If you and your colleagues work in a co-working space, knowing where to begin collecting data may be difficult. This guide breaks down which data points you need to collect and where to get these.

Firstly, it is important to know who to approach to collect data. Most of the data required for your co-working space will be available through the Account Manager or the Community Team Manager of your co-working space. Some information may need a quick calculation to separate your company's data from the overall data provided for the co-working space.

Just like any other facility, you will need to collect the following Organisational Data:

All employee-related data points should be easily available through your HR department. Information on your facility size, or the share of floorspace taken up at the co-working space will need to be obtained from the provider or measured independently.

Depending on your membership subscription (i.e. private/open workspace) and the specific services provided, your co-working space provider will be able to provide the size of space allocated to your company.

If they do not have an existing value, one solution is to divide the total co-working space by the ratio of the number of your employees to the total number of people working in the space. The number should include the entire space your team uses, including shared rooms, hallways, and working stations.

Usually, your co-working space providers can provide an electricity consumption number for your allocated office space, which is sometimes included in your bill for the space.

If not, it is reasonable to ask them for the total electricity consumption divided by the number of users of the space to collect a 'purchased electricity' per user and multiply this by your number of full-time employees (FTEs) using the space.

Like Purchased Electricity, co-working space providers can usually provide a heating consumption number for your allocated office space. This is sometimes included in your bill for the space. If the bill for your co-working space distinguishes between heating and heating water, enter the sum of both.

If not, it is reasonable to ask them for the total heating consumption divided by the number of users of the space to collect a 'purchased heating' per user and multiply this by your number of full-time employees (FTEs) using the space.

Working in shared office space can mean sharing cooling equipment like refrigerators or air conditioning with people outside of your organisation.

We recommend accounting proportionally for cooling equipment types based on the number of employees vs. the total number of people using the equipment, respectively.

Example: You work in a shared office space used by 100 people in total while 20 of these belong to your organisation. There are 3 refrigerators in the shared office and one single-split air conditioning, which are all used by everyone using the common office space. Accordingly, you account for:

Waste data can be tricky to obtain, given that waste is usually collected in communal areas such as kitchens and dining spaces.

In an ideal scenario, you would be able to have your own separate bins in your office and kitchen space so that you can measure your waste and track progress against waste-reduction actions over time.

If this is not possible, try contacting your co-working space provider to see if they or their waste collectors measure the total weight of the waste recorded and divide it by the ratio of the number of your employees to the total number of people working in the space.

Ideally, they will be able to distinguish between plastic, paper, organic, glass, residual, and wastewater, enabling you to use the Amount Per Waste Type calculation method. Alternatively, if they can provide the total weight, the Total Waste Weight calculation method can be used.

When data is not readily available, it is not necessarily the end of the road. In fact, it can be an opportunity for your organisation to be a green advocate in your co-working community by persuading the management to be able to provide this information.

In this case, speaking to other organisations in the co-working space is always a good idea to see who else needs the data to calculate their carbon footprint. Backing your request for data with evidence that it will benefit many of the space users will increase the likelihood that the co-working space management will prioritise making this data available.

In the meantime, national averages can be used for Purchased Electricity, Purchased Heat, and Waste Generated in Operations.