ResQ Club’s climate impact in 2025: our footprint and the estimated emissions avoided through rescued items
In short
- Our carbon footprint in 2025 was 65,2 t CO₂e (market-based), 6% more than in 2024 (61,7 t CO₂e). We had no direct Scope 1 emissions. Scope 2 emissions fell by 13%, while Scope 3 emissions grew by 19%, mainly due to business travel and purchases.
- Items rescued through ResQ avoided an estimated 3 722 t CO₂e in 2025 (3 686 t CO₂e in 2024). This is our carbon handprint, on average 1 007 g CO₂e per rescued item.
- Both were calculated by the independent climate consultancy NGS Finland: the footprint following the GHG Protocol, the handprint using life cycle assessment (LCA). The results have not been externally verified.
- The two figures are reported separately. Estimated avoided emissions are not subtracted from our own footprint and are not carbon offsets.
Before our 2026 climate results are ready, it’s high time to look back at 2025. This year we’re publishing our carbon footprint and carbon handprint together, in one post.
PART 1
ResQ’s carbon footprint: the emissions from running our service
What is a carbon footprint?
A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by a company’s operations and value chain. Under the GHG Protocol, the most widely used international standard for emissions accounting, emissions are divided into three scopes:
- Scope 1: direct emissions, such as fuel burned in company vehicles or on company premises
- Scope 2: emissions from purchased energy, such as office electricity and heating
- Scope 3: all other indirect emissions in the value chain, such as purchased services, IT, travel and commuting
Results for 2025
In 2025, ResQ Club’s market-based greenhouse gas emissions totalled 65,2 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (t CO₂e). Using the location-based method, which applies average grid emission factors, the total was 54,1 t CO₂e.
Scope 3 made up 66% of our emissions and Scope 2 the remaining 34%. In 2024 the split was 58% and 42%. The largest single categories were purchased goods and services (22,2 t, of which IT services 17,4 t), office energy (22,2 t) and business travel (12,1 t, of which flights 7,6 t).
What changed from 2024?
- Energy emissions decreased. Emissions from office electricity fell by 21% and from heating by 4%, as total energy use decreased and part of the energy came from renewable sources. Our office in Germany uses renewable electricity and heating.
- Purchases increased by 11%, mainly due to larger procurement volumes and some higher-emission items such as tote bags. This category also includes catering for team events, which varies from year to year.
- Business travel grew from 7,4 to 12,1 t CO₂e, driven by more air travel related to opening the German market, including trade fairs.
- Commuting and remote work grew from 2,8 to 3,8 t CO₂e, likely due to a larger team and more frequent data collection from employees.
- Logistics emissions fell by 63%, largely because we now use supplier-specific emission data for deliveries.
How does it compare?
To follow whether our emissions grow at the same pace as our business, we track carbon intensity: emissions in relation to turnover, personnel and rescued items. In 2025, all three intensity figures increased, which means our emissions grew slightly faster than our turnover and the number of items rescued.
Our emission profile also differs from a typical company. Usually Scope 3 accounts for the vast majority, often more than 90%, of a company’s emissions. At ResQ, office energy is still a third of the total, which is why energy choices and travel are the areas where our own actions have the most effect.
How was it calculated?
This is the third year our emissions have been calculated by NGS Finland. The calculation follows the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and the Scope 3 Standard, and covers the whole company: our offices in Finland, Estonia and Germany, and remote workers in Sweden, for 1 January to 31 December 2025.
- Data is collected quarterly from our systems and from employees. Energy emissions are calculated at year-end once full consumption data is available.
- Scope 2 is reported both market-based (the energy contracts we have chosen) and location-based (grid averages).
- Supplier-specific or manufacturer data is used where available, and spend-based averages where it is not.
- Flight emissions include a radiative forcing factor of 3, since emissions released at high altitude have a stronger climate effect.
- Waste and wastewater, and the energy used by the ResQ app on customers’ phones, were assessed as immaterial and left out.
