Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 74.30
Liaison Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Submission Date Sept. 2, 2022

STARS v2.2

Polytechnique Montréal
OP-1: Emissions Inventory and Disclosure

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.50 / 3.00 Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Sustainability Advisor
Sustainable Development Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Greenhouse gas emissions inventory

Has the institution conducted a GHG emissions inventory within the previous three years that includes all Scope 1 and 2 emissions? :
Yes

A copy of the most recent GHG emissions inventory:
A brief description of the methodology and/or tool used to complete the GHG emissions inventory:
Every year, a data collection on energy and fuel consumption is carried out for Polytechnique's annual sustainable development report. Emission factors were used to convert those quantities into tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Scope 3 emissions were derived from the institutional environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) carried out in 2018-2019 based on 2016-2017 data. The data was primarily obtained from the finance department and from a survey for the commuting habits of the community. Input/Output Canada and ecoinvent LCA databases were used to estimate GHG emissions of collected data.

Has the GHG emissions inventory been validated internally by personnel who are independent of the GHG accounting and reporting process and/or verified by an independent, external third party?:
Yes

A brief description of the GHG inventory verification process:
The scope 1 and 2 inventory was validated by an internal research associate who is specialized in life cycle assessment and emission estimation.

Documentation to support the GHG inventory verification process:
---

Scope 1 GHG emissions
Gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
Weight in MTCO2e
Stationary combustion 3,038 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources (mobile combustion, process emissions, fugitive emissions) 30 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 1 GHG emissions, performance year:
3,068 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 2 GHG emissions
Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year (market-based):
Weight in MTCO2e
Imported electricity 84.60 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Imported thermal energy 0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Total gross Scope 2 GHG emissions, performance year:
84.60 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

GHG emissions from biomass combustion
Gross GHG emissions from biogenic sources, performance year:
0 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

Scope 3 GHG emissions
Does the GHG emissions inventory include Scope 3 emissions from the following sources?:
Yes or No Weight in MTCO2e
Business travel Yes 3,889 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Commuting Yes 4,772 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Purchased goods and services Yes 8,010 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Capital goods Yes 3,270 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2 Yes 1,709 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Waste generated in operations Yes 27 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent
Other sources No ---

Total Scope 3 GHG emissions, performance year:
21,677 Metric tons of CO2 equivalent

A brief description of how the institution accounted for its Scope 3 emissions:
Scope 3 emissions were derived from the institutional environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) carried out in 2018-2019 based on 2016-2017 data. The data was primarily obtained from the finance department, and from a survey for the commuting habits of the community. Input/Output Canada and ecoinvent LCA databases were used to estimate GHG emissions of collected data.

Part 2. Air pollutant emissions inventory

Has the institution completed an inventory within the previous three years to quantify its air pollutant emissions?:
No

Annual weight of emissions for::
Weight of Emissions
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) ---
Sulfur oxides (SOx) ---
Carbon monoxide (CO) ---
Particulate matter (PM) ---
Ozone (O3) ---
Lead (Pb) ---
Hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) ---
Ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs) ---
Other standard categories of air emissions identified in permits and/or regulations ---

Do the air pollutant emissions figures provided include the following sources?:
Yes or No
Major stationary sources No
Area sources No
Mobile sources No
Commuting No
Off-site electricity production No

None
A brief description of the methodology(ies) the institution used to complete its air emissions inventory:
No air emissions inventory is done. However, the indoor air quality is controlled with a centralized system with programmed alarms for the ventilation linked to 24h/24 operators. Furthermore, several premises are equipped with CO2 probes which adjust the amount of fresh air needed. Those probes are verified and maintained annually.
As for outdoor air quality, there is a regulation regarding Parking and Traffic on the campus in collaboration with the City of Montreal. One of the provisions states that any immobilized vehicle with the motor running for more than 3 minutes is a nuisance.

Optional Fields

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from purchased electricity (location-based):
---

Gross Scope 2 GHG emissions from imported thermal energy (location-based) :
---

Website URL where information about the institution’s emissions inventories is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
For this section, we are using the flexibility offered by AASHE for STARS reporting and are submitting the last assessment available, which includes Scope 3 data, before the COVID-19 pandemic; data are from 2016-2017, therefore within the previous 6 years. The 3 last years (2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 - for which the data are not yet available) have been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the province of Quebec, we were subjected to confinement and various sanitary measures limiting activities and access on campus. This context made it irrelevant to conduct a new assessement that includes Scope 3 emissions. Furthermore, any assessment during this period can not be representative of regular activities since teaching, research and operations were affected throughout those years at different intensities and durations, because of evolving and changing sanitary measures and going back and forth into and out of confinement.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.