Resources Saved in Operations

This indicator measures the extent to which an organisation (or one of its branches or a specific project) adjusted operations to use less of a particular resource, such as electricity (for lighting, air conditioning, heating), water, fuel (for vehicles, generators), gas (for heating), water, waste or packaging materials.

To determine the indicator’s value, it is necessary to calculate how much of a given resource was saved (i.e. not used) during a defined period thanks to the introduced environmental mainstreaming measures. This means that you need to know the following:

  - the original resource consumption (before measures were introduced);

  - the reduced resource consumption; and

  - whether the change was influenced solely by the introduced measures or if other factors influenced the reduction.

The methods required to get this data will vary significantly depending on the resource you are measuring, how and where it is used, etc. It is not within IndiKit’s scope to provide guidance on all the resources and contexts. However, below you will find some practical recommendations that will make it easier for you to make reliable calculations:

  - Prioritise resource reductions which are likely to achieve the most prominent environmental benefits. For example, reducing the use of electricity or the amount of work-related travel is likely to have a greater impact than reducing printing to save paper.

  - When deciding on which resources to measure, take into account how difficult it is to do so, to avoid placing an undue burden on the responsible staff. For example, measuring reductions in electricity / water / gas consumption can be relatively easy if meters are available. The same applies to measuring the reductions in the amount of fuel used by vehicles.

  - Be very careful about attribution: For example, decreased electricity use in the office might be caused by more efficient use, but it might also be due to fewer people working in the office. Similarly, reduced use of vehicles can result from staff organising work better (or having more meetings online) or because their work during the given period demanded less travel. Keep in mind that it is not about measuring reductions in general but reductions resulting from introduced measures.

  - Report on the alternatives: For example, if you replaced plastic packaging with paper, you must report the amount of plastic saved and the amount of paper used. Similarly, switching from paper towels to hand dryers will save paper but use more electricity; this must be accounted for.

1) This indicator focuses only on the operations of an organisation (or its branch or an individual project), not on the results of project activities. Take advantage of this guidance if you need to measure the extent to which project activities reduce the use of a particular resource.

2) Your environmental mainstreaming efforts will likely aim to reduce the consumption of several types of resources, so you might need to use this indicator multiple times, each time for a different resource.