- The results have not been externally verified.
PART 2
Estimated emissions avoided through ResQ: our carbon handprint
What is a carbon handprint?
A carbon handprint describes the emission reduction that happens in someone else’s activities when a product or service replaces a baseline solution. In ResQ’s case, it estimates the greenhouse gas emissions avoided when surplus meals, groceries, flowers and other goods are bought and used through ResQ instead of being thrown away.
Every wasted item carries the emissions from producing, processing, transporting and preparing it. When a restaurant meal is wasted, a new one often has to be cooked to replace it. Rescuing the item is estimated to avoid part of those emissions, as well as the emissions from handling the waste.
Results for 2025
In 2025, items rescued through ResQ avoided an estimated 3 721,7 t CO₂e, compared with 3 686,4 t CO₂e in 2024 (+1%). On average, that is 1 007 g CO₂e per rescued item (981 g in 2024).
The per-item figure rose mainly because the mix of meals changed: meat and seafood offers made up a larger share, and meat-free offers a smaller share, than in 2024. The average covers all product types sold through ResQ, from meals and grocery bags to flowers, wholesale products and cosmetics. Each type has its own calculation, since the emissions avoided by rescuing a meal are very different from those of a bouquet of flowers.
To put the estimated avoided emissions into perspective:
How was it calculated?
NGS Finland used life cycle assessment (LCA), with the same method as in our first handprint assessment for 2024, which followed the VTT Carbon handprint guide V. 2.0. Two scenarios are compared:
- Only what differs between the scenarios is counted. For example, preparing the original meal happens in both cases, so it doesn’t affect the comparison.
- Estimated avoided emissions (3 880,0 t CO₂e) include waste management and waste transport, and the ingredients, cooking and transport of replacement meals. Added emissions in the ResQ scenario, mainly takeaway packaging (158,2 t CO₂e), are deducted from them.
System boundaries
The assessment covers all stages from raw material production and purchases by stores, cafés, restaurants and wholesalers up to the point of sale, where items are handed to customers. This includes energy used in storage and food preparation, and the different takeaway packaging options.
Excluded are the energy customers use for storing or heating items, the waste management of the takeaway packaging, and environmental impacts other than greenhouse gas emissions.
Calculation methods
The calculations follow established LCA and emission calculation practices:
- Waste amounts: based on actual item counts and estimated item weights
- Restaurant meals: based on fresh ingredient purchases, with separate emission factors for each protein category, such as meat-free, chicken, beef, pork, fish and seafood. Two minor protein categories, lamb and turkey, use simplified calculations due to limited data.
- Waste management: emission factors for composting biowaste and incinerating mixed waste with energy recovery (DEFRA 2025)
- Transport: industry-standard default distances and emission factors for food, packaging and waste transport (DEFRA 2025)
- Energy: energy used for cooking meals, calculated with Finnish electricity grid averages (Syke 2025, Fingrid 2025)
- Packaging: based on the average number of items per order and emission factors for cardboard and plastic packaging materials
Assumptions
Not every detail can be known, so some assumptions were needed, drawing on scientific databases, ResQ’s own data and practical experience. Average item and packaging weights, how packaging is used in different scenarios, typical transport distances and the need for refrigerated deliveries were all estimated using conservative values, to avoid overstating the emissions avoided.
The results have not been externally verified.
Footprint and handprint side by side
Per rescued item, running ResQ caused 17,6 g CO₂e of emissions in 2025, while the item itself avoided an estimated 1 007 g CO₂e in the venues’ and customers’ value chain.
How to read these numbers
Our footprint and our handprint are two separate indicators calculated with different methods. The avoided emissions happen in the value chains of our partner venues and customers, so they do not reduce ResQ’s own emissions and we don’t subtract them from our footprint. They are not carbon offsets, and we don’t use them to claim that ResQ or the items sold through it are climate neutral. What they show is the estimated difference it makes when surplus is used instead of wasted.
