FEM Scoring System Guidance

Higg FEM Scoring System

The Higg FEM is constantly being updated and improved, which can affect the scoring. Any changes will be posted here and in the appropriate sections. 

Also note, the scoring system is designed to drive behavior change. This means points are only assigned to “yes” or “partial yes” answers for questions that drive actions, decisions and practices that lead to better environmental sustainability outcomes. To receive points for a question, you must answer “yes” or “partial yes” to ALL parts of the question, including sub-questions. 

Higg FEM Assesses Seven Impact Areas

The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) scores a facility on its your performance across seven impact areas:

  • Environmental Management System
  • Energy/Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • Water
  • Waste
  • Wastewater
  • Air Emissions
  • Chemicals Management
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Each Impact Area is Comprised of Three Levels

Questions are built in a three-level structure (Levels 1, 2, and 3), which signifies general thresholds of good, better, and best environmental practices:

  • Level 1 – Awareness and understanding of sources and systems
  • Level 2 – Setting baselines, targets, and tracking improvements
  • Level 3 – Leading aspirational practices

Sections are Weighted Equally

Each section consists of 100 points. A total Higg FEM score is based on a possibility of 100 points, so each section score is worth an equal portion (14.3%) of the total points assigned to the total Higg FEM score.

Calculating Points for Each Question

You earn points based on your answer to each question:

  • For each “yes” answer, you receive full points.
  • For each “partial yes” answer you receive half points.
  • For each “no or unknown” answer, you receive zero points.

Levels are Weighted Differently

Unlike sections, levels are not weighted equally. Higg FEM weighs Level 2 higher than the other levels because the questions in this level are driving key performance improvement measures such as setting targets and tracking reductions. 

  • Level 1 is worth 25% of the total possible points in the section. (Unless the applicability questions stop you at Level 1, then Level 1 is worth 100% of total possible points.)
  • Level 2 is worth 50% of the total possible points in the section.
  • Level 3 is worth 25% of the total possible points in the section.

Applicabilities 

The new Higg FEM will include qualifier questions to ensure users only answer questions applicable to the factory assessed. These questions are called “applicability tests”. Users will be asked applicability questions at the start of four sections of the Higg FEM (Water, Air Emissions, Wastewater, and Chemicals). 

If a facility has not implemented Level 1 practices (cannot answer Yes or Partial Yes), then they cannot proceed to level 2 and 3 practices. This ensures facilities successfully demonstrate level 1 practices (the basic requirement), before proceeding to more advanced practices.

Level Weight and Applicability in Each Section

Site Information

If you answered “no” or “unknown” to “Does your facility have a valid operating license” (sipvalidoperatinglicense) then you will receive a score of zero for the whole module.

1. EMS

  • No applicability
  • Level weight
  • Each EMS Level 2 question (questions 7 and 8) is 25 points each.
  • Each EMS Level 3 question (questions 9-12) is 6.25 points each, unless “not applicable” is selected for question 10. If “not applicable” selected, then each level 3 question is worth 8.33 points. See the tables below for more details.

1. If question 10 is applicable, the scoring breakdown is as follows:

2. If question 10 is NOT applicable, the scoring breakdown is as follows: 

2. Energy/GHG 

  • No applicability
  • Level weight
  • Level 1, question 1: You will receive full points for tracking all sources, half points for tracking some sources, and no points for not tracking sources.
  • Facilities that are low water risk/use applicability only need to answer Water question 1. In this case the question is worth 100 points for tracking all sources, 50 points for tracking some sources, and 0 points for not tracking sources.

  • Level 3 is unscored because the question asks about whether the factory has calculated its Scope 3 GHG emissions. Calculating Scope 3 emissions is an advanced data calculation step, but this calculation does not drive sustainability improvement by itself. The sustainability improvements are driven through actions specified in Level 2.

3. Water

  • Applicability:
  • Heavy water user/High water risk
  • Light water user/Low water risk
 
  • Level weight
  • Level 1, question 1: You will receive full points for tracking all sources, half points for tracking some sources, and no points for not tracking sources.
  • Facilities that are low water risk/use applicability only need to answer Water question 1. In this case the question is worth 100 points for tracking all sources, 50 points for tracking some sources, and 0 points for not tracking sources.

4. Waste

  • No applicability
  • Level weight
  • Level 1, question 1: You will receive full points for tracking all sources, half points for tracking some sources, and no points for not tracking sources.

5. Wastewater

  • Applicability:
  • Industrial Wastewater Treatment (including domestic wastewater)
  • Domestic Wastewater Treatment Only
  • Zero Liquid Discharge
 
  • Level 1, question 1: You will receive full points for tracking all sources, half points for tracking some sources, and no points for not tracking sources.
  • All levels will be displayed, regardless of your achievement of the prior level. This is the only section where this is the case.

NOTE: The wastewater section has the most applicability combinations. Anywhere there is no score listed (blank) means that question was not applicable to that facility.

6. Air Emission

  • Applicability:
  • Emissions from operations (with or without refrigerants)
  • Emissions from production
  • Emissions from both operations and production (with or without refrigerants)
 
  • Facilities will score points for question 1 (airsourceopstrack) if no operations emissions are unregulated or out of compliance (and they will not be asked to fill out the emissions tracking table).

7. Chemical Management

  • Applicability:
  • Chemicals used in production process
  • No chemicals used in production process (No N/A selected)
  • No chemicals used in production process (N/A selected for question 2)
 
  • Level weight

Note:

  • Each question’s reference ID is shown in Question Number column of each level weight table.
  • If you cannot find the answer to your questions, click “Submit a Request” at the top of the page to submit a support request.