“Working with ClimatePartner can help you to foster a more positive corporate image, reduce costs, and help to increase revenue. We can support you in all this, as well as showing you how to measure your impacts and look at practical ways to minimise your carbon emission in an open and transparent way.”
So says Nick Hancock, who has been appointed UK sales manager for ClimatePartner, where his remit includes guiding the company’s research and growth here.
To start at the beginning - the objective of climate protection is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and thus limits the greenhouse effect. The first step in climate protection activities is an inventory of the amount of carbon emissions released by a company, a product or a service. These so called ‘carbon footprints’ allow you to identify potentials for the avoidance and reduction of carbon emissions. For example, this can take place through efficiency measures and the use of renewable energy sources. By supporting carbon offset projects, you can also offset the carbon emissions that cannot be avoided in the short term.
So what is climate neutral printing then?
In climate neutral printing, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the production of the print product is calculated and subsequently offset using emission reduction certificates from internationally recognised carbon offset projects. The emissions caused by the substrate, the printing materials, printing, processing, and transportation are all taken into account.
What are the recognised carbon offset projects?
The carbon offset projects avoid carbon emissions. For instance, a wind farm in Turkey improves the energy supply in the region without using fossil fuels - such as coal and diesel which releases carbon emissions. These are tradable CO2 savings that are made in the form of emission reduction certificates. The mechanism of emissions trading globally enables the promotion of sustainable development and the avoidance of CO2 at the lowest possible cost. To this end, different types of carbon offset projects are used - such as hydropower plants, biomass plants, wind farms, reforestation projects, and forest protection projects.
So how can ClimatePartner help me become a climate neutral printer then?
The demand for climate neutral products is steadily increasing. By offering climate neutral print products, you have an opportunity to provide additional value for environmentally conscious customers and to attract new customer groups.
You can offer climate neutral print products in three very easy steps. All you need is a computer with internet access to use ClimatePartner’s platform.
Step 1 – to generate the carbon footprint of your print business on an annual basis you enter the data in our software that is relevant for determining your carbon emissions, such as heating, electricity, the vehicle fleet, and printing machinery. The result is your company’s carbon footprint, with which you can now analyse your carbon emissions.
Step 2 – on the basis you now have the carbon footprint of your company, ClimatePartner will create your individualised carbon calculator. By entering a few parameters, you can use it to calculate the emissions of your customers orders. ClimatePartner provides a standard interface that allows you to perform the carbon calculations directly into your own calculation software.
Step 3 – the final step is to offset the unavoidable emissions of your print orders: you can select a recognised carbon offset project from a portfolio offered by ClimatePartner.
Hancock says it is a very easy process, often taking less than a week to put everything in place. “Our solution can be fully linked to your calculation software (ERP/MIS). It is quite easy for you to offer your customers climate neutral print products. Climate protection can be integrated into your business processes without additional effort or software. As an example of a full integration, your calculation software automatically calculates the carbon emissions of a print product. In the offer, the emissions are reported together with the cost of a offset where experience shows that the carbon offset generates an additional cost of about 1-2% of the original order value.
“As your customer still has a choice and opts for climate neutral production, the offset can be made directly from the job management. The label and the certificate are then provided via a link that can be forwarded directly to your customer.”
Details of the service can be found at:
www.climatepartner.com