Questions?
The full climate impact report is available on request. If you’d like to know more about the results or the methodology, get in touch.
You can also read our earlier posts on the 2024 carbon footprint and the 2024 carbon handprint.
Contact:
Elsa Ahlfors
Marketing & Sustainability Manager
elsa@resq-club.com
ResQ’s Positive Impact Was 60× Bigger Than its Footprint in 2024
Article in short:
- First handprint assessment conducted: ResQ Club’s first carbon handprint assessment, conducted by NGS Finland, confirms a strong net-positive climate impact by enabling the rescue of surplus food and goods.
- 60x Climate Benefit: In 2024, ResQ’s total carbon handprint (emissions avoided) was 3 686,4 t CO₂e, nearly 60 times greater than its operational carbon footprint (61,7 t CO₂e).
- Net Positive Climate Impact: The resulting net positive climate impact was 3 624,6 t CO₂e, equivalent to avoiding the emissions from driving over 26 million km in a gasoline vehicle.
- Methodology: The positive impact was calculated using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), comparing a baseline scenario (item becomes waste) with the ResQ scenario (item is rescued and consumed).
- Future implications: The report underscores that the greatest climate lever for ResQ is scaling its service to enable more rescues, rather than marginal operational tweaks.
At ResQ Club, we’ve always known that rescuing surplus food matters. But now we finally have the numbers to prove just how much. Our first full carbon handprint assessment, conducted by independent consultancy NGS Finland, confirms that ResQ delivers a strong net-positive climate impact.
In our previous blog post, we unpacked our carbon footprint. This time, we’re diving into the carbon handprint to reveal the full extent of the climate benefits created through ResQ.
What Is a Carbon Handprint and Why Does It Matter?
You’ve probably heard of a carbon footprint: the emissions created by an activity or organization. A carbon handprint captures the opposite — the positive climate impact enabled by a product or service.
In ResQ’s case, it measures how much greenhouse gas emissions are avoided when surplus meals, groceries, flowers, or other goods are rescued instead of going to waste.
Food waste is a massive climate problem. Every discarded item carries all the emissions from farming, processing, transport, and preparation. When perfectly good products end up in the bin, all those emissions were for nothing. ResQ offers a solution to this problem by ensuring that high-quality products are enjoyed rather than wasted.
The results: A strong & positive net climate impact
In 2024, ResQ Club’s total carbon handprint was 3 686 t CO₂e, while our own operational footprint was just 62 t CO₂e. This means the climate benefits we enable are nearly 60 times larger than the emissions generated by running our service, resulting in a net positive climate impact of 3 625 t CO₂e.
To put the net positive impact into perspective, that’s equivalent to avoiding the emissions from:
5 484 round-trip
flights from Helsinki to Munich
(Source: Atmosfair)
22 275 354 km
driven in an average gasoline car — equivalent to driving the Helsinki–Oulu route 36,697 times
(Source: DEFRA 2025)
65 903 new
iPhone 17 devices produced
(Source: Apple)
The difference between the two scales highlights that ResQ’s largest climate impact doesn’t come from optimizing our own operations (though we do that too)—it comes from enabling people to make better choices. The avoided emissions from rescued meals alone exceed our total operational footprint many times over.
How the Assessment Was Done
We wanted this assessment to be rigorous, transparent, and scientifically sound. Here’s how NGS Finland approached it.
Life Cycle Assessment Scenarios
The handprint was calculated using life cycle assessment (LCA), a standardized method that compares alternative scenarios following VTT Carbon handprint guide V. 2.0 guidelines:
- Baseline scenario: The item goes unsold → becomes waste → no one gets to enjoy it. In some cases, new fresh food must be produced to replace what was wasted.
- ResQ scenario: The item is rescued through our platform → eaten rather than binned → fewer new items need to be produced. (Note: rescued items are sold in takeaway packaging, which is included in our calculations.)
