ROI of opportunities to decarbonise operations.
INSEAD therefore wished to be supported and equipped with a high-performance tool to answer the following question: How can we accurately measure and effectively reduce our Scope 3?
INSEAD chose Traace to support it in measuring and analyzing its carbon footprint across all emissions scopes, modelingand piloting a catalog of decarbonization actions.
To obtain a precise measurement of Scope 3, Traace worked with INSEAD's teams to exhaustively take into account emissions items and the carbon accounting of these items. In addition to the emissions classically associated with Scope 3, specific items were studied in depth and refined through tailor-made surveys of stakeholders.
In order to identify the best decarbonization opportunities open to it and prioritize its action plan on the basis of concrete, precise data, the school wanted to model each emissions reduction action precisely, from the point of view of both its carbon impact and its financial impact.
Indirect emissions account for 80% of INSEAD's carbon footprint over the 2021-2022 academic year. INSEAD's main emission categories are the purchase of goods and services, and transportation, notably linked to teacher travel between different sites.
The decarbonization actions identified and modeled in Traace therefore include, among others, ways to reduce the need for long-distance travel : adapting the duration and intensity of training programs, localizing certain key skills within the teaching staff or recruiting local coaches.
The INSEAD Scope 3 project steering team has identified and evaluated 23 potential emission reduction levers. These levers are analyzed in terms of ease of deployment, risk to INSEAD's business model and impact in terms of reducing Scope 3 carbon emissions.
Refined Scope 3 carbon measurement and financial modeling of reduction actions have enabled INSEAD toinvolve and engage key stakeholders to accelerate the move to action (finance managers, purchasing managers, etc.) by basing their discussions on tangible data and analyses comparing decarbonisation, financing and business impact.
Financial modeling through a MAC Curve has facilitated the prioritisation of Scope 3 decarbonisation actions.
Tackling the school's Scope 3 emissions in depth will require additional analysis. However, there are levers with immediate opportunities for experimentation that INSEAD will rapidly deploy. INSEAD also has room to do research, educate, and support new businesses aiming to solve the issues of climate change.
Across all sectors, it is essential that we prioritize the reduction of GHG emissions within our organizations and adopt a transparent approach to reporting them.
With the help of Traace, INSEAD has attained great results in measuring its GHG emissions and identifying potential levers, and it is imperative that we keep up the pace."
