Finance Business Partner, Valerie Grimm, deals with this complex topic. She is head of the project to calculate the CCF and answers some of the most important questions about the company-related CO2 footprint in an interview with Hannah Specht from our Messe Frankfurt Corporate Communications Team.
Hi Valerie, thank you for joining me today. That's our first abbreviation – what does CCF mean?
First of all, hello everyone. I'm really looking forward to our discussion today.
Regarding your question – the CCF is the Corporate Carbon Footprint. This describes the greenhouse gas balance of the greenhouse gases we emit and absorb through our business activities.
This should not be confused by the term CO2 footprint, however: CO2 acts as a reference substance and accounts for the majority of emissions in our atmosphere, but the CO2 footprint also includes several other greenhouse gases, some of which have a much greater impact on the climate than carbon dioxide, i.e. CO2.
Why did we decide to calculate the CCF in the first place?
There are two main reasons for this:
Firstly, you can only control what you measure. Our major goal is to achieve climate neutrality by 2040. Greenhouse gas neutrality is a sub-goal of this. To achieve this, we must first determine the status quo of greenhouse gas emissions in order to formulate reduction targets and make progress measurable.
Secondly, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) obliges us to determine greenhouse gas emissions. This European directive commits us to a sustainability reporting in 2026 for the 2025 financial year. This also includes a so-called materiality analysis. In other words, an analysis of which sustainability aspects are of significance to us and which we need to report on as a consequence. In our case, these include the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the company.
And so, you started the project to calculate the CCF in June 2024. What is your conclusion after the first few months of the project?
Since then, the project has been progressing steadily. We quickly realised that the whole topic is really very complex, partly due to the amount of data that needs to be collected.
We have therefore implemented a step-by-step approach and focussed on our local companies before turning our attention to our international and national subsidiaries outside Frankfurt. Clearly, an integrated sustainability management is required for a project of this scope and scale.
So, what can I imagine by integrated sustainability management?
We use it to interlink various sustainability projects in the best possible way to create synergies and ensure an efficient approach.
What sustainability projects do you mean specifically and can you give an example of the synergies you are talking about?
Messe Frankfurt has been EMAS-certified at the Frankfurt venue since 2023. As an environmental management system, EMAS focuses on the ecological dimension of sustainability. In the CCF project, the focus is on greenhouse gas emissions and therefore also on the environmental aspect, but on a group-wide basis and therefore beyond the Frankfurt venue. With EMAS, we already have a good database for the companies at our locations that we can build on.
Let's take business travel as an example.
In a GAP analysis we have analysed which data we have already collected as part of EMAS and which still needs to be collected. In our specific example, this means that rail and air travel have already been recorded, only the number of hotel nights by country still had to be collected.
The next step is the sustainability reporting in accordance with CSRD. This means a Group-wide survey across all three sustainability dimensions.
Synergies and therefore opportunities: what added value does the EMAS certification of the site that you mentioned offer specifically for the current CCF project?
Let me give you a brief theoretical background: for the CCF calculation, emissions are categorised into three different scopes. The data from scopes 1 and 2 are available almost in full for the local companies thanks to EMAS. These are direct emissions from the company and indirect emissions from purchased energy.
We have also already collected some of the Scope 3 data for EMAS, such as data on waste.
There are also operational advantages in the project work, which should not be underestimated. The procedure is similar, we know the contact persons and the data retrieval processes are tried and tested.
That does indeed sound quite complex. What would you say is the key to successfully managing such a project?
Yes, interlinking the processes initially involves effort and requires intensive coordination between the project teams, including external partners. Communication is one of the most important aspects of the project and ultimately, we all benefit from it.
I can imagine. Especially when we look beyond Frankfurt and across the Group. The project to calculate the CCF, i.e. the corporate carbon footprint, has been running since June 2024, so the foundation stone has been laid. What are the next steps?
Data collection at the company’s different locations is almost complete. We are now preparing for the international rollout with a total of 12 countries, in some cases several companies per country. Specifically, these are Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, the UK, China, Japan, India, South Korea, the USA, Argentina and South Africa.
What do the preparations look like?
The preparations are multi-layered and include various aspects. One major point is the development of a common, intuitive structure for data exchange. But training and knowledge transfer also need to be consistently integrated.
And looking further ahead, does the project have a planned end?
The data collection is an annual process and therefore has no real end. Because we can only control what we can measure. We are now creating the basis for decarbonisation and thus the beginning for other important topics in sustainability management in the future.
That was a wonderful closing word, dear Valerie. Thank you very much for your insights and your time.
You're very welcome.
We're already looking forward to seeing this important and forward-looking project continue to grow. On that note – see you next time!
You can find out more about our corporate carbon footprint in our video series with Valerie Grimm on Messe Frankfurt's Instagram and LinkedIn channels. Take a look and let us know what you think of our videos!