4.4 Energy and Ressource Consumption

Energy

In 2025, we used 193,966 kWh of natural gas to heat the office premises in Zollikofen. This represented an increase of approximately 8% compared to 2024 (179,518 kWh). According to the homeowner’s association, the number of heating days increased slightly compared to the previous year. This may be part of the explanation for the increased natural gas consumption. Other possible factors would need to be investigated further.

As in previous years, we were able to rely on heat recovery from the refrigeration systems of the Migros store in the basement of our office in Zollikofen. Thanks to Migros's heat recovery system, we were able to procure almost 23,000 kWh of energy in 2025. This corresponded to a total emission of more than 36 tCO2e, an increase of 3 tCO2e compared to the previous year.

The office space in Milan is subject to a fixed-price lease (i.e., without variable energy costs), and emissions are calculated based on the energy efficiency certificate per cubic meter rented. The certificate and the energy source used (natural gas) remained unchanged for 2025. Therefore, the calculated emissions for 2025 were also just under 5 tCO2e.

For our office premises in Zollikofen, we procured 142,166 kWh of electricity in 2025, comparable to the previous year's consumption. Since this was not "green" electricity, we generated CO2e emissions of approximately 2.5 tCO2e. The emission value per kWh was based on 2024 data; the electricity supplier was unable to provide more recent figures at the time of the accounting. For our office premises in Milan, we concluded a contract for the procurement of sustainable electricity. Consequently, we do not report any Scope 2 emissions for this location. The amount of electricity procured in Milan was approximately 4,000 kWh.

The photovoltaic system on the roof of the SQS building in Zollikofen fed 60,538 kWh of electricity into the grid. In 2024, this figure was 54,851 kWh, and in 2023 it was 60,212 kWh. According to the homeowners' association, this change can be primarily attributed to the change in sunshine duration. In 2023, the total sunshine duration in Bern/Zollikofen was 1,993 hours, in 2024 it was 1,542 hours, and in 2025 it was 1,924 hours.

Resource consumption

In 2024, approximately 16 tCO2e were accounted for in the balance sheet of purchased goods and services, compared to over 67 tCO2e last year. The increase of over 300% is primarily due to greater and more comprehensive data availability for catering and accommodation. Emissions caused by the office and training programs were also included, amounting to approximately 40 tCO2e. The environmental impact of catering and accommodation related to audits was not included. The remaining additional emissions were primarily attributable to higher quantities of IT products purchased, mainly monitors, tablets, and laptops.

The greenhouse gas balance also takes into account the purchase of goods and services, including the use of cloud services, printers, toners, paper (including hand and toilet paper) and mail delivery. It also shows the consumption of hot and cold water at the Zollikofen office, which has slightly increased over the last few years. In 2023, consumption was 328m3, in 2024 it was 339m3 and in 2025 it was just under 371m3. The categories of waste/recyclables, which include household waste, aluminum, paper, glass, PET and electronic waste, are also included in the balance sheet.