Energy-related CO2 emissions worldwide rose by 6% in 2021, reaching the highest level ever recorded. These emissions are responsible for climate change, which is having a major impact on our quality of life all over the world: changing the air we breathe, reducing drinking water supplies, destroying the places where we live and reducing food supplies.
As manufacturers, we have a significant responsibility for these emissions.
But we don’t want to buy carbon credits to offset them, because that doesn’t tackle the real problems.
We are going to run out of the natural resources (water, metals, plants, animals) that are essential to human life for food, clothing, housing and entertainment. The planet is our reserve, but it is never replenished. We take a lot from it and give back too little to ensure that it continues to supply us for many generations to come.
We could create ‘green’ products, an easy and media-friendly solution, but that won’t create any new resources.
From the design stage onwards, our products must meet environmental criteria: where the materials come from, what they contain and what becomes of them.
Every year, we make further improvements to achieve a 29% reduction in our direct and indirect CO2 emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3) by 2030.
The surface area of forests is increasing in Europe and we only use paper from sustainable forests
Contrary to popular belief, between 2005 and 2020, European forests increased by 58,000 km2, an area larger than Switzerland or the equivalent of 1,500 football fields a day!
We reduce our emissions rather than offsetting them.
We do not buy carbon credits and do not claim to be carbon neutral: offsetting does not lower emissions; reducing them does.
Our reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
They cover our entire business, with 2021 as the base year. Our annual carbon footprint is audited by an independent third-party body, which checks both our results and our methodology.
“What really matters for us is not generating growth at any cost but to focus on sustainable growth.
That is why we have been integrating Corporate Social Responsibility
issues into our strategy and daily operations for decades.”
Eric Joan, Hamelin CEO
