5. Own organization

Slowly but surely, we are making our own real estate more sustainable. Where can we install solar panels and what does our peak load look like? These are issues that concern not only residents, but also us as a municipality. We no longer take new things for granted and want to explore other options for future projects, such as refurbished
office furniture.

We can only measure progress if we know the starting point. That is why we mapped our footprint in 2024. This allows us to also map sustainability in figures. And that is great, of course, because words are nice, but
actions speak louder than words.

Sustainability starts with raising awareness, and we are also committed to this internally. Climate Week was therefore an excellent opportunity to draw extra attention to sustainability and the climate.

The week of November 11, 2024, was Climate Week. During this week, we took steps together toward a more sustainable future. The week was festively opened with our climate mayors raising the Climate Flag. In addition, guided tours and a garden experience were organized, during which participants learned to look at our environment through different eyes.

The Maas & Waler newspaper published a Climate Week special from the municipality with a puzzle, interesting articles, and interviews.

Internally, the town hall also focused on climate issues. The sustainability department baked vegan muffins for colleagues and organized a climate quiz to test their knowledge of climate issues.

A carbon footprint is a measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released. A carbon footprint provides insight into how much impact our activities have on climate change. For organizations, the carbon footprint is often divided into three scopes, based on the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol. This classification is based on the origin of the emissions.

• Scope 1: Direct emissions from own activities, such as burning gas in own buildings or fuel consumption in own vehicles.
• Scope 2: Indirect emissions from purchased energy, such as electricity, heat, or steam.
• Scope 3: All other indirect emissions in the value chain, such as the production of purchased goods and transport. For reasons of feasibility, we have only considered business travel and commuting for scope 3. (In 2025, we will also start working on the rest of scope 3.)

The three biggest contributors to our CO2 emissions are:

• Diesel for own means of transport
• commuting
• the use of natural gas in our buildings.

These are our biggest challenges and tasks for the coming years. As a municipality, we will map our footprint annually so that we know how we can make the most impact.