The deeper we get into the world of sustainability, the more we become aware of how difficult and demanding it is to be a sustainable company. Of course, it is like this if we want to take it seriously. The latest confirmation to our statement is the study of the University of Parma – which was in charge of monitoring our carbon footprint. Maybe, you remember it as we mentioned it in one of our previous articles.
We told ourselves: “We made some choices and we invested in this direction (company wood, photovoltaic plant, production with recyclable materials, etc.); however, in order to give substance to our line, we would like to really understand how much we have reduced our CO2 emissions. As a result, we could have data and numbers to reflect upon and that could help us to build our roadmap to sustainability”. To us, it seemed a logic request but it turned out to be more difficult than expected.
We discovered that carbon footprints are divided into four categories, according to International GHG Protocol to measure Greenhouse gas emissions. These categories are necessary to track both direct and indirect emissions. Here we have the first obstacle: we cannot intervene on indirect emissions because, even if linked to our own activity, they are not generated by us but by external sources, like suppliers and transports. And they are impossible to control.
Therefore, the University of Parma focused on the categories we can control. We will spare you the technical stuff, like charts, diagrams, and calculations that were necessary to discover how much we reduced our CO2 production. If we confront 2023 and 2024, the results – divided into location and market – are -23% and -88% respectively. It is a result that encourages us to go on towards more and more positive goals, leaving no stone unturned, fully operating on energetic, social, and governance levels (ESG). That is because we are convinced that sustainability and profitability are the complementary aspects of a business model, focused on innovation, stability, and development.