The different scenario types considered are restaurant meals, cafe products, grocery bags, flowers, wholesale products and cosmetics. The assessment only includes what differs between these scenarios. For example, preparing the original meal happens in both cases, so it doesn’t affect the comparison.
System boundaries
The assessment covers all stages from raw material production through food service operations to the point of sale, including storage, manufacturing energy, and takeaway packaging.
Excluded are energy used by customers for storing or heating items, the waste management of the takeaway packaging, and other environmental impacts beyond greenhouse gas emissions. These boundaries ensure direct service impact assessment and scenario comparability.
Calculation methods
The calculations follow established LCA standards and emission calculation practices. Here’s what went into them:
- Waste amounts: Determined from actual item counts and weights
- Transport emissions: Calculated using industry-standard default distances
- Restaurant meal emissions: Based on fresh ingredient purchases, with specific emission factors for different protein categories. For two minor protein categories representing only 1.5% of total sales, we used simplified calculations due to limited data—a minor adjustment that doesn’t affect overall accuracy.
- Energy consumption: Calculated using national grid averages
- Packaging emissions: Based on average items per order and standard emission factors for different materials, including transport to points of sale
Assumptions
Because not every detail can be known, some assumptions were needed in the calculations, drawing on scientific databases, ResQ’s own data, and practical experience. Average item and packaging weights, how packaging is used across different scenarios, typical transport distances, and the need for refrigerated deliveries were all estimated using conservative values. In other words, we have intentionally avoided overstating ResQ’s positive climate impact.
Looking ahead
With this handprint calculation, we can now communicate our impact with greater transparency, confidence, and scientific credibility.
The report’s findings highlight something essential: scaling our service has a far greater climate impact than marginal operational tweaks.
While we remain committed to keeping our footprint low, the true climate lever lies in enabling more people, businesses, and communities to rescue more surplus goods. This is what climate positivity looks like in practice: a small operational footprint paired with a large, measurable benefit for society.
ResQ Club’s community, partners, and team are already part of the solution. This report gives us the data to prove it and the motivation to keep growing our impact.
“The report’s findings highlight something essential: scaling our service has a far greater climate impact than marginal operational tweaks.”
Hungry for more?
If you’d like to dive deeper, the full carbon handprint report is available upon request.
You can explore our carbon footprint assessment in the previous blog post »
And learn more about our collaboration on NGS Finland’s blog »
Contact:
Elsa Ahlfors
Marketing & Sustainability Manager
elsa@resq-club.com
Article written by: Elsa Ahlfors
ResQ Club’s Climate Impact 2024: First Footprint Calculation Is Out
Article in short
• In 2024, ResQ Club’s market-based emissions totaled 61.7 tonnes CO₂e, with no direct emissions (Scope 1).
• Emissions came from Scope 2 (42%) and Scope 3 (58%), primarily from electricity and heating (42%), purchased goods and services (32%), and business travel (12%).
• Total emissions increased by 56% from 2023 due to increased non-renewable electricity use and business travel, particularly for expansion in Germany. Despite the overall increase, emissions per employee decreased, reflecting operational growth and improved reporting.
• ResQ Club plans to calculate its “handprint” to understand the positive impact of reducing food waste and aims to decouple growth from emissions.
At ResQ Club, reducing food waste is at the heart of what we do, but our climate responsibility doesn’t stop there. We’re also committed to taking full accountability for the environmental impact of our own operations. That’s why we’ve calculated our emissions for the first time, in collaboration with climate consultancy NGS Finland Oy.
We’ve measured emissions for both 2023 and 2024 to establish a reliable baseline for future reporting. The assessment covers all of ResQ Club’s operations across our current markets.
Let’s dig into the results.
Our total emissions in 2024
In 2024, ResQ Club’s market-based greenhouse gas emissions amounted to: 61.7 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂eq). The footprint was calculated following the GHG Protocol, the most widely used international standard for emissions accounting, which divides emissions into three scopes, according to whether they are generated directly by a company’s operations or indirectly in the value or supply chain.
