Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Since 2011, we have conducted annual GHG inventories in accordance with the GHG Protocol and in line with the Group’s consolidated financial reporting boundaries. We also commissioned a third-party verification agency certified by Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration to undertake greenhouse gas emission verification for both direct and indirect categories, i.e., Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3, and acquired the ISO 14064-1: 2018 Greenhouse Gas Verification Statement.    

In 2022, the verified carbon emissions from operation (Scope 1, 2) were 11,490 tonnes, a reduction of 16.5% from the base year of 2019, meeting the expected reduction target. Among them, Scope 1 emissions were 2,705 tonnes, a decrease of 23.6% compared with the base year of 2019, resulted by the reduction in the use of natural gas, reduced travel emissions with virtual conferences, and the electrification of gasoline and diesel vehicles and other carbon reduction actions. Scope 2 emissions were 8,784 tonnes (market-based), an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous year and a decrease of 14% compared to the base year of 2019, resulted by the reduction of energy consumption coupled with renewable energy usage. 

Operational carbon intensity (carbon emissions per unit of revenue) was 41.7, a decrease of 29% from 2019; per capita emissions were1.49 tonnes, a decrease of about 14% from 2019.

For Scope 3 emissions, we have identified significant indirect sources in accordance with the principles of the GHG Protocol Scope 3 and, based on quantitative significance, impact, data availability, and accuracy, included other significant indirect sources in the scope of the inventory.     

In 2022, we reviewed the calculation method of our GHG Scope 3 emissions, and adopted the life cycle assessment (LCA) to calculate the Scope 3 emissions to improve the reliability and accuracy of our data and to ensure they are aligned with our zero carbon goals. Furthermore, we used the LCA method to retrospectively the carbon emissions in 2020 and 2021. These changes include：

• We combined the concept of circular economy, introduced carbon footprint tools, completed the carbon footprint report of all commercial PC products (including Chromebook) and representative desktop PC and monitor products with life cycle assessment (LCA), and apply each product carbon footprint data to calculate the Scope 3 Category 1 emissions from procurement of raw materials and Category 12 emissions from product end-of-life treatment of sold products to improve the completeness and accuracy of carbon emission data.

• Acer collaborates with outsourced transportation suppliers, including shipping companies and logistics providers, to calculate the carbon emissions generated during the transportation process and the reduced carbon emissions for Acer. More than 90% of our outsourced shipping companies and logistics providers have joined this mechanism to provide direct information on the carbon emissions generated by each delivery of Acer products instead of the indirect methods of using ton-kilometers and average emission coefficients in the past. Acer’s data quality for Scope 3 Category 4 and 9 emissions during transportation has thus been improved.

The total verified Scope 3 emissions, and the total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions have reached 6,694,195 tonnes and 6,705,684 tonnes respectively, a decrease of 23.7% compared with the previous year, resulting to the efforts of the use of sustainable materials, the energy consumption of products and a decrease in product shipments. In 2022, the supply chain is the main source of emission, including Scope 3 Category 1 emissions from purchased goods and services, Category 3 emissions from fuel- and energy-related activities, and Category 4 and Category 9 emissions from transportation and distribution, accounted for 83% of the total missions. The emissions from products and services accounted for 17% of the total emissions. Among them, Scope 3 Category 11 emission from the use of sold products ranks the highest, followed by product end-of-life treatment.