What is the carbon footprint and why is it important to reduce it?

In today’s world, the carbon footprint is one of the most present issues in any organization that cares about the environment. And why? For the simple reason that the carbon footprint is the main culprit of climate change on our planet.

Do you want to discover what the carbon footprint is and how to reduce it? Do not miss this article and you will end up being an expert on the subject. We will tell you exactly what the carbon footprint is, the different types that exist, what its effects on the planet, and what to do as a company to be able to calculate and reduce it.

What is the carbon footprint?

Carbon footprint is the measurement of the environmental impact emitted directly and indirectly by a person, company, product, or event … This environmental impact is measured according to the amount of CO2 equivalent mass emitted and expressed in tons.

CO2 is the greenhouse gas (GHG) par excellence in terms of causing climate change, but it is not the only one. The increased emission of these gases and their accumulation in the atmosphere cause the greenhouse effect that increases Earth’s temperatures. As we have said, the carbon footprint is measured in units of CO2 equivalent and it is a measure that takes into account all greenhouse gases and then passes the results of each one to equivalent CO2 emissions.

There are many ways to measure the carbon footprint depending on the desired approach. For example, you can measure an organization’s carbon footprint, a person, a product or service, a territory, an event, or even an industry. At OpenPrint, as a graphic printing specialist company, we are interested in helping you in measuring the carbon footprint of your company:

Measure the carbon footprint for an organization

Measuring an organization’s carbon footprint is achieved by studying its emissions over a period of time, usually one year. There are three types of emissions to consider:

• Direct emissions (Scope 1): These are all greenhouse gases that are emitted directly from processes carried out by the organization. For instance manufacturing, transportation, and so on.
• Indirect emissions (Scope 2): These are all those emissions produced by the companies that produce the energy necessary for the organization.
• Other indirect emissions (Scope 3): These are emissions that correspond to all the products or services contracted by the organization before or after the manufacture of its products.

How can a printing company reduce its carbon footprint?

As a graphic printer, we tell you all the actions we take to try to reduce our carbon footprint to the maximum and thus favor the reduction of climate change on our planet.

The most important steps to minimize your company’s carbon footprint are mostly only the 3Rs of sustainability:

Use sustainable machines and materials

One of the methods we use most to reduce our footprint at Open Print is the use of environmentally friendly machines that use ecological inks, which are used in our large format printing, offset printing, and digital printing services, which are composed of latex and do not emit organic components.

Recycle

That companies carry out a correct recycling process is one of the most important things, since organizations are often a large source of waste.

Reuse

All materials can be used to give them another useful life if we get a little imagination. At Open Print we have carried out many projects developed with reused materials from other works.

Reduce

The reduction can be carried out at two different levels; reduction of the energy consumed, thanks to the use of renewable energies, and the reduction of the consumption of goods, eliminating the amount of single-use materials such as certain packaging.

Raise awareness

The workers of our company are very aware of the importance of reducing the carbon footprint thanks to the promotion of these beliefs throughout the organization. Such as the promotion of the use of public transport, bicycles or on foot to come to work.

Apart from useful methods to reduce the carbon footprint in companies, there are also many steps that individuals or your staff can take to contribute to this improvement. An example would be to bet on sustainable consumption favoring local products and produced sustainably.

What concepts must be respected when calculating the carbon footprint?

Many companies offer a carbon footprint calculation to their customers by simply adding certain data, such as the amount of product made or the type of material used. However, a reliable calculation of CO2 emissions requires the validation of three key concepts: rigor, accreditation, and traceability.

Let’s refer to the information offered by the Aenor website regarding these concepts:

According to AENOR “The purpose of the verification is to ensure, independently, that the statement made regarding greenhouse gas emissions, through the emissions report prepared, is complete, that is, accurate, consistent, transparent and without notable discrepancies. ”Source: Aenor

In conclusion, if we want to carry out calculations and real compensation of the carbon footprint, we must demand these reliability criteria to incorporate them into our brand’s corporate social responsibility strategy.

Conclusion

After reading the entire article you will have been able to verify that all these methods that we have told you are very simple processes that can be carried out by any of the companies that propose them. You just need the desire and intentions to improve the planet we live on. It is clear to Open Print that it is very important to be respectful of the environment and we always try to do our best to achieve this.

Trust OpenPrint to develop the project you have in mind and we will make sure to carry it out in the best possible way and with the greenest options always. Do not hesitate to contact us and ask us any questions, we are here to help our clients and their businesses.

 

 

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