ResQ Club doesn’t generate direct emissions from its own operations (Scope 1). Instead, our entire footprint falls under Scope 2 and Scope 3, which in 2024 were quite evenly split. This is an interesting finding since typically, the vast majority, up to more than 90 % of a company’s total emissions, are scope 3 emissions. Scope 2 made up 42% of our total emissions and covers the indirect emissions from purchased electricity and district heating in our offices in Finland, Estonia, andGermany — with the Finnish office’s use of non-renewable electricity as the main driver. Scope 3 accounted for the remaining 58% and includes all other indirect emissions from across our value chain, such as purchased services, travel, and commuting.
The largest contributors to our footprint were:
Electricity and heating (42%)
ResQ’s purchased energy consists of electricity and district heating used in offices in Finland, Estonia, and Germany. Notably, non-renewable electricity use in Finland is the primary driver of emissions in this category.
Purchased goods and services (32%)
Includes marketing materials, IT services, and food services. IT-related emissions are based on a mix of direct data and spend-based calculations, which may overestimate actual emissions.
Business travel (12%)
As of 2024, we had 34 employees operating in four markets: Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Germany. Our travel footprint includes flights, hotels, trains, ferries, and buses with international expansion increasing air travel, especially to Germany.
How do the results compare to the previous year?
In 2024, our market-based emissions increased by 56%, from 39.7 to 62.0 tonnes CO₂e, compared to 2023. This was mainly due to a 49% rise in Scope 2 emissions from increased non-renewable electricity use in Finland, and a 61% rise in Scope 3 emissions, driven by higher business travel (especially air travel for expansion in Germany), increased commuting, and IT service emissions.
While the overall increase may seem significant, it reflects both operational growth and improved reporting accuracy, helping us build a more reliable baseline for future reduction efforts.
Growing without increasing our emissions
Well, how do ResQ’s emissions stack up against similar companies? This is probably the most asked question.
To put it short, our emissions are relatively small. But we’re not complacent — as a growing company, we recognize that scaling responsibly means working to decouple our growth from emissions.
To track this, we’ve begun monitoring carbon intensity, or emissions relative to turnover, number of employees, and rescued food portions.
ResQ’s emissions have increased compared to revenue and rescued items but decreased compared to the number of personnel. As the company is still growing, it’s natural for its emissions to grow as well. This is reflected in the emissions per employee decreasing, as the number of personnel has grown faster than the company’s emissions. Normally turnover doesn’t change as quickly as personnel. ResQ is continuing to expand operations into new markets.
You can’t improve what you don’t measure
Measuring emissions is the first step toward real climate action. It helps us make smarter decisions, meet future regulatory requirements, and most importantly – stay true to our mission: reducing environmental impact in all aspects of our operations.
We believe transparency is key to building trust and progress in climate work — and we’re committed to sharing this journey with our community.
That being said, this is the first time we’ve published our emissions. While it’s a good start, we know we are not perfect. We’re committed to improving both our internal operations and the accuracy of our climate reporting.
Based on the results, we’ve identified opportunities to reduce emissions, particularly in energy use and travel, and are exploring ways to address them.
“Only by understanding both our emissions and our avoided impacts can we begin to see the full net effect of our operations on the planet.”
Next step: understanding the net impact of our operations
Measuring emissions shows us the negative side of our footprint but that’s only half the story.
As an impact-driven company giving surplus items a second chance, we’re not just reducing harm but we’re actively creating positive change. That’s why we’re now working to quantify our handprint — the beneficial impact we generate by preventing waste.
Only by understanding both our emissions and our avoided impacts can we begin to see the full net effect of our operations on the planet.
Want to hear more? Let’s chat!
Let us know if you’d like to hear more of the climate report or have questions about our methodology.
You can also read more about our collaboration on NGS Finland’s blog »
Contact:
Elsa Ahlfors
Marketing & Sustainability Manager
elsa@resq-club.com
